In 2016, San Francisco leaders created the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, to which they have allocated $2.8 billion. However, the number of homeless people in the city has increased by 56%, according to data obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Approximately 2.2% of the city's population is homeless. San Francisco has about 860,000 residents, of which 19,086 had no roof under which to shelter in 2020. The figure has been steadily increasing since 2016.
Money invested without results
The San Francisco Chronicle recently investigated the San Francisco MSM. In one of its programs, the department funds nonprofit organizations that rent hotel rooms and provide assistance to homeless people in some 70 hotels. The program costs taxpayers about $160 million annually. But homelessness, rising crime, drug abuse and low quality of life standards show that it is a failure.
The analysis pointed out that there is no control within the city government to evaluate spending. He also pointed out that municipal programs are poorly managed, and this leads to some homeless people preferring to live on the street rather than in the facilities provided for them.
The San Francisco Chronicle repeatedly requested an interview with Mayor London Breed, who, upon learning the results of the investigation, made herself available to reporters. Breed acknowledged that many of the MSM programs have problems. He blamed the nonprofit operators and called for them to receive more follow-up. "It is important that we make sure that the resources we are giving are being used for the purpose for which they are intended." She also said that she had no information at the time that would allow her to say what she had done as mayor to improve conditions in the most problematic areas of the city.
Housing in precarious conditions
According to the newspaper, the hotels often create a pattern of chaos, crime and death, and the city fails to monitor and evaluate many of the programs. In the case of permanent supportive housing, things did not improve. The study revealed that of the 515 tenants who were monitored, 25% died while in the program, 21% returned to homelessness, and 27% dropped out of the program. The remaining 27% moved to the homes of relatives or friends or to other taxpayer-subsidized facilities.
In 2020 and 2021, at least 166 people died from overdoses in hotels, which accounted for 14% of all confirmed overdose deaths in the city.
Building inspectors flagged hotels for more than 1,600 hygiene and coexistence conduct violations since 2016. Violations have included broken elevators, rodent infestations, water leaks and fungal problems, even a sink in one room filled with human feces. It also described how some of the homeless residents threatened to kill the staff of the facilities and could even light fires in the rooms.
It is not the only case of failure
The study showed several similarities with other cases at the national level. They compare the situation in San Francisco to what happened in Los Angeles following the adoption of Proposition HHH (2016), which in 2016 authorized the expenditure of $1.2 billion to shelter the homeless. The number of homeless people also skyrocketed in LA.
Housing units are being built in Los Angeles, but only 1,142 have been completed. Another 4,205 are still under construction. The report found that fewer than 1,200 units have been built in five years and that estimated costs for several projects exceed $700,000 per unit. The model used in San Franciscohas also been unsuccessful in states such as Washington.
