{"id":574607,"date":"2021-06-26T15:35:53","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T19:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=574607"},"modified":"2021-06-26T15:35:56","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T19:35:56","slug":"san-francisco-weighs-continuing-homeless-encampment-program-that-costs-60k-per-tent-each-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/san-francisco-weighs-continuing-homeless-encampment-program-that-costs-60k-per-tent-each-year\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco Weighs Continuing Homeless Encampment Program That Costs $60k Per Tent Each Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsan-francisco-weighs-continuing-homeless-encampment-program-that-costs-60k-per-tent-each-year%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=574607&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/San-Francisco-Safe-Sleeping-Site.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>Elected officials in San Francisco will soon decide whether the city should keep spending millions on \u201csafe sleeping villages\u201d for homeless people as its COVID-19 emergency response winds down.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/article\/S-F-officials-want-15-million-for-tent-sites-16269998.php\">According<\/a> to the San Francisco Chronicle, the city\u2019s homelessness department \u201cis pushing to continue an expensive tent encampment program that it says is crucial for keeping people off the sidewalks, despite its high price tag of more than $60,000 per tent, per year.\u201d The outlet reported that \u201cthe program currently costs $18.2 million for about 260 tents,\u201d and \u201cthe department is now asking for $15 million in the upcoming fiscal year for a similar number of tents, which amounts to about $57,000 per tent per year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some of the sites are operated by nonprofits, while the tent program is entirely financed through a business tax measure overwhelmingly passed by voters in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the funding is approved, San Francisco will pay about twice the median cost of a one-bedroom apartment for people to sleep in tents for the second year in a row,\u201d the Chronicle reported.<\/p>\n<p>The city established six safe sleeping villages during the pandemic to provide a place for homeless people to social distance, sleep, receive three meals a day, maintain personal hygiene, and have access to social services. There are rented bathroom and shower facilities at the sites and 24-hour security \u2014 amenities that absorb most of the costs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a big deal to have showers and bathrooms, and I don\u2019t dispute that,\u201d said Supervisor Hillary Ronen at a recent Budget and Finance Appropriations Committee meeting. \u201cBut the cost just doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/homeless-housing\/story\/2021-05-07\/san-francisco-tests-campsites-homelessness-solution\">reported<\/a> that \u201cpeople from a needle exchange frequently visit\u201d one of the sites where \u201ca canopy offers people a shaded space to charge their phones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Chronicle provides more details:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"29\">\n<p><em>The discussion comes as the city prepares to wind down its homeless hotel program, which is currently sheltering about 2,000 people. While the homeless department has promised that every hotel resident will be offered a housing placement, the city is still grappling with a tight housing market and limited shelter options for the thousands on its streets.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Shireen McSpadden, director of the department, said group shelters are still not allowed to operate at full capacity, despite [Democratic Mayor London] Breed lifting all other COVID-19 restrictions on June 15.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The department said it is still \u201creviewing\u201d federal shelter health guidelines and waiting on state public health guidance to \u201cfinalize the local shelter reopening plan and timeline.\u201d The capacity reductions are significant: For example, there are currently only 91 guests allowed at the 200-bed Navigation Center on the Embarcadero, the department said.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Because of the shelter limitations and the upcoming closure of some hotels, <\/em><em>McSpadden said she feels \u201cstrongly\u201d that the city should maintain the tent program at its current level.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Many transients prefer the sites to some temporary housing programs with curfews and strict rules, saying they have the freedom to come and go as they choose.<\/p>\n<p>According to officials, some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/homeless-housing\/story\/2021-05-07\/san-francisco-tests-campsites-homelessness-solution\">estimate<\/a>\u00a0that San Francisco\u2019s homeless population is close to 20,000 people, and the villages have reduced the number of tents and large encampments on city streets.<\/p>\n<p>Jeff Kositsky previously ran the city\u2019s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and is now in charge of its unsheltered homeless response. In May, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/homeless-housing\/story\/2021-05-07\/san-francisco-tests-campsites-homelessness-solution\">told the L.A. Times<\/a> that the situation \u201chas to do with the failures of our brand of capitalism, institutional racism,\u201d and \u201ca broken behavioral health system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is manage a really deep systemic issue where homelessness is a very visual depiction of our failures as a society,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elected officials in San Francisco will soon decide whether the city should keep spending millions on \u201csafe sleeping villages\u201d for homeless people as its COVID-19 emergency response winds down.According to &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2281429,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/San-Francisco-Safe-Sleeping-Site.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"San Francisco Weighs Continuing Homeless Encampment Program That Costs $60k Per Tent Each Year","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-574607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/San-Francisco-Safe-Sleeping-Site.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"San Francisco Weighs Continuing Homeless Encampment Program That Costs $60k Per Tent Each Year","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2281429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}