Does anyone else think Newsom's homeless count is crap?

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

They're crowing about a 28% "drop in homelessness" since 2005. The Chron is printing a puff piece about the mayor's great program every day. I wonder why so little about their methodology has been printed.

The 1990 US Census counted 11 people on the streets of Houston and 303 in Redding, and that study was designed by some of the country's leading sociologists. You can't tell me that the two datapoints they're comparing are even vaguely comparable.

I think all this "tough love" makes rich liberals feel good, but it's going to create as much homelessness as it solves. I don't think GA is why homeless people are in SF, and I don't think offering shelter reduces the street population--it just increases the shelter population. Newsom is sort of amusing in a quixotic way when he says he is going to "end homelessness". What bothers me is when government and the press collaborate to foist sleazy numbers off on the public. I hope some real stakeholders (San Franciscans) will demand their right to know how this book was cooked.

[Sequoia]

1. Bogus, there's way more than that. Way more!

Must've been counting on a rainy day.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

5. The last was in October and this one was January

HUD guidelines for the count changed and I'm sure they surveyed different areas of the county.

[Webster Green]

2. I heard a SF homeless advocate on the radio the other day...

She said it was crap (not in those words), due to the method used to gather the data. She said there were far more on the streets than those reported in the recent survey.

[BrotherBuzz]

3. Link?

I understand San Francisco gave money directly to the homeless, and the amount given was significantly higher than other Bay area counties, and that was a reason for homeless people migrating to city and county of San Francisco in the first place. Is it possible that when the direct money was cut off, homeless people just drifted to other counties? Heck, a warmer climate is all but a Bart ride away.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

4. I'm not sure what you want a link to

But I can tell you the people you see on the street generally aren't getting any money from the county. They're getting, if anything, SSI. The losers will be people in the ghetto who are precariously housed or doubled up and depend on GA for their basic needs--and some of these people will inevitably be recruited into the "dirty bums" downtown that actually worry rich white people. SF is more expensive to live in for anyone, housed or homeless, so I don't think the higher check was really the bonanza that the media has described.

[EFerrari]

6. Yes, Virginia, Newsom's count is cr@P

I haven't trusted his office (notice I'm trying to distinguish between the guy and the office) when I called during a homeless sweep and they didn't know anything about it.

Later it was reported, they didn't know anything about it until it was over.

I know that's not true.

Maybe I'm a horrible person and am going straight to hell. But half the reason Newsom took on gay marriage was to switch the spotlight from the homeless issues he had no clue about.

[xxqqqzme]

7. a homeless shelter in Orange County

had a steak dinner to gather homeless for counting. (Homeless stay 'hidden' during the day to avoid being harrassed and well, these counters just counldn't find any in Orange County) Anyway about 120 homeless turned out 4 the dinner but not ONE of the counters showed up until about 10:30 and wondered where all the homeless were. So guess what, there R no homeless in Orange County!!!

[Blue_State_Elitist]

8. Which shelter?

Just interested because I do some volunteer work at the Catholic Worker.