What it really costs to help the homeless. And how businesses can do more
A quiz for you, dear readers. Which one of these is true? (A) Elvis is still alive. (B) The Loch Ness monster exists. (C) San Francisco spends more than $40,000 per homeless person each year. It’s a trick question. None of them is true, not even close. People all over the world hold deep beliefs that are patently silly. Here, spending on the homeless ranks near the top of the list.
Of the $250 million Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing spent last year, two-thirds went to people who aren’t homeless at all. That’s the amount spent on rental subsidies, eviction prevention and permanent supportive housing. Those are great causes, but they’re aimed at preventing people from becoming homeless or to house the formerly homeless.
Every day: We need your help!
Come by our office anytime, all day or just for an hour to help us with phonebank, merchant walks, or lit drops. Three weeks until Election Day and we need your help!
- Date: Monday, October 22 to Friday, October 26
- Time: 11am - 8pm
- Location: 468 Turk St. Ring the doorbell to get in.
- We’ll provide a script, phones and snacks!
For more info, call or text Field Director Mackenzie at 480-239-3889.
Monday - Thursday: Yes on C + Yes on 10 Phonebank!
Three more weeks until Election Day and we need all hands on deck! Can you commit to phonebanking with us once or twice a week until November 6th?
- Date: Monday, October 15 to Thursday, October 18
- Time: 4 pm - 8:30 pm (come for as long as you can)
- Location: 100 Kansas St.
- More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/262060944447058/
We’ll provide a script, phones and food for the evening, bring YOURSELF + some friends :)
Bay Area Reporter and Sing Tao endorses Prop C!
The B.A.R. and Sing Tao has made endorsements for the November 6 election, and both include an endorsement for Prop C!
A doctor’s plea: When treatment and cure isn’t enough
What do you do as a physician when you have all of the best medicines in the world, but can’t treat a patient’s disease simply because they don’t have a place to call home?
This was the question I struggled with as I entered Ms. Anderson’s hospital room. Ms. Anderson was a San Francisco native and shipyard worker for the majority of her adult life before she was laid off over thirty years ago. Due to a work injury, she couldn’t find another job and lost her home, living on the streets for the past three decades. Like the overwhelming majority of homeless in San Franciscans, she was formerly housed in San Francisco.
I had met Ms. Anderson two weeks earlier when she came into the Emergency Department with a broken hip. We admitted her into the hospital for a work-up and ultimately found that she had a new diagnosis of a cancer called lymphoma. Because of her memory impairment, we had the same heartbreaking conversation multiple times, with her desperately asking for treatment for her potentially curable cancer, because without it she would surely die.
The Status Quo is Unacceptable
The broad base of San Franciscans supporting Prop C, including small business owners, faith leaders, teachers, doctors and the LGBTQ community, are extremely disappointed by the opposition from Mayor London Breed.
"Opponents of this measure have argued that if we impose more taxes on these companies they will exit The City and head to more corporate-friendly climes, or that we will lose jobs. Mayor London Breed, in opposing the measure on Friday, warned of “the inevitable flight of headquarter companies—and jobs—from San Francisco.”
We don’t buy it.
The business community is the first to complain about the negative impact of San Francisco’s highly visible homeless problem. We hear constantly that conventions and conferences are leaving the city, and that it hurts tourism."
City analysis concludes SF Prop. C would have minimal impact on jobs
If San Francisco voters pass Proposition C — a measure to raise taxes on the city’s largest businesses to fund a variety of homelessness services — in November, the economic impact would be “small in the context of the city’s job market and economy.”
The report, released by San Francisco’s chief economist, Ted Egan, said that if Prop. C passes, it “will likely reduce homelessness in San Francisco, improving health outcomes and reducing the use of acute and emergency services in the city.”
Read San Francisco's chief economist report here; read this article in the Chronicle
Si en la Prop 10 & C! Bancos de Llamadas en Español
Si está molesto por los desalojos, la falta de vivienda, y el crisis de rentas..esta es su oportunidad de hacer algo al respecto! Ayude a informar a votantes en San Francisco sobre las dos proposiciones más importantes en décadas!
¡Hagamos historia y pasemos los dos! ¿No nos ayudarás?
Proporcionaremos un guión y entrenamiento, teléfonos y comida. Por favor invita a tus amistades!
San Francisco ballot initiative would tax richest businesses to help homeless
San Francisco, the most expensive city in the country, has a crisis-level homelessness problem — like most other major U.S. cities do. There are over 7,000 people in San Francisco experiencing homelessness, but each night there are wait lists of 1,000 or more people trying to secure one of the available 2,300 temporary shelter beds. A coalition of housing advocates is attempting to help put San Francisco’s under-served people back on their feet. This November, a ballot measure will ask voters to support a plan that will increase taxes on the city’s largest businesses so they can raise the funds needed to cut down the lengthy wait list for temporary shelter and provide essential services that get people off the street and into permanent housing.
SFUSD board backs corporate tax hike to fund homeless and housing services
San Francisco school board members on Tuesday declared their support for a ballot measure coming before voters this November that aims to address The City’s homelessness crisis by taxing its largest businesses. Under Proposition C, the “Our City Our Home” initiative, companies grossing more than $50 million annually would be subjected to a 0.5 percent raise in gross receipts taxes, creating a projected $300 million in revenue to fund homeless services and housing.