Ari Burack and Luke Thomas of FogCityJournal.com covered Wednesday’s rally and hearing for shelter reform here. Check out their story!

Watch the story here.

This week’s Bay Guardian carries a look inside San Francisco’s shelter system from under-cover reporter Amanda Witherell. (Be sure also to check out Amanda’s and intern Bryan Cohen’s blog coverage of their experiences.)

Building on Witherell’s coverage, the Guardian also ran an editorial supporting some serious positive changes in the shelter system.

In an area of Southern California where homelessness is illegal in many surrounding towns and the only homeless shelter for miles hosts a whopping fourteen shelter beds, where housing prices and rent are exorbitant and jobs are hard to come by, a unique community of individuals has formed on a land plot owned by the local airport. Clusters of tents blow in the wind on this patch of dirt between railroad tracks and a small run down neighborhood. The San Gabriel Mountains jut up picturesquely along the horizon. This is Tent City, also known to many as Camp Hope, in Ontario, California. It is a city that has been a talking point in national debates because of its stark resemblance to the Hoovervilles that popped up during the Great Depression. According to officials, it is a place where people who have fallen homeless can reside safely. Those who live there, however, know that it is a place for them to go where they will be out of sight of the rest of the neighboring communities.

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San Francisco’s got a brand new sheriff in town and he is sitting pretty. He’s getting $167,000 a year, but he is not running a department. He is sitting in the Mayor’s bullpen, but he is paid for by the Human Services Agency.

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By 7 a.m., the mechanism of this metropolis that we call New Orleans had begun to slowly churn. The temperature the night before was said to be in the 30s; last night, maybe only in the 40s. The sounds of motorists impatiently blowing their horns; cars coming to a screeching halt; the noise of the streetcar ringing its bell and that occasional “pop” as it raced down the rails could be heard several blocks away. But I guess you get used to the sounds of traffic when you live under a freeway.

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The San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ resolution endorsing the HealthCare Action Team’s (HAT) recommendations for procedures on homeless patient hospital discharge went to the three-member Board of Supervisors City Operations and Neighborhood Services committee in January, where it was discussed and continued after a vote by Supervisors Alioto-Pier, Chu, and McGoldrick.

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Our society’s current insatiable appetite to see homeless people disappear from our parks, streets, business districts, and tourist areas requires us all to go back to one of the very first lessons we are taught as infants:

Just because you can no longer see it, doesn’t mean it no longer exists. Think of this the next time you play peek-a-boo with a toddler. Now you see the homeless people. Now you don’t. But either way, we’re still here: Peek-a-boo!

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To the Editors:

It is a sad occasion to walk along the streets of our great city and see homeless men, women, and children sleeping in doorways or alleys, and in public parks. These persons, instead of working, spend most of their energy begging strangers for spare change or left-over food. They do not contribute to the economy or the health of San Francisco. They are, in fact, a great burden on the City coffers, on the social service system, and on the generosity of our good citizens. They also weigh down the criminal justice system, which continually has to arrest them for sundry misdemeanors. Who can blame our gentry and their elected representatives from experiencing “compassion fatigue” and frustration with seeing so many useless individuals residing on the streets?

The City’s mothers and fathers have proposed a community court to deal with what are called “quality of life” crimes, whether public urination or drug dealing. These courts have been re- ported successful in other communities in saving money and manpower. But they seem to miss the underlying point: homeless people are an unending burden on our community. No matter how many are housed, many more come to take their places.

I propose that the City of San Francisco consider a program wherein any individual or family not housed or gainfully employed after a certain future date, be “referred” to a facility where they will be cleaned up, have their medical ailments attended to, and, most importantly, be well fed. Very well fed, for I believe that these individuals, who are not contributing to society’s welfare, might contribute their own flesh and bones to discerning people of quality who can afford to pay for such succulent fare. (more…)