The result? In 2005 a city-sponsored count found that there were 6,248 homeless individuals in the city. This year the census found 6,436.There are contributing factors: a recession, unemployment, and like many cities, San Francisco is a destination for the down-and-out. Almost 40 percent of the city's homeless were homeless when they arrived in San Francisco.But who among us would say that we are satisfied with the results of the 10-year plan? On the way into the Chronicle building Wednesday, I walked past two men sleeping on the sidewalk and a guy on the corner screaming unintelligibly. Raise your hand if you've had the same experience.That's not to say Farrell's hearing wasn't worthwhile. There were some concrete r'mendations, some of which are already in the pipeline. There's support for a plan to increase the number of homeless outreach workers, for example.
That's nice, but we've been there and done that. It is time for some out-of-the-box thinking. These ideas probably don't have the faintest chance in the world of happening, there were some radical suggestions at the hearing. Just for fun, here are three:Close the homeless shelters. Hey, we said these ideas were radical, but this isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. In fact, the idea of phasing out shelters over a four- to six-year period'es straight from the original 10-year plan.The thinking is this: The city is shelling out $17 million a year to warehouse people in shelters. Wouldn't it be better to take that $17 million and put it into supportive housing units? You may have seen Sunday's "60 Minutes,"Think outside the chocolate box for Valentine's
which featured the 100,000 Homes Campaign, where the chronically homeless in Tennessee and Utah are given apartments, even before they undergo drug or alcohol treatment.
The math is simple. It costs San Francisco roughly $14,000 a year each to house about 1,200 people in shelters, which, as Trent Rhorer, executive director of the Department of Human Services, said, "is just a little less than what we could house them for." Why not do that and break the shelter cycle?Give the homeless a bus ticket home. Actually, the city already does this. Since 2004, the Homeward Bound program has provided a free ticket to 7,886 individuals at an average cost of just $179 each.