Foreclosures Leading to More Homeless People in San Francisco
The local groups dealing with charity have noted a significant increase in the number of homeless people in San Francisco fueled by the foreclosure crisis. They are without food and shelter. The composition of the needy has changed with many of them being first timers seeking such help.
Moreover it is not just about food and shelter – many are suffering from mental ill health. There are the elderly and veterans who are now down and out. The Salvation Army is seeing more and more families with their little ones sleeping in the open and turning up at churches in the hope of getting any meals for free.
Those now knocking on the doors of the shelters had once been respectable employed citizens with homes but these were drowned by the wave of foreclosures during the past few years. Some have recently lost their jobs. This group includes high tech people and some in the legal trade. Both these sections have seen jumbo sized layoffs in the Bay Area during the last few months.
A recent report issued by the Conference of Mayors, noted that San Francisco was one of the regions that has witnessed a sizeable jump in the number of homeless in the last one year. The Homeless Policy Director of the city, Dariush Kayhan said that on a single day “we had 136 families on the waiting list for a shelter. That’s 50% more than we had on the list one year ago.” The reports from San Francisco’s Human Services Agency notes that 62% of those listed are new seekers and have never been homeless till now.
Martin Cooper of the Salvation Army noted, “We were over by the [San Francisco] Civic Auditorium, and there was a guy lying on the sidewalk with a blanket pulled over his head. I leaned down and asked him if he wanted something to eat. He pulled the blanket down and there was a 5-year-old little boy lying with him.”
Apart from evicted homeowners those coming in are also tenants who used to stay in foreclosed units. The San Francisco Chronicle observed on 18th December that renters were hardly given 30 days notice to vacate their premises. Without any hope of getting back their security deposit or even their last rent these tenants are just pushed out into the wild. These types of evictions are against the law but nevertheless common. They have neither the means nor the spirit to take on the law.
