If the tech industry were to collapse tomorrow, or at least hit a major slump, the way the defense industry did in LA, how many people would still be left in San Francisco?
Open question.
Meanwhile the homeless count is up in San Fran the same way that it’s up in Los Angeles. Why? If you roll out the red carpet for a population that heavily consists of drug users, alcoholics and the mentally ill, why would they not take you up on it?
Over the last several months, cities and counties across California have been releasing homeless counts. The results have been grim.
San Francisco was no exception. In May, the city released data that showed homelessness had jumped 17%. That was bad enough. Last week, a more complete accounting, known as a point-in-time count, showed the problem was even worse.
The count revealed that homelessness in a city that’s become a caricature of wealth inequality in the U.S. had actually increased by about 30% from 2017, when the last count took place.
Point in time counts are often unprofessional and unreliable. They’re carried out by parties who may have an interest in raising the numbers.
That said, there’s no reason to think that this same pattern hasn’t been holding. And the pattern is that throwing more money at what is, largely inaccurately, described as homelessness gets you more of it. It’s not fighting the problem. It’s enabling it.
But the count also shows how desperate advocates are to increase the number of potential clients any way they can.
The new numbers use a broader definition of what’s considered to be homeless that goes beyond what’s mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They include homeless people in jails, hospitals and residential treatment facilities.
If someone’s in jail, is he really homeless? But he’s certainly a client for the social welfare corps and the rest of the Democrat machine.
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