
SF tourist industry struggles to explain street misery to horrified visitors - uptown
http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/SF-tourist-industry-struggles-to-explain-street-12534954.php
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pmoriarty
Previously on HN:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16271229](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16271229)

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driverdan
Want to know how bad the SF bureaucracy is? They have a budget of $305 million
per year to service an estimated homeless population of 7500 people[1]. That's
$40k each! It's a staggering amount of money that's not making enough of a
difference.

1: [http://sfgov.org/scorecards/homeless-
population](http://sfgov.org/scorecards/homeless-population)

~~~
Someone
I don’t know what that budget is spent on, but chances are part of that $305
million is spent on people who, because of it, aren’t on the street anymore.

If there are many of such people, that amount spent per person drops
significantly.

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pfarnsworth
There is zero accountability in how SF spends its money on homelessness. It
has zero metrics to even figure out if the money they are spending actually
does any good. And it’s obvious to any of us that live and spend any time in
SF that the money isn’t being spent properly. Hopefully this is addressed by
the new mayor.

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bob_theslob646
>San Francisco’s hotel owners and managers are increasingly frustrated that
their gorgeous city, with its many museums, fine restaurants and scenic
vistas, has an ever-deteriorating, dismaying flip side to the postcard. In a
city that spends $305 million a year to combat homelessness, those who serve
as San Francisco’s hosts struggle to explain why the problem isn’t getting any
better.

I wondered where the 300+ million being was being spent on and came across
this article.[1]

[1][[http://www.sfchronicle.com/aboutsfgate/article/Despite-
money...](http://www.sfchronicle.com/aboutsfgate/article/Despite-money-and-
work-homelessness-in-SF-as-bad-11242946.php)]

I think this statement accurately sums up people's attitude towards
homelessness in general.

"Once that homeless panhandler is moved inside, you never think of him again.
But if that tent encampment is on your block day after day, frustration
mounts."[1]

