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Everyone in SF knows that we have a terrible homelessness problem, but almost no one knows the basic facts about the ~7500 people who don't have a home in our city. For example, the number of homeless has been stable for years: http://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/San-Francisco-PIT-Executive-Summary-FINAL-6.21.17.pdf …pic.twitter.com/6oJ5coPs2N
70% of homeless people in SF were previously housed in SF, contradicting the "busing" myth that our homeless problem is the result of other states passing out Greyhound tickets at homeless shelters. And 55% have lived in the city for more than ten years.pic.twitter.com/Y0kkozXh0e
Despite massive increases in the cost of housing in SF over the last 4 years, the number of homeless has been remarkably stable. This is actually success for SF's homeless services, in contrast to other West Coast cities which have seen massive spikes in homeless population.pic.twitter.com/GHe8a46FYY
Unfortunately, the number of first-time homeless is decreasing and chronic homelessness is on the rise. This accounts – in part – for the subjective experience of walking around San Francisco.pic.twitter.com/R5h3jdA2hp
A bigger factor is a lack of shelter beds. Despite having 7500 homeless on any given night, SF only has 1,203 adult shelter beds city-wide. Compare to New York which is required by law to have shelter beds for almost all of its homeless residents.https://projects.sfchronicle.com/sf-homeless/shelters/ …
Another factor in the subjective experience of homelessness in SF is the rising prevalence of drug addiction among the homeless, growing 40% in the last 4 years.pic.twitter.com/qqB3G4MYxB
Most people, when they become homeless, do everything they possibly can to get out of homelessness and to ensure it never happens again. But out of the ~900k people who live in SF, a few thousand have gotten stuck in sustained homelessness.
A city of fewer than a million people, SF has a nearly $10B budget (!!). The city spends ~$250M/year, 2.5% of its annual budget, on homeless services, including long-term supportive housing.
You can read more about the demographics of the homeless in SF here: http://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2017-SF-Point-in-Time-Count-General-FINAL-6.21.17.pdf … and about the current state of the problem in the Chronicle's amazing SF Homeless Project:https://projects.sfchronicle.com/sf-homeless/
Yep. I'd love for someone to setup a website that very clearly explains the basic facts of SF homelessness. Maybe http://wtfsf.org .
Definitely not a panacea, but I do think a single scrolling page that has the basic facts and links to get more info would be really helpful, though. Almost no one I talk to knows anything.
The scale of the problem seems entirely tractable. As a point of comparison, the University of Central Florida—with an operating budget of $1.5 billion—houses 6,500 students. San Francisco’s annual budget is around $9 billion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Central_Florida_student_housing …
Obviously, the city needs to do provide many services, beyond housing, but so does the university.
Actually, from what I recall, like half of the budget goes towards keeping a few thousand people off becoming homeless with housing subsidies.
I don’t see how these stats change the fact that homelessness in SF is in a really bad shape and needs to get solved. Look at European cities. Even countries with times lower GDP don’t have anything close to SF.
When you put these numbers into the front, it’s alarming how many conversations about SF homelessness jump to “I think we should do this...” or “why haven’t we...” This is a good gut-check but also wonder how best to raise more general awareness of facts
Thanks for doing this work to demystify DHSH data! I've been working 3+ years on plan to end crisis conditions on streets while we build housing/shelter capacity. Would love to scheme for good. Sign + Share petition: http://www.SafeOrganizedSpaces.org Slide deck:https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Y8dblHOcaGgAxAjpUJ71q8Sam7w7DoDW7lRTbz_BNDQ/edit?usp=sharing …
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