Gavin Gifts Homeless Program With Permanent Home

Tourists may come to San Francisco for the amazing views, the food, and the weirdos. But the one thing that seems to amaze everyone is just how many homeless people there are.

As Gavin Newsom prepares to leave the Mayor's office for a stint as "lite" Governor in Sacramento, he'll leave behind Project Homeless Connect as his legacy. The attempt to address homelessness launched six years ago, with hundreds of volunteers interviewing transient people to figure out how to meet their needs.

According to a press release from the mayor's office, homelessness dropped 40 percent during Gavin's administration. That's thanks to initiatives like Care Not Cash and Homeward Bound, which gives out free bus tickets to homeless people who have someone waiting for them in another city.

Over the last six years, nearly 40,000 people have used Project Homeless Connect's services. That's about equal to the entire population of San Marcos.

Among those services are dental care, HIV testing, substance abuse treatment, legal advice, voice mail, job placement, and needle exchanges. It may be expensive to provide all of these amenities, but it's far less than the cost of allowing people to suffer and degrade on the streets. Proving emergency care is much more expensive than periodic interventions.

"We’re moving in a different direction on homelessness, putting politics aside in favor of smart policy and measurable outcomes, with a 40 percent reduction in homelessness on our streets since I’ve been mayor," said Newsom. "We must continue to make progress on homelessness, and the new permanent home for Project Homeless Connect will help ensure we keep moving in the right direction."

This week Newsom announced that Project Homeless Connect would be getting a permanant office at 187 Golden Gate Avenue.

So far, the program's attracted plenty of interest from other cities. Over 200 cities around the world are looking at duplicating the program.

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