Why San Francisco Is Beating Seattle on Homelessness
San Francisco's unsheltered homelessness is down 22%. Tents are down 85%. Youth homelessness down 54%. Veterans down 44%. Mayor Daniel Lurie — a progressive — did it by requiring sobriety in shelters, enforcing camping bans, partnering with the Salvation Army, and demanding results from every dollar spent. His approval rating? 74%.
Eight hundred miles north, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is running the experiment in the opposite direction. No sobriety requirements. No treatment expectations. Drug use is allowed inside shelters. $13 million unaccounted for. And new shelter sites keep landing in the city's poorest neighborhoods.
Charlie Harger breaks it down in today's commentary.
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