On the poor, of course. President Obama told governors that the federal stimulus was meant to “help ensure that you don’t need to make cuts to essential services Americans rely on now more than ever.” So “How to spend it?” would seem like an easy question to answer. But homeless advocates in San Francisco are afraid it won’t play out that simply. Many fear that the proposed cuts in the budget will still go through despite the emergency funding.

“The mayor’s office is still going to make the cuts and send the money out the back door … to other areas of the budget.” Supervisor John Avalos told the San Francisco Chronicle.

At St. Anthony’s we’re already begining to see the effects of the closing of publicly funded food programs in San Franicso. People are still hungry — but now they’re traveling from across town to stand in line at St. Anthony Dining Room. More families, having recently lost their insurance, are visiting St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic. We’ve bailed out banks and car manufacturers already, why not try a human bailout this time?

Nearly five years after the Mayor Gavin Newsom’s release of the Ten-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, the majority of San Francisco’s homeless population is still out in the rain. Mayor Newsom created a 33-member council of advocates, legislators and service providers to advise the most effective strategy to end chronic homelessness, and guide his policy-making in the areas of homelessness.

“The plan produced by the Ten-Year Planning Council is both a blueprint and a bold step toward a new and revolutionary way to break the cycle of chronic homelessness,” concluded Newsom, in his office’s press release following the release of the plan in June 2004.

It unfortunately appears this blueprint has been collecting dust, and lays the ground work for a home the homeless will never see.

The plan’s central strategy is a housing first model. The “Housing First” model emphasizes immediate placement of the individual in permanent housing, where they have access to services, on site, necessary to stabilize the individuals and keep them housed.

A few key statistics found in the Ten-Year Plan:

The cost to provide one chronically homeless person permanent, supportive housing, with treatment and care is nearly one-fourth of the cost to care for the same person using Emergency Room services and/or incarceration costs San Francisco. ($16,000/year versus $61,000/year.)

San Francisco has the highest per capita rate of homelessness of any major American city.

7,000 homeless people live in SF at a given time. Some estimates put the number as high as 15,000.

There are 1,623 homeless kids in the San Francisco school system.

Up to 20% of homeless people have full-time jobs; 30% of adults in homeless families have full-time jobs. (The National Coalition for the Homeless)

52% of Bay Area cities said more mental health services is the most effective way to reduce homelessness. (U.S. Conference of Mayors 2007 Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness)

With the looming budget crisis and drastic cuts threatening the already starved social service programs, many of the programs required for this plan to work are facing devastating funding reductions, if not complete elimination. The 2009 bi-annual city-wide homeless count was conducted January 27; the results of this count will perhaps shed light on what progress has been made.

“It’s a sexy thing for people to mock and minimize.” San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said in regards to his “homeless meters,” a city plan that would encourage citizens to drop their spare change into special meters instead of giving them to panhandlers.

The installation of these meters, slotted for November of 2008, has been pushed back until February. The early 2009 unveiling of these meters will now coincide with a marketing campaign to educate the public what the mayor’s office calls the “serious consequences of giving money to panhandlers instead of charities.”