Why Proposition N Won't Work

Why Proposition N Won't Work

Proponents of Proposition N frequently cite other plans similar to Care-Not-Cash that they claim have proven successful; however, such plans show little or no evidence of success, and none is as harsh as Proposition N.

Supervisor Gavin Newsom asserts that other counties in the Bay Area have instituted successful programs similar to Proposition N’s Care-Not-Cash. What he neglects to mention is that a report from the Office of the Legislative Analyst states that there is insufficient evidence available to suggest that such plans have worked. In fact, there is no evidence at all suggesting that homelessness has decreased in the surrounding counties. The Legislative Analyst’s report states the opposite, Care-Not-Cash "may lead to inefficient and ineffective use of public resources, or to punitive withdrawal of funds that are desperately needed." (Legislative Analyst Report, Cash Assistance Programs, May 9, 2002)

Of particular popularity are stories about Supervisor Newsom’s information-gathering visits to New York and Chicago, where public assistance for single adults has been reduced, or as in the state of Illinois, eliminated. However, instead of producing solutions, these cities have made the problem worse.

Chicago, for example, has offered no cash assistance for single adults since 1992. Yet according to the University of Chicago, 130,000 to 166,000 men, women and children become homeless each year in the Chicago Metropolitan Area. (Metropolitan Planning Council, For Rent: Housing Options in the Chicago Region, November, 1999). Many homeless people on general assistance try to save up enough to afford cheap shared apartments, or at least to afford a single occupancy room for a couple of weeks a month. But the lack of any assistance has made it impossible for poor people who are homeless to save for any kind of more permanent housing. According to Michael Lyon of the Coalition to Save Public Health, people sleeping in Chicago shelters now get up in the morning, work all day through temp agencies where they earn less than minimum wage, and return to the shelter where they use most of their day’s earnings to pay for another night’s stay.

New York City offers an example closest to Prop. N. In fact, in many ways the proposed Care not Cash program is an imitation of New York City’s plan, albeit more brutal. New York City gives out cash assistance up to $137/month, not including the assistance available for housing costs. But the program makes the process of obtaining services very time consuming, and the tracking process of people who use the services is costly to the city.

Instead of tracking people, it would be much more useful to track services — what is available, when, where, and to whom.

NYC’s Department of Homeless Services budget for fiscal year 2000 was $444 million (NYC Dept. of Homeless Services website, February, 2002). Yet, since 1998 to this past March, the number of people in the shelter system has grown from 21,000 to over 32,000, and that number continues to increase rapidly. (NYC Dept. of Homeless Services, Shelter Census Reports)

The program has created more costly, dehumanizing levels of bureaucracy that make it more difficult for people to live their lives. Recently it was reported in the New York Times that a young boy committed suicide rather then go back to their central intake office. (New York Times, Mentally Ill Boy Kills Himself in Shelter Hotel, October 5, 2002)

There could be no worse time for proposing to take money away from people who are poor and homeless. The recently held U.S. Conference of Mayors reported that last year there were stark increases in requests for shelter and food, and that the future promises a steady increase in homelessness and hunger. Requests for emergency food assistance climbed an average of 23 percent and requests for emergency shelter assistance increased an average of 13 percent in the 27 cities surveyed. (U.S. Conference of Mayor’s Annual Report on Hunger and Homelessness, December, 2001) At the same time, national funding for affordable housing development has dramatically decreased over the past thirty years. (Calculated from Budget of the US Government, Analytical Perspectives. Compiled by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.)

Taking money from people will solve nothing.

Offering less cash assistance and no new funds for additional housing or treatment, Care-Not-Cash has the potential to be catastrophic both to San Francisco’s economy and to the lives of thousands of people.