Reply to Why is San Francisco's homeless problem so atrocious?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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.[/quote]

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?[/quote]

Grace Cathedral serves meals to homeless, as do a few other churches in the city. There are a few needle exchange places, and there are outreach orgs that walk around handing out free clean needles to those who want them. I believe about 60% of the needles handed out come back.

Also, there are a lot of tourists here. I, as a local, have problem saying "No, sorry" several times a day to homeless people asking for food or money. But many tourists can't do that, or get flustered because they've never been out of their suburban community and don't know WHAT to say so they give money.

[b]As for why we're giving homeless people medical care - why shouldn't we?  Should we let them painfully die on a street corner from something treatable? [/b][/quote]

No.   They should be functioning members of society like the rest of us.  Have jobs, put a roof over our heads and pay taxes.  [/quote]

Much of the homeless population is due to mental health issues.  Mental healthcare is very expensive and not readily available in this country to many who need it.  It's hard to be a functioning member of society without being mentally stable.  [/quote]

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