Our shame and our pride

I've been saying for a long time that I think the solution to the homeless problem isn't just soup kitchens and temporary shelters.  We need to be getting these people cheap housing and real help.  Some of these people have disabilities or debilitating illnesses, and some of them have mental problems.  I think it's a social crime to allow a person with serious mental problems to stay on the street.  If they were wealthy, we'd have them involuntarily committed to an expensive institution where they'd be cared for.  The only reason the homeless don't get the same type of care is because they're poor.  I find that despicable.

Turns out San Francisco is doing something about that.  Since Mayor Newsom took office, thousands of homeless people have been given medical attention, mental services, and housing.  Now there's a police unit that, instead of harassing these people, encourages them to get help.  I remember growing up in Santa Cruz, other nearby cities used to give their homeless bus tickets to Santa Cruz so we'd have to deal with the problem.  Instead, SF gives bus tickets to homeless people if they have family who will support them.  This system is good on so many levels.  It looks like it's getting to the point where most homeless people in SF are on the street because they want to, like this guy in the story:
SHAME OF THE CITY / A daily walk finds fewer homeless

Is the problem solved?  Of course not.  It probably never will be.  But we're making tremendous progress in the right direction and that makes me proud to be a San Franciscan.

J<