For the same amount of money spent today, the crisis of homelessness in San Francisco could be solved.
SPUR formed a task force in late 2001 to identify solutions to the problem of homelessness in San Francisco. What we found was startling: the city spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year on programs that deal with symptoms of homelessness — street cleaning, emergency room care and jail — but very little to none on programs that would address the underlying causes of homelessness, such as affordable housing with supportive social services. The provision of affordable housing with supportive care could keep people off the streets without having to spend additional public money.