The city of San Francisco has a homeless problem “so severe that it rivals some third-world nations,” and it keeps increasing, Fox News reported Tuesday.
By San Francisco’s definition of homeless, which includes people without a permanent address who are in prison, rehab or hospitalized, the numbers have increased from 7,400 to 9,784 — or 30 percent — in the past two years.
The main problem is that the city’s plan to address the issue in 2014 — known as Proposition 47 — has backfired majorly.
“Supported by the California Democratic Party and championed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the referendum was passed by a wide margin in 2014,” wrote Barnini Chakraborty at Fox News. “The idea behind it was to reduce certain non-violent felonies to misdemeanors in order to free up resources for cops and prosecutors to go after serious, violent offenders. This included downgrading fraud, forgery, shoplifting and grand theft as long as the total value of the stolen property was less than $950. It also included illegal drugs.”
"The intention was to help, of course, but what it really wound up doing is that it made San Francisco more attractive to those who are both homeless and those who are drug addicts to move here,” Richie Greenberg, a former mayoral candidate, told Fox News.
“We are now finding that homelessness is increasing. Drug addiction is increasing and the number of people here — the numbers are increasing, as well."
Rachel Kookogey is a contributor to TheRichValdes.com
Follow on Twitter @rach_kookogey
H/T: Fox News
