Tempest in a Chamber Pot

The portable toilets have hand-washing stations (Chron)

The cost of solving the homeless problem ($75,000? $336,000?) seems astronomical when it's analyzed on a per-person basis, especially compared to the living expenses of the average person.

But it's not surprising when one considers the slow-as-molasses nature of government. Look at the dithering over portable toilets: [bold added]

The fight over toilets gets at the bigger question of how the city with the most expensive housing in the country should respond to the issues of visible homelessness and soiled sidewalks. Some argue providing amenities like toilets encourages sleeping on the streets if and when other options are available, while others say a place to relieve oneself is a basic human dignity required to keep the streets clean when affordable housing isn’t yet accessible.

The crux of the conflict: toilets encourage homeless camps, but they help keep streets less disgusting. Both arguments could be correct, so for heaven's sake, choose one or the other, envision the consequences and deal with those too. After all, you have $billions to, er, waste. (For the record, I'm in favor of keeping the toilets, even putting more out there.)

About the cost:

It costs from just over $100,000 to nearly $632,000 a year to staff and rent a toilet, depending on the kind of bathroom and how many hours it’s open a day.

On a monthly basis San Francisco spends $8,300 to $53,000. Here are the rental rates posted by a port-a-potty company.

VIP restroom for rent

$75-$100 per month for a Standard Portable Toilet with once a week service

$100-$125 per month for a Handicap Accessible Toilet

$50-$80 per weekend for a Special Event Unit

$700 - $1,800 per weekend for a VIP Luxury Trailer

Even allowing for continuous monitoring and cleaning, it's difficult to get to a toilet expense of $53,000 per month, but it's not surprising since the City is in charge.

Flashback: the Navy spent $600 on toilet seats in 1985 in what became a mini-scandal. (They were engineered for P3 Orion planes.) Ah, the good old days.