Homeless

For years people opposed to welfare presented the case of the woman using food stamp to buy beer and then driving off in her Cadillac. This may have happened somewhere but this in no way represents the vast majority of people on public assistance. Something similar is happening in today's news. People are saying that the homeless are represented by a young mother with kids escaping and an abusive husband. The vast majority of homeless are people suffering from mental illness or drug abuse and a goodly number of these are veterans with PDSD. The solution to this problem is not giving them drugs or money or living quarters but providing rehab facilities. The city’s 2020–21 budget for the Department of Homeless and Supportive Housing is about $852 million. Here is some info from The Hoover Institute on March 8, 2021. San Francisco estimates about 8,000 homeless living in the city. The $852 million budget works out to about $106,500 per homeless individual. Just imagine how much medical treatment and housing could be provided at that level of support.