What are you planning to do about the homelessness in our community?

By Willie Lewis Brown, Jr.

Mayor Brown Answers Your Questions

For a homeless population that is estimated to be about 1,500 people on the streets per night, there are currently 10 emergency shelters with a total of 1,540 beds, with another 561 beds provided during winter months. We also have eight emergency shelters for families and pregnant women provides 248 beds, with 80 more in the winter. Two emergency shelters are currently provided for youth alone. Privately funded shelters provide another 200 beds throughout the year. While the number of people considered "at risk" by the federal government fluctuates above 10,000 at any given time, the number of people actually living on the street the majority of the time is fewer than 1,000. Of those, the City will find emergency shelter for anyone who seeks it.

All this said, I believe that one homeless person is one too many. We must continue to find compassionate ways to address this problem each and every day. Part of our problem is that we've built the best civic response to homelessness in America, and unfortunately, we've found that "if you build it, they will come." Over half the people on our streets have been here less than a year.

I'm honest enough with the people of San Francisco to level with them on the homeless issue: it's a national, statewide, and regional problem. It requires national, statewide, and regional solutions. As compassionate as we are, San Franciscans cannot and should not have to carry the burden of sheltering homeless people from across the state and even across the country. We must continue to work with leaders from the nine Bay Area counties, in concert with the state and federal governments, to take some of the burden off San Francisco taxpayers.

Homelessness is not a problem that can be addressed with quick fixes packaged in slick brochures. It's a poverty issue, a mental health issue, and a substance abuse issue. The City needs to manage the homeless problem with compassion, but also with a healthy respect for the law and the quality of life of all its citizens. This is not a place for grandstanding, scapegoating or sloganeering.