A place to stay, enough to eat

I have to admit that I doubt that San Francisco's homeless population has really fallen by 28%, and that the number living on the streets has fallen by 41%. Honestly, I doubt that anyone would have even guessed that 41% figure prior to this report. [UPDATE: The morning paper includes this story.]

People are disputing the count because apparently it does not include a population living in City parks. It's not clear in the linked article whether the park-dwellers were adequately counted in the previous tally two years ago, however.

I think many people here would like to believe that Care Not Cash is a failure, but it seems undeniable that it is reducing the number of homeless in the City. (Out of towners: A couple of elections ago, San Francisco voters approved a measure backed by soon-to-be-Mayor Newsom that replaced most of the City's monthly $400 cash handouts to homeless people with additional supportive housing services intended to get people off the streets. The measure itself was partially struck down in the courts, but with Newsom's election 14 months ago much of CNC is back in action.)

Whether circumstances are actually better for homeless people, however, no one knows. Have they merely gone somewhere else? (How's Berkeley looking these days?)


Music now playing: Gram Parsons' regretful "How Much I've Lied," and the solo version of "April in Paris" from the Thelonious Himself album