San Francisco Homeless Numbers Fall to New Low

Most obtained housing. The Human Services Agency (HSA) added 1091 units for homeless single adults since July 1, 2004, while the Health Department (DPH) added 408 units. As for the hundreds of inebriated homeless persons passed out on city sidewalks, the city announced a new “coordinated case management system” that should facilitate getting their placement in appropriate facilities. SF Stat shows there has been little progress in reducing homelessness among families, but this could dramatically change with following the February 1 start of the city’s new $3 million family rent-subsidy program. Homelessness remains a major problem in San Francisco, but the new data confirms that significant gains are being made.

Mayor Newsom’s SF Stat program announced on March 5 that San Francisco now has the most comprehensive coordinated case management system to track homeless persons of any major city. The new program links dozens of data bases to ensure that the homeless persons creating the greatest demand on city services are prioritized, and that the outcomes of their receiving of services can be assessed.

As anyone walking through the Tenderloin knows, the city has a problem with homeless inebriates sleeping or passed out on city sidewalks. SF Stat reveals a remarkable concentration in the Tenderloin and SOMA of people loitering and living on the streets, and these communities show the greatest number of homeless people given money by the city to return home through the city’s Project Homeward Bound.

Why the persistence of visible homelessness in the Central City despite single adults’ unprecedented access to housing? The homeless population has changed. It is no longer the victims of deindustrialization and Reagan social and economic policies as we saw in the 1980’s, nor the victims of statewide high unemployment as we saw until the mid to late 1990’s.

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