The minimum wage in San Francisco is $10.74 / hr. That means that the amount of money going to the homeless is about three hours of work [0]. If we can hardly

The minimum wage in San Francisco is $10.74 / hr. That means that the amount of money going to the homeless is about three hours of work [0]. If we can hardly expect a full time minimum wage job to support someone, how can a third of that be enough to support "crazy drug addicts" who if anything need more help? Furthermore, if there are 1 million people in San Fran and the city spends $150 million a year, that means everyone is paying in $150. Which is a lot of money to the poorer end of the spectrum, but chump change to us techies. Indeed, there are 37,000 tech workers in San Fran who make on average $160,000 [1]. Even if the entirety of the social programs were paid for by tech workers, it'd come down to 4% of their after tax income [2]. Indeed, to pay for the equivalent of a full time minimum wage job for all of San Francisco's homeless would only cost its tech workers 16% of their post-tax salary, or about $10K [3][4]. And that's tech workers in the city alone, which make up just 3.7% of its million inhabitants. If you are not a tech worker and are not in a position to do more then please realize this rant is not about you. For everyone else who just wants to see the problem 'disappear', I completely understand why a portion of the city hates you. You don't need a tv, or a new car (used is a smarter choice economically anyways), or a daily latte. You want those things. They are nice perks, just like the free lunch at work. In the meantime the people who are struggling with the lifelong problems of homelessness and addiction are just trying to find a lil hit of crack and a spot by the freeway to get through the day. Some side notes: There will always be the homeless-by-choice, which is fine. If you want to camp under a bridge all summer go for it. But there needs to be an available bed and a warm cup of soup waiting for the people who actually have problems, temporarily or long term. [0]: 34 / 10.74 = 3.16 (minimum wage equivalent hours of homeless person's benefits) [1]: bottom of http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/tech-job-growth-is-booming-but-other-industries-still-dominate-san-francisco/Content?oid=2629996 http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/tech-job-growth-is-bo... [2]: 150,000,000 / (37,000 * 160,000 * .4) = .04 (percent of tech worker salary to pay existing homeless budget) [3]: 10.74 * 8 = 86.08 (daily income for minimum wage job) [4]: 150,000,000 * (86.08 / 34) / (37,000 * 160,000 * .4) = .16 (percent of tech worker salary to pay 'full time minimum wage homeless budget')