San Francisco’s Homeless Population Rises 17% to 17-Year High

San Francisco’s homeless population has risen 17% over the past two years, reaching its highest level in 17 years, according to figures the city has released. The increase comes as technology companies have brought new wealth to the city while also widening economic gaps, a dynamic that a Coalition for the Homeless official, Kelly Cutler, described in terms of housing costs. “The housing costs have not gone down, so why does anyone expect the amount of people suffering from housing shortages to go down,” Cutler said.

The city published a preliminary report summarizing a count conducted the previous Thursday, which found 8,011 homeless people living in San Francisco. According to the mayor’s office, the rise was largely due to an increase in the number of people living in cars, a group that made up 68% of those counted. The same count showed a 14% decrease in the number of homeless veterans and a 10% decrease among teenagers.

San Francisco conducts this count every two years, as required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The figure is considered a conservative estimate because the federal definition of homelessness is broader than the city’s definition. The city plans to publish a more accurate report in July. For comparison, the count taken at the same time of year in 2017 was 6,858, while a later count showed the city actually had 7,499 homeless residents.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a statement that the initial results show “we still have a lot of work to do when it comes to sheltering homeless people, providing opportunities to get out of this situation as well as preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place.”

In November, San Francisco approved a 0.5% surcharge on companies with revenues above $50 million, with the proceeds intended for services for homeless residents. The high-tech community strongly opposed the measure, and some critics blame the industry for creating the economic gaps that contributed to the crisis. The surcharge was intended to raise $300-250 million in additional revenue for homeless services, but it has not been implemented so far because of legal matters.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Hebrew)