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.
The story goes on to say that numbers are incredibly hard to count, they’ve put a lot of work into what is supposed to be transitional shelter (single occupant units, repurposed hotels, etc), and work is ongoing to make these transitional housing options truly transitional by working toward affordable housing options in/around the city. Part of the solution is to get people off the “street”, but there’s more work to be done to ensure there are options for those who can’t use the current temporary housing (due to drug use, breaking the housing rules, not comfortable with the mandatory checks, etc). Also still work to be done to, like one person in the story mentioned, ensure that this temporary housing is indeed transitional and not permanent. Their funding is less this year so there’s concern the progress being made will be difficult to improve upon.