Adoption might mean provide housing in an in-law unit, or feeding them with leftovers, or training them to do chores (gardening, cleaning, etc), but not providing them with money because the homeless may use it for drugs, alcohol, etc. Otto Thav Read This Posty »

Investigate, Identify then penalize all the many SF "principal" tenants who, in turn, rent at a substantial profit to second tenants. The city is filled with such cases wherein "principal tenant" benefited rent control for a number of years, then in turn, say that they are "sharing" their apt. at a current market rent rate to second tenant. Often time, it is not really sharing but ending up with only a room w/small closet and sharing kitchen and bathroom - there is hardly or no sharing of the living room; yet, principal rents to second tenant often time, double rent or Read This Posty »

I would like to suggest that you consider expanding the Southern boundary of the proposed new Community Court System beyond Harrison Street and to encompass all streets between Harrison and AT&T Park. I will list for you the reasons why this new court system should encompass AT&T Park and the surrounding East SoMa neighborhood. 1. We are faced with several law breaking corner liquor stores selling to already inebriated patrons. We have repeatedly relayed our displeasure to them and the consequences to the neighborhood they make their living in, but our complaints fall on deaf ears. 2. The above mentioned inebriates use our Read This Posty »

I can't take credit for this; it's just something I saw on the internet that an NYU student has come up with.  Basically, it is a DIY plan to making affordable & collapsible cardboard tents with an integrated radio network for the homeless. http://www.shellhouse.org/ Chris Derry Read This Posty »

Dear Gavin, I think one solution for the Tenderloin would be to make it hard for people to deal/do drugs on the street.  Start busting people, start a police presence in the area, use undercover cops.  Don't make a huge deal out of it, just do it.  The cops can work in teams of 2-4 and systematically jail people.  Make it hard for people to smoke crack on the street.  Make them scared of jail again.  Might I remind you that plenty of children are in the area.  Another idea for improving the TL is to paint the street lines again.  Read This Posty »

Every day I walk from the Powell Street Muni station to my office on Sutter Street.  There is trash on the sidewalks on Ellis Street, Mason Street and Sutter Street.  How about if we introduced a program which would fine the owners of the businesses if they do not regularly clean up the sidewalks and street in front of their business?  It's another made in New York program which we should copy. Also, there are many of the recycling and garbage containers which have strewn all around them from people rummaging through them at night.  I don't have a solution for Read This Posty »

One way to help the complaints of slow public transit is to get rid of many of the bus stops. Buses make so many stops that it takes 35 to 40 minutes to get from Arguello Blvd to Downtown. Maybe you have not noticed, but a bus stops at almost every block, sometimes twice on the same block, at each end of the street. This is ridiculous!   Bus stops should be spaced at about every three blocks, like the limiteds, and at only one corner of that block. Make the limiteds stop at every 5th or 6th block. If you fear Read This Posty »

Dear Mr. Newsom,                         As people come over the Bay Bridge they see the wonderful views and must think WOW, what a GREAT city.  Then they get off at 5th Street and Harrison and reality sets in. They see 1-3 people begging at this corner.  They see trash cans that have ravaged and their contents dumped by scavengers. Is this the first real impression we want to give visitors? Much has been done at this corner.  The street sweepers come every night and clean one side and then the other Read This Posty »

Using the "Helpfair Compensation Method" to compensate members of the homeless popultion to help clean the streets and recycle the trash. Joseph Shelton Read This Posty »

Solution is a difficult question, however, first may I suggest that you define the problem as it should be defined.  There are "Homeless" and there are "street people". I believe a homeless person is in a situation where they are without a job, income, or the ability to secure housing.  In others words they want to be housed.  What I see on the streets of SF are street people. People who choose to be homeless and would rather spend what money they have on substance abuse.  I know that substance abuse can lead to homelessness but maybe we need to Read This Posty »

Just an idea and I am sure one that has been tossed about already.... Have Delancey Street partner with city and convert some of the empty buildings that dot the city to housing units. Owners of the buildings could be offered a write-off for converting and could be given monthly rent. Tenants could be employed or given discounts if they assist in maintaining building via certain chores. Partner with senior groups to convert some units for senior/low-income and consider a buddy system with younger tenants. As we all know, each of us is connected to each other and the world around Read This Posty »

I have discovered to my horror that the way the SFHA administers the federal Section 8 Voucher program is really a windfall subsidy to property owners.  Millions and millions could be used in housing the homeless rather than lining the pockets of landlord. Property owners should not be permitted to charge the SFHA more than they get from existing tenants in good standing merely because the tenant receives and starts using a Section 8 Voucher. This is a filthy little secret making property owners richer at a time when the City can not afford to provide housing to people in desperate need. David Read This Posty »

Choose a random series of days for cops (on foot or bicycles) to show up at locations where homeless people are a nuisance.   Not every day, not every other day, but at a random interval so that homeless people don't get into the habit of going to specific places. Name Withheld Read This Posty »

1) I think a tax break or a gift or discounted fast-passes should be given to people that take MUNI. When I walk down Columbus in the morning everyday to work, 97% of all the cars have solo drivers (on cell phones, honking). 2) I know this sounds heartless, but, why not send the homeless to the Capitol?  Maybe that would open their eyes to the growing problem. Paul Weaver Read This Posty »

Make resource numbers and addresses easily accessible to the homeless. A project initiative to hand around cards, or put up billboards where they are needed most could spread information about healthcare, food, and shelter. This should also show philanthropists handing out money that there are resources for the homeless and they need not make matters worse by making those resources obsolete. Jacqueline Goldstein Read This Posty »

There are many homeless people capable of and desirous of employment but  cannot find jobs for various reasons.  Most of them have limited skills, no employment history, or cannot function in the conventional Capitalistic system.  The City needs to design and develop appropriate types of jobs for all these types of people and create an employment agency for placing them into those jobs.  Designing such non-establishment jobs would take some imagination and creativity.  In addition, such jobs would also require an original approach to the current work-ethic, prevailing management philosophy, and the wage-slave nature of the modern American workplace.  I Read This Posty »

We all agree on two key issues, homelessness and desire to clean up our beautiful city.  There must be some funds available for a city program that could give a minimum wage to the unemployed homeless person who would work in teams to clean up trash and cover graffiti.  The program could have a name with dignity like San Francisco City Services, and participants could have a colored t shirt that recognized they are employed workers adding to the quality of our city life.  This is an absolute win/win.  As with any large city, plenty of funds are misspent, lets Read This Posty »

Regarding homelessness, perhaps the following idea might be useful: If we looked at the operating budgets of every organization that helped the homeless, we'd probably see that although this work provides employment for a lot of people, that there is inefficiency and overlap, because the organizations are each having to "reinvent the wheel". My guess us that the expenditure per capita for each homeless person is high and that there is room for a lot of streamlining if the organizations could work together in a better coordinated way. This is a vague idea, but instead of the city doing all of the work Read This Posty »

1)  Promote home ownership by people who already live in the city.  People who own houses in the community are invested in the community and will help to care for it.  2)  Sharply limit the number of "investment properties" that can be purchased in the city.  3)  Provide funding for long-term mental health care.  I am a mental health professional, and work every day with people who will never be able to support themselves.  These people need our care and compassion.  They do not need *bus tickets out of town* where they will become "someone else's problem".   4)  For homeless Read This Posty »