back to article Silicon Valley tech bro's solution for homeless: Getting himself in the news. Again.

No one doubts that San Francisco has a homeless problem. There are more than 6,500 individuals living on the streets and it's increasing every year. As the city – and the wider Bay Area – continue to break all records in terms of affordability thanks to the ongoing tech boom, the problem is only going to get worse. That's why …

  1. Mark 85
    Thumb Down

    One of the biggest problems with the homeless, he has repeatedly and correctly pointed out, is the failure of our society to adequately care for and look after the mentally ill.

    I think I spotted the "why" part. Gopman is pleading for help so he doesn't become that which he despises. Or, he's just a con artist and collecting donations or grants... and an attention whore.

    1. Tom Paine

      I think you'll find that if you re-read the previous few sentences, El Reg are suggesting that his pattern of behaviour is not what the kids today call "neurotypical".

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        The Onion has covered him today, by coincidence!

        Area Man Accepts Burden Of Being Only Person On Earth Who Understands How World Actually Works

        http://www.theonion.com/article/area-man-accepts-burden-being-only-person-earth-wh-55427

    2. uncommon_sense
      Unhappy

      ElReg, where are you bound?

      It is people like the "author" of this article that is the problem, and exemplifies just HOW far the Media has fallen, just in the last few years..

  2. Fazal Majid

    SF only pays lip service to homelessness

    Sure the tech boom has put a lot of strain on an under-supplied housing market (thanks in no small part to NIMBYs stifling any high-density residential construction), but it's also brought in an extra $4+B in tax revenues per year, a truly staggering amount. That windfall would allow the city to purchase housing for every single homeless person in a single year.

    SF sees fit to fritter it away instead on things like $500+M for bike lanes over the next 10 years (total cyclist population: 14,000). Of course, homelessness is a complex social problem with mental health and substance abuse implications, but the simple truth is for all it's liberal self-image, San Francisco would rather wring its hand about homelessness than actually put its money where its mouth is.

  3. Dan 55 Silver badge

    We don't know why Gopman craves public attention so much. But what we do know is that he loves hosting big public events, and suffers from terrible ideas. He is periodically overtaken by incredible self-belief and a drive to deliver some kind of huge program. For short periods of time, he is prolific. But then, when it falls apart, he disappears for months.

    So he's a raging narcissist then.

    Maybe he should get into politics instead, he'd fit right in.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    America loves Guns and has chosen a Totalitarian government

    I would have thought the examples from History would have been obvious.

    Round up the homeless, sick, and mentally unwell and put them in a ghetto and starve them to death or gas them or put a bullet in their head.

    Then all the nice rich people can walk around their city, returning to their gated fortress, without having them clutter up the place.

    1. hplasm
      Devil

      Re: America loves Guns and has chosen a Totalitarian government

      "Round up the ... mentally unwell ..."

      Then what do you do for a Government?

    2. Phukov Andigh Bronze badge

      Re: America loves Guns and has chosen a Totalitarian government

      as long as your nation can keep sending all its problems to us, you can preen about how superior your little patch is.

      Our illegal immigration alone is greater than your sum total, and our legal immigration is even higher. Easy to sit there and talk about social justice when people leave because they find your "caring" to be worse than being homeless here.

    3. This post has been deleted by its author

  5. Christian Berger

    I think SV shows one perversion of our current economy rather nicely

    I mean you may think that homeless people do not contribute to society... but then again you have lots of companies there which have negative contributions. This starts with start-ups burning investor money and ends with companies making attack weapons or DRM to actively hurt the world.

    I would go so far as to say that a large percentage of people in the high and absurdly high wage ranges actually have negative contributions to the world as a whole.

    1. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

      Re: actually have negative contributions

      " actually have negative contributions"

      I would agree , as mostly they are taking credit ( and cash) for the work the grunts at the bottom did

  6. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

    is "hackthon" the new word for "brainstorm"?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    I wonder if google still has those floating barges? They might come in handy after all...

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And so ..

    .. did the US start the 2020 election campaign.

    Either that, or he'll soon get a call from Spicer to join the Trump team because KellyAnne is no longer credible (to the well informed she never was, but that didn't matter).

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: And so ..

      SF is the land of Democrats and ignores the Trump administration. So anything going on here, got nothing to do with the Great Loudmouth.

  9. Bandikoto

    <blockquote>One of the biggest problems with the homeless, he has repeatedly and correctly pointed out, is the failure of our society to adequately care for and look after the mentally ill.</blockquote>

    Very nice of him, but one of the reasons why we don't look after the mentally-ill is because of Ronald Reagan closing the mental hospitals because the negative image of them put into the public's mind by One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. "Put them into society - the hospitals are keeping them sick."

  10. disgruntled yank

    Recommendation

    They could call the ships "The Incredible Hulks".

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Meh

    Narcissism

    The best thing is to ignore him

    Problem solved.

    1. Toni the terrible Bronze badge

      Re: Narcissism

      would love to ignore him, but if you do they get elected e.g., Trump

  12. Phukov Andigh Bronze badge

    The thing people ignore about homelessness in SF and a lot of California

    the thing a lot of People Out To Fix Society's Problems seem to not bother to pay attention to or learn, is that a very large part of the homeless population did not find themselves "priced out" of housing or lose their homes after years of being producing, productive citizens.

    The raw fact is: A large percentage, bordering on "most" NEVER held a job or had a home in California at any time in their lives. People come from all over the world to be homeless here. Climate and a perceived culture of giveaway makes many cities and counties of California a destination mecca for people who subside off of social programs and the generosity of others. Many active cases for Social Services are people whose benefits have run out elsewhere, moving on every 5 years to find the next place that thinks it's doing a favor by ignoring various welfare reform acts.

    Others simply find it easier to survive here where there's plenty of guilty gullible people around. Those "evil tech bros" are often handing out lots of pocket change.

    And before all the Defenders start with the "Reagan emptied the asylums" rhetoric-the average age of homeless in counties like Santa Clara and San Francisco is nowhere near old enough to have been involved in the State mental health system-even if somehow the long term survival rate of people living on the streets and "kicked out by Reagan" was 100%.

    The amount of shelter space, low income housing, "section 8" funding, increases year after year, with hundreds or even thousands *more* individuals being served every single year, even in the leanest Dot Bomb times. Yet homelessness climbs no matter how the local economy is doing or the prices in housing, in spite of increased "for the homeless" awareness and spending at Federal, State, County and "community partner" and "faith based service" levels.

    1. thomn8r

      Re: The thing people ignore about homelessness in SF and a lot of California

      And before all the Defenders start with the "Reagan emptied the asylums" rhetoric-the average age of homeless in counties like Santa Clara and San Francisco is nowhere near old enough to have been involved in the State mental health system

      I shitteth thee not - I saw a 20-something "homeless" kid a while back with a "Vietnam Vet - Please help" sign.

      1. Pliny the Whiner

        Re: The thing people ignore about homelessness in SF and a lot of California

        "I shitteth thee not - I saw a 20-something 'homeless' kid a while back with a 'Vietnam Vet - Please help' sign."

        Thou shitteth me, Shirley? Well, maybe not.

        As luck would have it, we have a resident fatmouth who can explain his need to be the center of attention. "Bombastic Bob" should be along shortly. And I'll point out here that Bombastic Bob and Greg Gopman -- B-Squared and G-Squared, respectively -- have never appeared together in the same photograph. I shitteth thee not.

      2. 404
        Childcatcher

        Re: The thing people ignore about homelessness in SF and a lot of California

        'I shitteth thee not - I saw a 20-something "homeless" kid a while back with a "Vietnam Vet - Please help" sign.'

        If they self-identify as Civil War vets, you better respect that fact - don't want to go to jail for discrimination in the Land of Fruits & Nuts...

        ;)

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

  13. kraftdinner

    It's a problem that can't be solved

    Homelessness has been part of our society for centuries. Get over it and just manage it. I actually think Mr. Gopman is bi-polar....he'll be joining his peeps on the streets shortly.

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