Why is San Francisco's homeless problem so atrocious?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it's a scam to rob taxpayers. Who do you think pays for the health care and "wrap-around resources"? Doctors, dentists, sociologists, case-workers, shelters, non-profits, etc., etc. make BILLIONS off the homeless at the expense of middle class taxpayers.

I think you don’t know what non-profit means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nimbies make housing unaffordable by preventing new units from coming online to meet demand = no affordable housing

If you can't afford housing, you need to get out of that city. You can't just demand that you have the right to live in arguably the most expensive city in the country, to hell with the consequences. You can't just refuse to leave, and instead turn the public streets into your own personal sewer. The rest of us shouldn't be affected by someone's sense of entitlement.

And I say that as someone who otherwise loves the bay area, used to live there, but simply can't afford it.

[Anonymous]

The city has become a smelly, unsafe dump. It took courage for the group to bail. Crickets, pretty much, from the mainstream media.

[Anonymous]

Because nobody is allowed to do anything about it. total freedom and perks. What's not to like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nimbies make housing unaffordable by preventing new units from coming online to meet demand = no affordable housing

If you can't afford housing, you need to get out of that city. You can't just demand that you have the right to live in arguably the most expensive city in the country, to hell with the consequences. You can't just refuse to leave, and instead turn the public streets into your own personal sewer. The rest of us shouldn't be affected by someone's sense of entitlement.

And I say that as someone who otherwise loves the bay area, used to live there, but simply can't afford it.

I don't think you understand how it happens. Firstly, the SRO's are all taken by the Chinese. Three or four generations of Chinese families will share a room (maybe two if they're "well off") in an SRO. The kids go to school while the parents work their low-paying job if they're lucky enough to have one and the grandparents walk around with tongs taking recycling out of garbage pails. When the kids get out of school they walk around helping with that. Secondly, a lot of the rent-controlled places are frustrating to landlords - they don't want to get $600 a month. They want the $2600 a month they COULD be getting if the person who's lived there since the 80's gets out. That's why we've had so MANY fires in the last several years. So you're getting along okay paying $600 a month and then your apartment goes up in flames and the Red Cross finds you housing for a week or a month and then you're on your own. So you look for another rent-controlled place but each time a tenant moves out the landlord can raise the rent to market rate. So that person no longer can afford anything. They just paid the little money they had to buy some clothes since theirs went up in flames, and they have to pay for forms they lost, and now they have nowhere to live and no money. They have their low-paying job or disability and that's it. So they become homeless.

I can not imagine the sheer terror and hopelessness these people feel the first night they spend on the streets. And I can not imagine the deep and unrelenting psyche some of you must have to possess zero compassion. May the universe have mercy on your souls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nimbies make housing unaffordable by preventing new units from coming online to meet demand = no affordable housing

If you can't afford housing, you need to get out of that city. You can't just demand that you have the right to live in arguably the most expensive city in the country, to hell with the consequences. You can't just refuse to leave, and instead turn the public streets into your own personal sewer. The rest of us shouldn't be affected by someone's sense of entitlement.

And I say that as someone who otherwise loves the bay area, used to live there, but simply can't afford it.

I don't think you understand how it happens. Firstly, the SRO's are all taken by the Chinese. Three or four generations of Chinese families will share a room (maybe two if they're "well off") in an SRO. The kids go to school while the parents work their low-paying job if they're lucky enough to have one and the grandparents walk around with tongs taking recycling out of garbage pails. When the kids get out of school they walk around helping with that. Secondly, a lot of the rent-controlled places are frustrating to landlords - they don't want to get $600 a month. They want the $2600 a month they COULD be getting if the person who's lived there since the 80's gets out. That's why we've had so MANY fires in the last several years. So you're getting along okay paying $600 a month and then your apartment goes up in flames and the Red Cross finds you housing for a week or a month and then you're on your own. So you look for another rent-controlled place but each time a tenant moves out the landlord can raise the rent to market rate. So that person no longer can afford anything. They just paid the little money they had to buy some clothes since theirs went up in flames, and they have to pay for forms they lost, and now they have nowhere to live and no money. They have their low-paying job or disability and that's it. So they become homeless.

I can not imagine the sheer terror and hopelessness these people feel the first night they spend on the streets. And I can not imagine the deep and unrelenting psyche some of you must have to possess zero compassion. May the universe have mercy on your souls.

I'm one of those with no sympathy for these cases. Living somewhere for 50 years and not buying in when the costs are so low that three of those adults cramped into that apartment could get a home together if they had some foresight pulls no sympathy from me.

This happened all over - in D.C. too. You can see it in Baltimore now where you can get a f**king 6-bedroom home for $40,000 but people insist on renting and spending their money on other things. Fine, but you don't get to complain in 2040 when you still want to pay 2015 prices.

What kind of mess is that? $800 for an apartment is criminal - for the LANDLORDS. I buy my places for appreciation, not so you can sit in it as your personal flophouse.

[Anonymous]

SF has a lot of homeless by choice young people too. Thousands of teens who basically want to live on the streets and smoke weed. As to a PP suggesting more SROs? They are a part of the problem. You have buildings full of people who likely have major drug and mental health issues with no insight services or oversight. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. the Tenerdloin is still shitty and full of SROs and the e tire area smells like piss. I used to love visiting SF but the last few years it just sucks. No idea why anyone would it crazy money to live there now. And their schools and lottery system are worse than DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because it's a scam to rob taxpayers. Who do you think pays for the health care and "wrap-around resources"? Doctors, dentists, sociologists, case-workers, shelters, non-profits, etc., etc. make BILLIONS off the homeless at the expense of middle class taxpayers.

I think you don’t know what non-profit means.

NP. Many non-profits love money as much as the next guy. More money means higher salaries for the execs, for one thing.

I used to work at NARAL when an anti-choice SCOTUS decision was issued. I went to grab something from the break room, and one of the higher ups was in there talking in glowing terms about what a donation windfall the decision would bring.

[Anonymous]

Needles and an alleged 20lb bag of excrement. Pack a bio hazard suit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because it's a scam to rob taxpayers. Who do you think pays for the health care and "wrap-around resources"? Doctors, dentists, sociologists, case-workers, shelters, non-profits, etc., etc. make BILLIONS off the homeless at the expense of middle class taxpayers.

I think you don’t know what non-profit means.

NP. Many non-profits love money as much as the next guy. More money means higher salaries for the execs, for one thing.

I used to work at NARAL when an anti-choice SCOTUS decision was issued. I went to grab something from the break room, and one of the higher ups was in there talking in glowing terms about what a donation windfall the decision would bring.

So the heads bring home a higher pay, it’s still not the same compensation as in a for profit concern. No one is getting rich as head of a non profit. The people I know doing it are middle class or they have family/spousal money. Plus, an agency helping the homeless is going to get drops in the bucket compared to Naral or a breast cancer non-profit. People can visualize themselves possibly needed an abortion or getting cancer, but no one ever thinks “I might be homeless someday.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because it's a scam to rob taxpayers. Who do you think pays for the health care and "wrap-around resources"? Doctors, dentists, sociologists, case-workers, shelters, non-profits, etc., etc. make BILLIONS off the homeless at the expense of middle class taxpayers.

I think you don’t know what non-profit means.

NP. Many non-profits love money as much as the next guy. More money means higher salaries for the execs, for one thing.

I used to work at NARAL when an anti-choice SCOTUS decision was issued. I went to grab something from the break room, and one of the higher ups was in there talking in glowing terms about what a donation windfall the decision would bring.

So the heads bring home a higher pay, it’s still not the same compensation as in a for profit concern. No one is getting rich as head of a non profit. The people I know doing it are middle class or they have family/spousal money. Plus, an agency helping the homeless is going to get drops in the bucket compared to Naral or a breast cancer non-profit. People can visualize themselves possibly needed an abortion or getting cancer, but no one ever thinks “I might be homeless someday.”

“About 2,700 employees of 501(c)(3) nonprofits received annual compensation of more than $1 million in 2014...”

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2017/03/08/million-dollar-compensation-nonprofit-ceos/

[Anonymous]

I kind of like the idea of all the tech sector CEOs inhaling homeless fecal matter while out on their segways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the SF Local poster, and there ARE teachers who are living in their car and showering at a gym before teaching kids, then coaching, then tutoring. It's heartbreaking. I have rent-control, and even with that the percentage of my income that goes towards rent is already creeping up to one I'm not super comfortable with.

Well they are fools. A teacher can easily get a job in another school district in a nearby town/city or in another state.

Yup all the teachers/emergency responders/etc. should go elsewhere unless they have a spouse to support living in such a high cost of living place. Totally irresponsible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the SF Local poster, and there ARE teachers who are living in their car and showering at a gym before teaching kids, then coaching, then tutoring. It's heartbreaking. I have rent-control, and even with that the percentage of my income that goes towards rent is already creeping up to one I'm not super comfortable with.

Well they are fools. A teacher can easily get a job in another school district in a nearby town/city or in another state.

If you think finding a teaching job in a new district is easy, you’ve clearly never tried it.

I am a teacher and if it came down to me being homeless or moving, you had better believe I would be moving. There are plenty of teaching jobs if you are single and willing to move.

So I ask- if every teacher just ups and leaves San Francisco bc they can’t afford it, who is supposed to teach the kids...?

Then they raise the salary until they attract enough teachers back- supply and demand

And they provide dedicated housing options for civil servants.

And raise taxes to pay for it.

[Anonymous]

We will be on northern California later this month. Already aborted the plan staying downtown SF and using BART. However, I will take my kids through the city for their first taste/look of a sanctuary city running by "progressives".