San Francisco Mayor to Increase Homeless Relief

To combat chronic homelessness, San Francisco Mayor Lee will stand behind a simple cure: give them housing. His two-year plan is "the biggest expansion of residential complexes for indigents in San Francisco in more than a decade."

Supportive housing expansion lies at the center of the plan: "Chief among the proposals is spending $14.5 million to turn five single-room occupancy hotels with a total of 500 rooms into city-leased supportive-housing complexes."

Corresponding programs to bolster personal service will receive funding. "Another $1.8 million is set aside to improve the case manager-to-resident ratio in most of the city's supportive-housing complexes, from the current 1 to 100 down to 1 to 35, which studies have shown is a much more successful ratio."

The social effects of tech often get bad press. However, "the new funding plan is mainly possible because of tech-driven increases in city tax revenue, Lee and others said. 'Some people vilify the new techies coming in, but the fact is that when the city has a great economy like this, then we can invest,' said Randy Shaw, head of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which will help run some of the new housing."