Why is San Francisco's homeless problem so atrocious?

[Anonymous]

Even more so than other coastal U.S. cities - east or west coast.

San Francisco’s spiraling homelessness and opioid crisis is starting to drive away business and tourists, and a $40million medical convention has cancelled after its attendees complained they were too scared to walk the streets alone.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5914425/Big-convention-cancels-meeting-San-Francisco-citys-problems-homelessness-drug.html

[Anonymous]

My brother was homeless there. The services available were amazing. He got his teeth fixed, knee surgery, and acupuncture for his anxiety. Not a drug addict. He’s mentally ill. He didn’t get anything like that here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My brother was homeless there. The services available were amazing. He got his teeth fixed, knee surgery, and acupuncture for his anxiety. Not a drug addict. He’s mentally ill. He didn’t get anything like that here.

Okay, major problem #1. San Francisco treats its homeless to freaking excellent healthcare.

Problem #2 - best year-round weather.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My brother was homeless there. The services available were amazing. He got his teeth fixed, knee surgery, and acupuncture for his anxiety. Not a drug addict. He’s mentally ill. He didn’t get anything like that here.

What’s your brother’s situation now? Sounds like maybe he is doing better?

[Anonymous]

I’ve wondered this too. Maybe someone here can explain if there’s some policy/legal reason for it. Sure – part of it has got to be weather as is the case in much of Ca. But to me it seems worse than the rest of Ca. I feel like it’s got to be something like not rounding up the homeless and forcing them into shelters – I know there are homeless everywhere but there’s got to be some reason you don’t see them hanging in the doorway of major NYC skyscrapers – I feel like building mgmt. in other big cities must be able to call someone and have something done about this, whereas in SF that isn’t/can’t happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother was homeless there. The services available were amazing. He got his teeth fixed, knee surgery, and acupuncture for his anxiety. Not a drug addict. He’s mentally ill. He didn’t get anything like that here.

What’s your brother’s situation now? Sounds like maybe he is doing better?

He did better for about a year, but moved back here and then spiraled again. He has since vanished. The lack of wrap around services affected his ability to stay stable.

[Anonymous]

I live in SF, and actually live in SoMa, one of the neighborhoods considered worst for homelessness after the Tenderloin/Civic Center. I live a few blocks from Moscone Convention Center.

Other cities are (were?) bussing their homeless here. I believe there were lawsuits about this.
We have the lure of good weather sure, but also the lure of the hippie counter-culture in the Haight. People come to be near Janis Joplin's spirit or whatever and get stoned, run out of money and stay.
There's a lack of personal responsibility that didn't used to be a problem. DD and I walk by so many people who look 16-26 with signs begging for money to get home. I've told DD numerous times "You don't leave for a trip unless you have the money to also get home AND emergency money for things that may come up.
Homelessness is worse all over the U.S. - mentally ill people don't have health insurance or have a lot less. They can't get medication or therapy they need.
Gulf War - homeless vets.

If you're homeless for too long, you become more comfortable on the street than housed.
In SF there's a law that you can't arrest a homeless person who has a pet dog unless you can bring the dog to a no-kill shelter. So many homeless people here have dogs as companions and as a way to avoid getting arrested, yet if they DID get arrested they might get some of the help they need.
Homeless shelters don't allow dogs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in SF, and actually live in SoMa, one of the neighborhoods considered worst for homelessness after the Tenderloin/Civic Center. I live a few blocks from Moscone Convention Center.

Other cities are (were?) bussing their homeless here. I believe there were lawsuits about this.
We have the lure of good weather sure, but also the lure of the hippie counter-culture in the Haight. People come to be near Janis Joplin's spirit or whatever and get stoned, run out of money and stay.
There's a lack of personal responsibility that didn't used to be a problem. DD and I walk by so many people who look 16-26 with signs begging for money to get home. I've told DD numerous times "You don't leave for a trip unless you have the money to also get home AND emergency money for things that may come up.
Homelessness is worse all over the U.S. - mentally ill people don't have health insurance or have a lot less. They can't get medication or therapy they need.
Gulf War - homeless vets.

If you're homeless for too long, you become more comfortable on the street than housed.
In SF there's a law that you can't arrest a homeless person who has a pet dog unless you can bring the dog to a no-kill shelter. So many homeless people here have dogs as companions and as a way to avoid getting arrested, yet if they DID get arrested they might get some of the help they need.
Homeless shelters don't allow dogs.

How can you say that thought when people have been complaining about homeless in San Francisco since the 80s?

For weeks, a tent city for homeless people flourished in the middle of San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza as city officials withstood mounting criticism for the highly visible eyesore while trying to find a humane solution to the problem.

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-07-21/news/mn-4233_1_tent-city

Richard Hunter, a 22-year-old from Boston who has been hustling in the area for three years, said in a sidewalk conversation that he worries about friends who are ruining their minds with the drug. But he continues to use it himself.

http://articles.latimes.com/1986-07-27/news/mn-1497_1_polk-street

Homeless people, encouraged by generous local welfare grants and the fine climate, have long gravitated toward San Francisco and are believed to number about 10,000 in a population of about 730,000.

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/20/us/homeless-in-san-francisco-a-new-policy.html

After months of charges that he was waffling on the matter, Mayor Art Agnos has ordered the police to break up a sprawling encampment of homeless people just outside City Hall.

https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/06/us/san-francisco-s-mayor-ousts-homeless-camp.html

More homeless people died in San Francisco in the last 12 months than in any year since tracking began in 1985, an increase that has alarmed and frustrated advocates for the homeless and city health workers.

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/21/us/homeless-deaths-are-rising-in-san-francisco.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother was homeless there. The services available were amazing. He got his teeth fixed, knee surgery, and acupuncture for his anxiety. Not a drug addict. He’s mentally ill. He didn’t get anything like that here.

Okay, major problem #1. San Francisco treats its homeless to freaking excellent healthcare.

Problem #2 - best year-round weather.

Weather is not so great in the summer.

[Anonymous]

I saw a PBS segment and one woman went from the east coast to SF in the 60s and has been homeless since. She said she chooses to live that way because she has no rules or boundaries to limit her and just wants to be a free spirit. She believes she was meant to live this way and can't see any other way.

I read an article recently about LAs hiking trails are turning onto homeless camps right on the path itself. for miles and miles all you could see was tent after tent and dogs everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I saw a PBS segment and one woman went from the east coast to SF in the 60s and has been homeless since. She said she chooses to live that way because she has no rules or boundaries to limit her and just wants to be a free spirit. She believes she was meant to live this way and can't see any other way.

I read an article recently about LAs hiking trails are turning onto homeless camps right on the path itself. for miles and miles all you could see was tent after tent and dogs everywhere.

But there are many cities in California with good weather, public parks etc.

What is it which has enabled that woman to live year-round for 50 years as a homeless person in San Francisco? Are they giving out public buffets of food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Why are you giving them crazy levels of medical care? What about money for small expenditures and large ones like drugs - is theft rampant?

[Anonymous]

New job creation vs new housing in the Bay Area is something like 8:1. There are so many homeless people, because there isn't enough housing. Sometimes it really is that simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother was homeless there. The services available were amazing. He got his teeth fixed, knee surgery, and acupuncture for his anxiety. Not a drug addict. He’s mentally ill. He didn’t get anything like that here.

What’s your brother’s situation now? Sounds like maybe he is doing better?

He did better for about a year, but moved back here and then spiraled again. He has since vanished. The lack of wrap around services affected his ability to stay stable.

Very sorry to hear that. Seems like so many of our societal problems revolve around inadequate care for mental health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New job creation vs new housing in the Bay Area is something like 8:1. There are so many homeless people, because there isn't enough housing. Sometimes it really is that simple.

...those people aren’t in the jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New job creation vs new housing in the Bay Area is something like 8:1. There are so many homeless people, because there isn't enough housing. Sometimes it really is that simple.

I don’t get this. Any normal person would MOVE to another city before becoming homeless. It’s not like a google employee moves to SF, can’t find housing and chooses to live in a box on the street.