
Clean up San Francisco’s streets, tourist industry pleads - _gbc
https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Clean-up-San-Francisco-s-streets-tourist-12839281.php
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meri_dian
Homelessness, both in San Francisco and elsewhere is not rooted in housing but
in drugs and mental illness.

Building more low income housing won't address those root causes or noticeably
ameliorate homelessness as a symptom, because most homeless people cannot hold
down a job and have 0 income, aside from begging.

There is no easy solution, but allowing the mentally ill to fend for
themselves on the streets in the name of freedom is morally naive. Put them in
institutions and get them off the streets.

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acdha
It seems like you need to address both: Utah has seen good results from
providing housing because that makes treatment programs more likely to succeed
but it's a very hard problem without a silver bullet.

[https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865678779/Is-Utah-
still-...](https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865678779/Is-Utah-still-a-
model-for-solving-chronic-homelessness.html)

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himom
Mental healthcare, drug decriminalization, effective rehab, actually
affordable and/or donated housing, actual comprehensive-integrated social work
and criminal justice reform would make more lives better. But when some rich,
sheltered people callously suggest “others” are dirt in need of “cleaning,”
it’s abhorrent. Fuck the tourists, they’re tourists.

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cafard
I would point out that those tourists come to town and pay taxes, some of
which go to pay for local needs, including care for the homeless.

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atonse
Tragic. The Bay Area has one of the highest concentrations of raw brain power
and talent in the world. And they can't fix problems in their own backyard.

What a shame. Yet another symptom of what people say that so much talent and
brain power is being wasted on showing better ads to people.

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Bucephalus355
Sure, when the global property bubble pops. Until that time, I kind of hope it
gets worse. Everyone needs to suffer together and the ills borne by the
homeless and lower classes need to be experienced by all.

Housing is a good investment for a limited number of players. When EVERYONE
wants to invest in housing / real estate / whatever, it quickly becomes a
long-term very bad investment, sustained through momentum, the fact that
moving away usually happens across generations, and that the law changes
slowly.

Case in point, if you look over the last 40 years, housing is a great
investment. If you also look from 1870 to 1914, 44 years, Europe looks like an
extremely peaceful place. But that will change very quickly and violently soon
enough, to the point that only a federal, workforce based intervention like
the New Deal can help (not the “Fiscal New Deal” we had under Obama). When
that happens, housing will be super cheap and jobs you just have to show up to
to get hired, and the crisis will abate.

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fancyfacebook
I recently visited SF for the first time in like 10 years, I was surprised at
how safe and clean everything appeared after reading these sorts of articles
for years. I walked 40 miles over the course of a week doing touristy stuff
and spent lots of time in lots of neighborhoods at day and night and it wasn't
nearly as "scary" as everyone seems to think it is.

If anything Denver has more homeless per street, and they seem to be much more
aggressive and/or unstable. The Mission District was pretty hip and relaxed in
comparison.

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ggm
Euphemism for move them on for many values of them.

Better idea: house people, give them jobs and healthcare

