[pcrh]

I'm not sure whether to laud this or be shocked at the lack of more standard provisions.

Bath houses were a feature of cities for centuries.

[pstuart]

San Francisco had bath houses but they, um, weren't very clean and were shut down.

[pcrh]

I think San Francisco's former "bath houses" served a different function than that being provided by these showers. They were shut down at the height of the AIDS epidemic.

[rdl]

SF had "normal" bath houses before that.

[cjensen]

San Francisco has homeless shelters and a program to get transients into permanent housing. The homeless who need showers are the ones who refuse the program.

[pcrh]

I lived in San Francisco for a number of years, so I'm familiar with this issue.

The programs are underfunded and cannot cope with homeless people who are mentally ill or addicted.

The "voluntary homeless" are more likely to be found in the Haight and Golden Gate Park than in the Tenderloin.