Editor:
In the May issue of the Sunset Beacon, representative Joel Engardio noted that SF spends, each year, around $646 million on homelessness – to little success by his own admission.
Engardio went on to suggest legal help as a partial solution. OK, but I have different solution.
Maybe my math is wrong, but if you take the $646 million currently spent yearly on this issue and divide it by the number of homeless in SF (7,745 – source SF Chronicle, Jan. 31, 2024) you get a figure of just over $83,000 per homeless person. Hmmmm ….
Assuming some of the homeless are made up of households of two and four, you get amounts around $166,000 and $332,000, respectively. I think a single person, family of two or four could afford a nice place (along with a few other things) if we just gave them these amounts of money straight out, instead of channeling it each year through a “Byzantine” architecture of less-than-useless non-profits, etc. Just a thought.
Paul Roscelli
Categories: letter to the editor
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 
Sounds like a good idea. But also consider that while these folks definitely need a place to live, many of them also need other social services, all of which cost money. So, unfortunately, draining the coffers to provide housing and “a few other things” wouldn’t be enough. Fixing the byzantine system, though, would be good for starters.
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