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A once very great city to go to and a model city for the world, now it a disgrace.
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f you’ve ever been to San Francisco in the last ten years, there’s no doubt you probably saw a lot of homeless people. But unless you actually go into certain parts of town, you won’t actually see just how bad the homeless problem is in one of the richest cities in the nation.
And what’s terrible about it is that the city’s efforts aren’t addressing the core root of the problem. And it’s getting worse here, too.
Now I drove all around San Francisco on an early morning in late October in 2021. I had just left Oakland, where the homelessness is also a big problem. There’s 5,000 homeless people in Oakland and that number is growing, too. But over here across the bridge, that number is triple.
Unlike Oakland, here in San Francisco there are a lot of homeless people in the downtown area, but it might not be as widespread as you think. In the nice areas on the north end of town, there are homeless stragglers in pockets, and tents on some sidewalks, and if you walk around enough you’ll see a few people sleeping on benches and in doorways.
Almost 100% of the homeless issue in San Francisco is due to two main problems - drug addiction and mental illness and the cost of living. And to really understand the homeless problem in San Francisco, we can look at two examples of this. One is in the Tenderloin, in the heart of the city, where addiction and mental illness is rampant. And another area is a 15-minute drive outside of town in an area called Bayview where the cost of living problem has reared its head.
The homeless problem is easily solved, but it is expensive and there is no political will.
A. Are you homeless?
B. Come with us to drug treatment/counseling?
C. You are refusing? Come with us to jail. Let us know when you would prefer drug treatment/counseling?
D1. Been through drug treatment/counseling 3 times and still homeless on this your 4th time free among the public?
D2. If drug treatment - go to jail, and you will be returned to jail each time you are caught homeless upon release.
D3. If mentally ill counseling, here we have a nice new padded cell to be your home unless or until we determine you can function in society.
The reason homelessness is exploding in big cities is because it is big money. Whether it is $90,000 per tent on paper, or $1 million an apartment unit on paper, most of that money is being siphoned off to the homeless services money, where a substantial amount is recycled into Democrat campaign coffers.
It is an industry.
Cities that strenuously crack down on homlessness do not have widespread problems. They have a few bums kicking around here and there in the day time who disappear at night, no tents to be seen. Just like it has always been.
It would take a furious amount of money. We just spent a furious amount of money, $6 trillion dollars in Covid economic stimulus. We could have treated every single drug addict and mental patient in the nation twice over for that money, if we were serious about fixing homelessness.
Homeless has a solution. They don't want to solve it. Homelessness generates way too much money for them to want to fix the problem.
The homeless problem is easily solved, but it is expensive and there is no political will.
A. Are you homeless?
B. Come with us to drug treatment/counseling?
C. You are refusing? Come with us to jail. Let us know when you would prefer drug treatment/counseling?
D1. Been through drug treatment/counseling 3 times and still homeless on this your 4th time free among the public?
D2. If drug treatment - go to jail, and you will be returned to jail each time you are caught homeless upon release.
D3. If mentally ill counseling, here we have a nice new padded cell to be your home unless or until we determine you can function in society.
The reason homelessness is exploding in big cities is because it is big money. Whether it is $90,000 per tent on paper, or $1 million an apartment unit on paper, most of that money is being siphoned off to the homeless services money, where a substantial amount is recycled into Democrat campaign coffers.
It is an industry.
Cities that strenuously crack down on homlessness do not have widespread problems. They have a few bums kicking around here and there in the day time who disappear at night, no tents to be seen. Just like it has always been.
It would take a furious amount of money. We just spent a furious amount of money, $6 trillion dollars in Covid economic stimulus. We could have treated every single drug addict and mental patient in the nation twice over for that money, if we were serious about fixing homelessness.
Homeless has a solution. They don't want to solve it. Homelessness generates way too much money for them to want to fix the problem.
Ultimately, the solution is some sort of involuntary commitment. Pull them off the streets, get them evaluated, cleaned up, baselined. Assist those that can be productive citizens to get there. Those that are too mentally or physically ill can be institutionalized.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,206,701 times
Reputation: 57822
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Originally Posted by moneill
Is there a cmmunity in the USA that has dealt well with the homneless issue?
No. And the problem only gets worse as the city becomes more affluent with gentrification, so that more and more are priced out. Then the city government does nothing so more people come to cites with mild climates and lack of any kind of enforcement. In Seattle for example, I passed by one homeless guy every morning on the way to work that had a sign "Need $ to go back home to Houston." It was well over a year prior to Covid that he was there, he had no intention of going back.
No. And the problem only gets worse as the city becomes more affluent with gentrification, so that more and more are priced out. Then the city government does nothing so more people come to cites with mild climates and lack of any kind of enforcement. In Seattle for example, I passed by one homeless guy every morning on the way to work that had a sign "Need $ to go back home to Houston." It was well over a year prior to Covid that he was there, he had no intention of going back.
And we can say things like -- why are we spending money on 'x' foreign interests we should be looking after our homeless...but not one federal government has been serious about addressing that issue. It's perceived as a local issue not a federal issue.
Time for mandatory treatments.
Our current path this last several different administrations is not working.
Time to get serious.
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