Overwhelmed with out of towner homeless, SF considers residence requirement for aid

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/20/MNDQ14RGKL.DTL

S.F. blames out-of-towners for endless homeless problem
C.W. Nevius

Saturday, December 20, 2008

City officials are finally admitting what others have been saying for years: San Francisco is attracting huge numbers of homeless people from all over. Thousands of transient people, arriving from other counties, states and even countries, are overwhelming the city's homeless system.

Facing a crippling budget shortfall, officials at San Francisco's homeless agencies are proposing a radical idea - take care of the city's own first, and require newcomers to show proof of residency for aid.

"If a homeless family living in San Francisco doesn't get shelter, and somebody just off the bus does, it doesn't seem fair," said Trent Rhorer, director of the Department of Human Services.

------------
The problem, Kayhan says, is that San Francisco has become a clearinghouse for other cities and states.

"People are coming from all over," Kayhan said. "I am seeing it firsthand. I often hear that this city or that city's homeless plan is a bus ticket to San Francisco."

[Syrinx]

1. but...

Homeless don't have residences, do they?

[Clovis Sangrail]

2. bullshit article

It completely dodges the question of if these people were homeless when they came to SF.
There's a huge difference between being homeless and taking a bus to SF and moving to SF for some reason and then becoming homeless.

[EFerrari]

3. It's cr@p. The Chronicle must get paid to print this stuff.

I live near the beach and GG Park. If there was a huge influx of homeless people, I'd know. This is just par for the corporate course.

Paul Boden is exactly right. It's easier to scapegoat the homeless than to deal with housing.

[Tunkamerica]

4. I am about as far away from SF as you can get and even I know

that people aren't moving there for affordable housing.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Attitudes are sometimes

the first sign of history being revisited. Everything bar the dust : http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gplaqa2yRgg
The last still shot in that haunts me - so sad.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

6. Orange County has been sending the homeless to San Francisco forever

Basically, get on the bus or we throw the book at you.