A Cautionary Tale from San Francisco

My horse trainer's name was Kay Fontain. Wonderful woman, ran into her the other day and we caught up on what it is she's doing, which is still the same, training Horses... gawd I miss that life! One of the great things she taught me about training horses was “To Make The Right Answer Easy, and the Wrong Answer Hard.” What strikes me is how, every day, I see government, through “good intentions,” do exactly the opposite.

I first heard of the “Housing First” homeless model in a Livermore City Town Hall meeting specifically on the Homeless. It took place on Thursday, May 26, 2009, and Panelists included then Police Chief Steve Sweeney, Jean Prashure, head of Human Services for the City of Livermore and representatives from a variety of private groups. But it was representative from Taxpayer Funded Abode that pounded her fist on the table chanting “Housing First! Housing First!”

Okay... Housing First... house the Homeless and see what happens...

Well, now we know. The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting today that even though the homeless have been housed, little has changed. There's still rampant pan-handling, drug use, alcohol abuse in public, urinating and defecating on the streets...

On a far smaller scale, the Volunteers with the Warming Centre can tell you stories about how people who stay there do not suddenly become better people simply because they have a roof over their heads. They do not grow a sense of responsibility or a sense of how their bad behaviour affects those around them.

Outside Holy Cross Church on Mocho, the neighbours began to complain, in February if I remember correctly, about garbage being left on their property. The police had to be called several times, and I've spoken of this.

The very first year I was homeless and began staying at the Warming Centre I remember Kerry complaining one night about how the volunteers were treating the guests like they were in prison. It was after lights out, and one of the volunteers had told her to settle down, and she began her rant on how bad it was. I'm guessing, because I don't exactly recall, but there were probably twenty people there that night. The Serve the City Project has had similar issues with people doing drugs and drinking in the Vineyard Christian Fellowship parking lot on Monday Mornings. Neither of these things happen all the time, but they happen often enough to be a problem.

Imagine these attitudes times one or two hundred. Imagine hundreds of people balking at rules set down.

San Francisco, what do you get when you reward Bad Behaviour? You really believe you're going to get good behaviour?

Any of you who have been following this blog (what is this, the 41st of them? Minus two Baseball entries...) know that I consider standards of behaviour very, very important. I even made up a “Code of Conduct” designed to give those of you out there who are homeless or may find yourselves homeless a model by which to act and not get yourselves into trouble. But what happens when the very worst behaviour not only has no consequence, but is rewarded?

The answer should be obvious, but for those of you government funded types out there who can't seem to find two brain cells to rub together, here's the answer: you get MORE BAD BEHAVIOUR!

Yeah, San Francisco City Council and to all you glorified welfare recipients who “work” for the city, what you're in need of is a drill sergeant!

Putting R. Lee Ermey in charge San Fancisco's homeless might be a good idea. Don't laugh! I'm not joking! People forced to adhere to standards rise to the occasion, especially when survival is involved!

Being homeless is tough. Don't let anyone tell you different. I'm the first one to admit this. But, guess what, you homeless out there are far more resilient than you think you are. You wouldn't be alive and homeless if you were not. You need to get that first and foremost if you haven't already.

Homelessness is already one of the biggest reality checks anyone can face.

Who else needs to get it are those greedy glorified welfare recipients that want to use tax dollars on you to expand their power... I'm not at all confident they will because of government employee and elected official greed. There are very real agendas involved. It would take a whole lot more energy than any one person has to dissolve them. This whole “Housing First” is just one more thing that feeds such agendas. It's only one of many reasons why I am violently opposed to the City of Livermore having anything to do with helping the homeless.

Every single time government gets involved in any kind of social engineering it fails and has unintended negative consequences. The Housing First program in San Francisco is a failure. It has solved nothing, is solving nothing and will never solve anything. You, San Francisco, have made wrong answers easy.