Care, Not Cash
San Francisco gets it right with the homeless. San Francisco, when it rains, has tended to smell like a giant men's bathroom thanks to the enormous homelessness problem. Maybe this will change -- or has changed -- thanks to Mayor Gavin Newsom. I haven't been a fan of Newsom's in the past, thanks to his idiotic decision to break the law and marry gays and lesbians, instead of properly challenging the law in the courts; in fact, it's possible that this may have helped George Bush mobilize his theonut base and get elected. But, Newsom instituted a program a year ago to provide housing for the homeless that's exceeding expectations, reports Kevin Fagan in the SF Chron:
One year after the Care Not Cash welfare reform program debuted amid furious opposition and fervent hopes, nearly 800 street people have been moved into supportive housing and general assistance rolls for the homeless have been slashed by 73 percent -- developments that represent San Francisco's most significant transformation in years in the landscape of homelessness....The most important thing, the mayor argues, is that every homeless person who got a room is one less homeless person who has to scrape by outside, not knowing whether each day will bring a night shivering on the sidewalk or flopping at a shelter. Instead of blowing their welfare on drugs or alcohol, as many did before, they have a place to call their own with counseling services on site, the so-called support part of supportive housing, he notes.
"The best way to alleviate homelessness is by doing 'housing first' -- giving homeless people a place to live before they have addressed all their other issues, and then working on the other things once they're inside," Newsom said while touring newly opened housing for the homeless a week ago. "This has been proven to work here and nationwide, and this is our priority."
And, Newsom administration officials insist, the statistics in this case don't lie.
One year ago, there were 2,400 homeless people drawing welfare checks, but that caseload has plummeted 73 percent to 653 people today, all of whom are on the vastly reduced monthly grants.
The money saved by cutting welfare has been rolled into a $14.2 million fund that leased 793 clean, modernized rooms in 12 residential hotels. To date, 789 homeless people have been moved into those rooms and, from the critics to the residents, reviews of the housing conditions all year have been enthusiastic.
One of the things I wish Republicans could get through their heads is that tax money spent on welfare reforms like this one is an investment. And like all investments, there is a return, in greater productivity and more citizens leading worthwhile lives.
The alternative is increased crime rates, for which we'd have to put more cops on the street, build more prisons, etc. Either way, it's going to cost us money. Why not spend the money in a way that benefits society as a whole?
Patrick at May 3, 2005 7:35 AM
Patrick:
Welfare reform on a national level was initiated by the Clinton administration and the Republicans in congress. It's the liberal dinosaurs that have opposed welfare reform every step of the way.
nash at May 3, 2005 11:03 AM
Patrick: Well said. It may stick in the craw to give away needed monies to those playing the system, but (I suspect) most need the help.
Nash: Your statement confuses me. Please elaborate the last sentence. Most of the welfare dollars I see go to Conservative interests. Which liberal dinosaurs and programs are you talking out?
eric at May 3, 2005 8:58 PM
Patrick: The investment theory you take as a given only really exists in your head. Where's the empirical evidence to back up the noble sentiment? Such a simplistic juxtaposition of ploughshares vs. prisons ignores the complexities of the real world. The left, to be effective, has to come to terms with what Steven Sailer calls biodiversity. Dyson can dis Bill Cosby, but the Coz call to arms resonates in the hood.
tom merle at May 3, 2005 11:58 PM
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