[henrikschroder]

Because solutions that work (Free mental health care, free housing, more social workers) are not palatable to the people who live there, despite the city having more than enough money to actually pay for those solutions.

So an endless parade of soup kitchens it is.

[traderjane]

It's hard to imagine surrounding cities are different because of free mental health care, free housing, and more social service support for homelessness.

[henrikschroder]

Homelessness is not a problem that affects all cities alike.

It's not the case that Daly City, Mountain View, Pleasanton etc, have all solved the problem without telling SF how to do it. In reality, the surrounding cities simply don't have the problem for various reasons and environmental factors, so they don't need to solve the problem in the first place.

[A2017U1]

My experience in very poor metropolises across the plamet is that it's an entirely simple problem to solve. My experience in some of the most expensive cities on Earth is that providing housing for the poor devalues the only nestegg most people have and is widely railed against by the masses.

Its a Ponzi scheme first and foremost, housing simply cannot outpace wages, it's impossible. When it all comes crashing down is someone elses problem though hey :)

[cutler]

There are plenty of soup kitchens here in London and reliance on them is rising.