Homelessness: We Lacked Imagination

Under a San Francisco overhead freeway (UCSF)

Two months ago we were taken aback by the cost of San Francisco's homeless programs of $75,000 per person per year (a rough estimate).

Last week SF Mayor London Breed proposed spending $1 billion to solve homelessness and doubling outlays to about $150,000 per year. We only half jokingly remarked that failure will make her come back for another $1 billion in 2023.

We lacked imagination. Headline: [bold added]

Bay Area homelessness could be solved with $11.8 billion, says new report

The Bay Area Council came to its estimate in a report released Thursday by calculating it would take $9.3 billion to create enough shelter and housing to put roofs over all 35,118 people now estimated to be homeless in the region’s nine counties — then $2.5 billion a year to maintain those roofs with services and staffing.

So let's do the division: $11,800,000,000 ➗ 35,118 = $336,010.

Given that level of expenditure, you could pick names out of the phone book who could come up with permanent solutions for much less, for instance, giving every homeless person a $10,000 cashier's check and a plane ticket anywhere at least a thousand miles from here. But that's not the point.

After decades of working I still remember the year when my salary hit $60,000. It was indeed cause for celebration.

Little did I know that all I had to do was pitch a tent on a Bay Area sidewalk, and I would be in line (ok, it hasn't been approved yet) to receive $336,000 in housing, goods, and services without being obliged to anyone.

Is this a great country or what?