Struggle for solutions continues
Unprecedented journalism project works to elevate crisis for 2nd year
A year ago this week, The Chronicle’s newsroom attempted something new in American journalism: We partnered with 80 other media outlets to create the SF Homeless Project, a groundbreaking effort to organize intense, coordinated coverage of the homelessness crisis.
We sought to cut through the political noise and add to the public discourse by providing fact-based, empirical data alongside poignant stories of poverty, addiction and frustration with the status quo. Our aim was to fulfill one of the most righteous goals of journalism: to make the community smarter about the choices before it and keep pressure on those elected to govern us.
In the year since, SF Homeless Project partners have produced more than 500 articles, videos, TV and radio spots, and photo essays. Shelters were rushed into opening. More than $130 million has been raised by philanthropists, including a $30 million family homelessness initiative led by Salesforce founder Marc Benioff and the nonprofit Tipping Point Community’s $100 million push to halve San Francisco’s chronic homeless population in five years. Several ballot initiatives were put before voters. The media project has been emulated in cities around the world.
Now it’s time for us to assess in more detail how much — and how little — has been accomplished during the past 12 months. This year, the SF Homeless Project’s coordinated day of coverage is June 28. The Chronicle, KQED and some other organizations will continue the reporting throughout the week. Similarly, outlets in San Diego and elsewhere plan to participate in the effort.
The Chronicle’s newsroom will revisit the potential solutions we put forth last year — solutions that consider the proper role for law enforcement, what can be done about the overwhelming number of mentally ill people on the streets, the inadequate shelter system and the need for more effective supportive housing programs.
We will update you on what has become of some of the homeless people whose San Francisco sidewalk camps were dismantled last year, and explain why the East Bay has joined San Francisco as an epicenter of ineffective policy. We have crunched the latest data on 311 calls in San Francisco and will tell you where the problem is getting better, if anywhere. And we will give you the latest on technological advances aimed at streamlining services needed to get people off the streets.
We cannot become inured to what is, unfortunately, the new normal, here and elsewhere. Homelessness is a nationwide issue, handing the Bay Area yet another opportunity to provide leadership on a vexing and tragic problem.
Platitudes will not find shelter for those living on the streets, nor help improve the quality of life for people who must traverse sidewalk tent camps. They won’t help parents who check their neighborhood parks for discarded hypodermic needles. Catchy political slogans have failed to help those crushed by mental incapacitation or drug addiction.
You might not agree with all the proposals or opinions you read this week. That’s a good thing.
A vigorous and informed debate is what our homeless residents deserve, and it’s what our communities need to prosper. It’s up to you to join the discussion and advocate for the change you want to see.