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by petesergeant 1285 days ago
> What is the solution to this

Many other large cities handle this well, so it seems to pretend there aren't solutions? I've spent recent time in London, New York, and Bangkok -- as well as a number of smaller cities -- and there's nothing like what I saw in SF.
2 comments
orwin 1285 days ago
So, from what I've heard when I was 'visiting' tenderloin: there used to be a lot of vets who came in SF after the Vietnam war (heard that from a Vietnam veteran btw, so it might be a bit of a perception bias), and they basically were accepted. This brought more vets/homeless, and with them drugs to 'treat' PTSD, and this started a feedback loop.
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ratg13 1285 days ago
New York paid for bus,train, and plane tickets for homeless to make them someone else’s problem.

https://nypost.com/2019/10/26/nyc-homeless-initiative-sends-...

Would not file this under “handling it well”

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petesergeant 1285 days ago
“The Special One-Time Assistance (SOTA) program provides one year’s full rent up-front for eligible Department of Homeless Services (DHS) clients to move within or outside New York City.”

So, NYC gives homeless people a year of rent anywhere those people think they’ll be able to make it work, including NYC. And the program seems to save the city money.

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soraki_soladead 1284 days ago
According to this the SOTA program requires the income to make rental payments beyond the one year: https://www.nyc.gov/site/hra/help/sota.page

“SOTA is only provided to households whom DSS has determined will likely have the future ability to pay the rent once they no longer have the SOTA grant to cover their rent.”

That sounds like a very high bar for people in the situation of needing rent coverage and especially if they have mental illness and/or drug addiction. Note that busing people to another city appears to be a separate program.

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