San Francisco homelessness Q&A: Frequently asked questions, answers

[yuiyoshida]

How can I help people experiencing homelessness? Should I give them money? What should I do if a homeless person is sleeping on my doorstep every night?

The questions that arise around homelessness in San Francisco aren't always easy ones and the answers can be quite complex. The most pressing question of where to find a bed—whether you're looking for shelter yourself or helping someone secure it—brings up a complicated system of shelter shortages, long lines and waitlists.

Below we aim to provide responses to some of the most common questions.

How many people are homeless in San Francisco?

According to the 2015 homeless count, 6,686.

But really the number is elusive.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Questions-about-San-Francisco-s-homeless-answered-8323297.php
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Solution to SF's homeless problem starts with supportive housing
Could San Francisco increase its stock of supportive housing by enough units to get all of the neediest homeless people off its streets in just two years?

Fixing San Francisco's homelessness problem is possible.

It will require the addition of thousands of housing units for the hardest-core homeless people — the ones who wander the streets, screaming at the invisible, the ones who live in tents on sidewalks and shoot up in plain sight. The ones who make people who live and visit here think San Francisco has lost its way.

The solution is compassionate. It puts counselors on the sites of those thousands of new housing units, to help the hard-core homeless with their mental problems and drug addictions. The solution is open-ended. Many of those now-homeless people will be in taxpayer-funded housing for the rest of their lives.

The solution is more than theory. Several cities around the nation are taking steps that have either already eliminated chronic homelessness on their streets or are close to doing so.

"Absolutely it can be done," said Dennis Culhane, a University of Pennsylvania professor who specializes in homelessness research. "We know how to solve this. We have the techniques. It's just a matter of marshaling the will and the focus."

more...
http://projects.sfchronicle.com/sf-homeless/supportive-housing/

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SF Homeless Project: Letter to the City
To the city and people of San Francisco:

Like you, we are frustrated, confused and dismayed by the seemingly intractable problem of homelessness in our city. Like you, we want answers — and change.

We see the misery around us – the 6,600 or more people who live on the streets of San Francisco – and we sense it is worsening. We feel for the people who live in doorways and under freeways, and for the countless others who teeter on the edge of eviction. We empathize with the EMTs, the nurses and doctors, the social workers and the police. They are on the front lines of this ongoing human catastrophe.

Numerous noble, well-intentioned efforts by both public and private entities have surfaced over the decades, yet the problem persists. It is a situation that would disgrace the government of any city. But in the technological and progressive capital of the nation, it is unconscionable.

So beginning today, more than 70 media organizations are taking the unprecedented step of working together to focus attention on this crucial issue.
We will pool our resources – reporting, data analysis, photojournalism, video, websites – and starting Wednesday, June 29, will publish, broadcast and share a series of stories across all of our outlets. We intend to explore possible solutions, their costs and viability.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/homeless/article/SF-Homeless-Project-Letter-to-the-City-8326254.php

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What happens when SF takes homeless people’s ‘stuff’

Super Bowl 50 was supposed be Mayor Ed Lee’s touchdown.

The crass, corporate pièce de résistance in downtown San Francisco known as Super Bowl City would delight family members of all ages.

Yet the streets already hosted encampments of hundreds. Those living there were not exactly ready for the NFL limelight.

Gradually pushed out by local police, homeless people landed on Division Street.

In the following weeks, thousands of locals expressed their anger as Mayor Lee’s departments swept Division Street clean of its notorious tents. The ensuing backlash shined a national spotlight on the more than 6,000 souls in The City of St. Francis without homes.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/happens-sf-takes-homeless-peoples-stuff/

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Can You Find A Place To Sleep Tonight?
See if you can make it through the night as one of the more than 6,500 homeless people living in San Francisco.

Between the thousands of San Franciscans without a place to live and the dozens of shelters meant to provide them housing lies a massive, many-armed social-services organism bound by complex rules and layers of bureaucracy. One wrong turn or a small procedural mistake can mean the difference between a warm bed for the night and sleeping on the street.

This Choose Your Own Adventure simulation is intended to replicate what happens after a person — in this case, a domestic violence survivor and mother of two — first loses their home.

The scenarios laid out here are personalized to a fictional (though all-too-common) situation, but they are based on BuzzFeed News reporting into every step of the city’s emergency-shelter system. If you were to end up homeless in San Francisco tonight, chances are good your experience would look a lot like the simulation below.

more...
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/can-you-find-a-place-to-sleep-tonight?utm_term=.flzZWYl78b#.cqrXMazZBr

https://www.google.com/trends/story/US_cu_t62vdFUBAABNWM_en

[proverbialwisdom]

1. CA senators have approved a $2 billion bond to build permanent housing for mentally ill homeless

http://www.sacbee.com/news/article86337772.html

California lawmakers approve $2 billion for homeless housing

The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif.

California senators have approved a $2 billion bond to build permanent housing for mentally ill homeless people.

June 27, 2016 6:28 PM

California senators have approved a $2 billion bond to build permanent housing for mentally ill homeless people.

The plan senators passed would use money from an existing fund for mental health care financed by a tax on millionaires that voters approved in 2004.

It requires counties to provide supportive services for people housed with state aid.

Democratic leaders proposed the plan in January and Gov. Jerry Brown has endorsed it. The Senate approved AB1618 on a 35-1 vote Monday, sending it to the Assembly.

Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles says homelessness and mental illness affect everyone. He praised the Legislature for crafting a creative, bipartisan measure.

Federal housing officials estimate more than 29,000 homeless Californians were living with serious mental illness in 2015.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-homeless-tax-20160617-snap-story.html

L.A. City Council set to seek voter approval for $1.1 billion bond or parcel tax to fight homelessness

By Peter Jamison
June 17, 2016

Los Angeles voters will likely be asked to approve either a new parcel tax or a $1.1-billion housing bond this fall to help fund the city’s struggle to reduce homelessness.

A key City Council committee on Friday cleared a final pair of money-raising options to put before voters. The decision sets the stage for the full council to vote next week on the parcel tax and bond, only one of which city officials say will ultimately appear on the November ballot.

The council’s coming vote will mark a critical stage in the city’s struggle to deal with a homeless population that has grown steadily in recent years and according to recent estimates now stands at more than 26,000. Some council members have already expressed strong support for a bond, which at least one poll has shown to have a better chance of passing in November on a ballot that will be crowded with local tax measures.

Though general-obligation bonds are typically accompanied by a property-tax increase, California voters have historically shown themselves more likely to approve them than initiatives labeled straightforwardly as taxes. Both the bond and parcel tax would require two-thirds approval.

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