Member-only story
The Bold Italic is proud to be part of the SF Homeless Project, a media collaboration to draw attention to solutions to end the crisis.
When locals discuss the problem of homelessness in San Francisco — and more specifically how to fix or impact it — we have a habit of prioritizing big-picture imperatives. Take a step back and observe next time the subject comes up. You’ll hear a lot about task forces, NIMBY-ism, Reagan, mental institutions, affordable housing, and income inequality. Noticeably missing? Any talk about the importance of individual human contributions. Instead we focus on the size of the issue and problem-solve at scale.
This is unfortunate. Because the truth is that those of us who haven’t experienced homelessness — or who aren’t involved in the effort to stem its lethal tide — know little about it, much less how to curb or mitigate its essential horror. Our pontificating, in other words, just isn’t all that productive.
For those of us who really do want to make a difference, then — even in our limited individual capacity — the question is, Where would our energy be best spent?
To find out, I visited Glide Memorial Church, which provides comprehensive social services—from helping folks find shelter to providing free health care, meals, and adult education — as well as St. Anthony’s, a nonprofit that employs a similarly holistic model of support along with advocacy, job-search counseling, and shelter during the winter. The goal was to learn more about homelessness from those who are actively experiencing it. What do they want their housed neighbors to know? What can we do better? And what, ultimately, are we missing?
The first person I spoke to was Carl, a 56-year-old college graduate who’s lived in San Francisco for six years. For most of that time, he’s been homeless. Carl has a cool, sonorous voice and hazel eyes that are as hard as excavated metal. When I met him in the coffee room at Glide, he spoke pointedly about the resources available to homeless people (they’re limited and often difficult to obtain), the unpleasant nature of most navigation centers (they smell bad and impose too many arbitrary rules), and the life-saving importance of service providers who offer more…
