The number of people sleeping outdoors dropped to under 3,000 in January, the lowest the city has recorded in a decade, according to a federal count.

And that figure has likely dropped even lower since Mayor London Breed — a Democrat in a difficult reelection fight this November — started ramping up enforcement of anti-camping laws in August following a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Homelessness in no way has gone away, and in fact grew 7%, to 8,300 in January, according to the same federal count.

But the problem is now notably out of the public eye, raising the question of where people have gone and whether the change marks a turning point in a crisis long associated with San Francisco.

  • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Eh. Using public well used spaces as your own personal living space is selfish and disrespectful of everyone else. You got a tent, go out and live in the woods.

    There is no reason to be in the city if you’re homeless other than access to drugs.

    • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      Or doctors. Or jobs. Or grocery stores.

      You’d be surprised how many homeless or car bound are employed.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      There is no reason to be in the city if you’re homeless other than access to drugs.

      Unless you are homeless and unemployed. Which is a thing. Especially in cities with ridiculously high rent like SF.

      You can’t really think that all the homeless people in cities are drug addicts.

    • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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      1 month ago

      There is no reason to be in the city if you’re homeless other than access to drugs.

      And access to literally everything else, which is why most people live in cities. Drugs are also very common in rural areas because young people have nothing better to do and there’s lots of open space to manufacture them.

      I’m certainly not a fan of people pitching tents on sidewalks, but let’s at least stick to legitimate arguments.

    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 month ago

      Using public well used spaces as your own personal living space is selfish and disrespectful of everyone else.

      Tell that to every person parking their car in public. It’s an insane waste of space and massive subsidy to the already privileged. We give free/cheap rent to cars EVERYWHERE but far far less for actual humans.

      If we ban cars, we would probably double the amount of land available housing. Not to mention the benefits in terms of imperialism, pollution, violence, equity, wastefulness, etc.

      • VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        Imperialism? Are you just throwing words you once heard around or do you have a genuinely unhinged understanding of the world?

      • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        How DARE people not respect others’ right to live in hell without resources of any kind!

        Leaving them to play fortnite in ditches isn’t better than actually trying to do anything, you just think it is because then they aren’t your responsibility.

        Do you have any idea how many homeless die daily in those encampments? No clean water, no medical care, violence.

        And while 90-95% are just trying to survive, the last 5-10% are often violent, and brutalize the others.

        If you want to designate zones and have some form of law enforcement around to deal with the bad ones, great, but your argument is to put them in a big pot, with some truly violent ones, and just pretend everything is OK.

        Where is your pity? Oh, it’s not your problem, you’re blessing them with their freedom to suffer out of your sight.

        • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 month ago

          Despite your wacky description of how you imagine being unhoused…

          I’m pretty sure people want to stay where they’re living rather than being violently attacked, evicted, and disappeared.

            • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              I am a Californian, and am not able to read your linked source because there is no option out of their cookie settings.

              Also those shelters have been closing during the middle of the day “because of high heat” for the last month here in San Diego. They also aren’t what I would consider to be remotely “clean.”

              Housing first is the way to go, we have 50 years of various studies that prove this. Shelters pretty much only help the people that own them.

              Edit: I also find your source to be suspect. It seems to be an AM radio broadcasts website. That pretty much narrows down what kind of political brain rot they have, and since conservatives historically don’t like facts and science, I can safely assume that your source is full of just as much shit as you are.

              • VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works
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                1 month ago

                ‘I can ignore everything you say because broudcasting on AM means they’re ontological evil!’

                Do you not understand that you’re every bit as crazy as the maga loons when you speak like that?

            • Knoxvomica@lemmy.ca
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              1 month ago

              Hey bro you should probably respond to that other guy, he’s making you look like an idiot who doesn’t know what hes talking about.

    • norimee@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Aren’t you a peach. I hope your username stands for Dick-karma and I hope that karma of being a dick comes back to you tenfold.

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
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      1 month ago

      I hope you never become homeless.

      Or maybe I hope you do, just enough so that you can understand what those people are going through.

    • puppy@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Eh. Using public well used spaces as your own personal living space is selfish and disrespectful of everyone else.

      Hopefully you support a ban on private vehicles then? Special big trucks and SUVs.