Despite money and effort, homelessness in SF as bad as ever
On the face of it, San Francisco’s homeless problem should have improved dramatically over the past year.
After all, last summer Mayor Ed Lee formed the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to focus on the city’s most perplexing problem.
The city spent $275 million on homelessness and supportive housing in the fiscal year that ends Friday, up from $241 million the year before. Starting Saturday, that annual spending is projected to hit an eye-popping $305 million.
Public Works cleanup crews were busier than ever, picking up more than 679 tons of trash from homeless tent camps since June 1, 2016, and collecting more than 100,000 used syringes from the camps in that time span.
But, despite all the money and effort, reality on the streets hasn’t improved. In many ways, homelessness in San Francisco is as bad as ever.
Just-released numbers from January’s homeless count, conducted every two years as a requirement to receive federal funds, show a very slight decrease. The drop is attributed to fewer families and youths among the homeless, while the number of single adults living on the street — the most visible — has risen.
The waiting list for nighttime shelter beds also has risen, from not even 900 last year to about 1,100 now.
Residents’ complaints to the city’s 311 line about tent encampments, needles and human feces are way up. In 2016, people made 22,608 complaints to 311 about encampments — a fivefold increase from the previous year.
But the biggest indicator is merely walking around the city, where it’s obvious the misery continues.
“It’s worse — that’s my observation,” Supervisor Jeff Sheehy said.
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