Beyond Homelessness
The Chronicle is running a series Beyond Homelessness. They call the problem a civic disgrace. They have an editorial proclaim the reduction of homelessness to the extent humanly possible must be San Francisco’s No. 1 priority.
I applaud their call of civic duty. I am frustrated by the problem as anyone does. But grandstanding aside, I am not optimistic that the city will make much progress. In 10 or 20 years we will revisit the issue. I am afraid that the future may not be much of an improvement compared to today.
Their language concerns me. We talk about political will, about holding public officials responsible. But what if this is a problem so difficult that nobody really knows how to solve them? I compare this to some recurrent campaign to “cure cancer”. It makes a good slogan for a rally. The problem is, to the best knowledge of current science, we do not really know how to cure cancer. Some ambitious politicians might “declare war on cancer”, or set an arbitrary time line like solving the problem in 10 years. But I can see little scientific basis that would lead to such a solution. As much as we wish, these political campaigns, without scientific basis to back them up, will just fizzle out sooner or later.
Unfortunately I think this is likely what our current campaign on homelessness heading. If it is about providing enough funding and services, these will be easy problems well within the capability of the politician. After all, we are already pouring sizable resources to the tune of 240 millions dollars a year into this. But I am afraid these resources only scratch the surface. The deeper problem is that some people have lost their capability to take care of themselves and function in society. Fixing people is a much harder problem than fixing things, which mostly call for more funding. I don’t even know if the bureaucracy has any place in fixing a person. Much more helpful than the bureaucracy is perhaps the support from a social network.
To further the cure cancer analogy, it is commonly accepted that the best way to fight cancer is to prevent it from developing in the first place. Living a healthy lifestyle, proper nutrition, and early screening are way more effective than to treat cancer after it happens. So our attention should go beyond fixing the problem after it happens to minimize someone ending up in the street in the first place. In the long run, if we can reduce new homeless by prevention, it may be the most effective way to keep the problem under control.