Michael Shellenberger Profile picture
CBR Chair of Politics, Censorship & Free Speech @UAustinOrg : Dao Journalism Winner : Time, "Hero of Environment" : Author, “Apocalypse Never,” "San Fransicko"

May 27, 2021, 8 tweets

Because the homeless crisis is not about spending too little money on housing, it's about spending too much money incentivizing self-destructive behaviors

When we change the incentives we will change the behaviors:

michaelshellenberger.substack.com/p/why-californ…

San Francisco, Los Angeles and other California cities spend significantly more on homelessness and have significantly worse outcomes

San Francisco spends nearly 2x more per capita than New York City but shelters one-third while New York shelters 95%

San Francisco spends 3x more per capita on total cash welfare than New York and Chicago and has far worse outcomes

San Francisco's cash welfare benefits per recipient are 2x higher than New York's

San Francisco has chosen to put more money into expensive "permanent supportive housing," mostly single resident occupancy hotel rooms, instead of lower-cost shelters

New York did the opposite, and the consequences can be seen on the streets

Overall, SF spends almost 3x more per homeless person than NYC, $32k/year as compared to $12k

Total homelessness in SF grew dramatically alongside a growing budget

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