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.