It was from one of Heather Knight's always informative and usually compassionate columns that I learned that the disparity between the poor and the rich in San Francisco is similar to Rwanda's. ("Income inequality on par with developing nations," June 25, 2014), so when I read today's column about tourists being "shocked by the misery on San Francisco Streets," I thought, "The tourists?"
I wish the tourist industry that is sturggling to explain the "squalor" to horrified visitors would explain it to me. I don't think, as Handlery says, that our city as failed to address the issue. It addresses it repeatedly, continuously, unsuccessfully.
I've been in love with San Francisco since 1966, when I first moved here, and I don't feel unsafe walking down the streets, but I do feel disheartened. I'm afraid the problem isn't so familiar to us that we "just shrug and keep walking." Nanette Asimov recently reported on the muffin brigade (January 28 "Muffin makers provide a bit of warmth on SF's streets for a day,") and I've tried giving food as well as Hand-Up cards, written about in the
SF Chronicle (
"Basic hygiene items bring a bit of dignity to life on the streets," May 2, 2017 with Heather Knight's byline)
.
How can anyone think that we're "Totally unfazed by the homeless and mentally ill"? as Kelly Powers says. It's not just the visitors who are dismayed by the misery on SF streets!
Could it have anything to do with HUD's funding being reduced by almost 60 percent between the times that Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush took office?
Other nations have signed international treaties declaring housing to be a basic human right, but the U.S. has never ratified any international treaty guaranteeing its citizens a right to housing, and in most places how is housing regulated? The repeal of the Costa-Hawkins would give cities greater flexibility when setting rent control policies, but this January the repeal effort failed.
While I don't feel unsafe on the streets of San Francisco, I know we have lost the safety net that at one time was provided through social services.
Under Reagan federal spending on subsidized housing went from 20 billion to 8 billion.
In Great Britain the state owns 11 per cent of the public housing, and in France the state owns 16 percent. What percentage does our federal government own?
The U.S. stands with Thailand as one of the only two UN member states whose legislature has not ratified an agreement recognizing the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living.
Even Obama failed to present an action plan and funding for his "Strategic Plan to End Homelessness."
The federal government needs to respond to the homeless crisis with more housing or more funding rather than less.
Our newly-elected mayor-for-six-months Mark Farrell, along with Supervisor Scott Wiener, sponsored the proposition giving police the ability to clear tent encampments within 24 hours. Will he clear them? Where will they go then?
