SF has this problem so bad because it's such a successful city. Cost of living is at least double the national average, you're lucky to find a small one bedroom for $3500 a month there.
Because the weather is mild year round, transients never move on to warmer climates, but more show up in spring.
Housing problems there are largely caused by rising housing costs, unaffordable to some working 3 jobs. Many are lured in because you get more panhandling money when the average income is >$100000. I recall a few being investigated in the 90's who seemed to make well over $100000 a year by begging, one was estimated at $250000+. Thousands are working homeless, living in their cars because they don't earn enough to even share an apartment. Most make more than the national average. Keep in mind, $190000 is middle class in San Francisco.

This has been an issue in San Francisco and the bay in general at least since the early 80's when i lived there....but it has gotten worse as the population and rent increased but low income housing didn't.
Now Trump has said there will be no low income housing (which he thinks means all blacks) in suburbs, directing infinitely more homeless and low income citizens to cities in search of a possible roof over their heads...and in the same breath he blames Democrats for the homeless problems in cities.

As mentioned above, there is no republican plan to deal with homeless. None. They seem to think if you deny them services and food they evaporate. It doesn't work that way.

Pelosi doesn't control San Francisco, she represents it in the house. Derp.

What a dishonest tool. 1/2 the nation's homeless?! Bullshit. San Francisco has around 10000, America has around 500000. It's just more bullshit and *lies @bobknight33, not philosophy, news, or talks, and the only thing to learn from it is massive levels of misinformation.

Catch everyone who doesn't have a gas can and lighter in their hands. Anyone dumb enough to unambiguously look like an arsonist in a burning building gets a Darwin award posthumously.

Then why ignore the one asking for help to give to one who just looks like they need help? That's not trust, it's judgement. Maybe they're just dirty, not homeless or needy.

Edit: My point is most people don't help homeless or needy people because they think there's a good chance they're going to use the money for something they don't support or that they're not really needy (some panhandlers in SF have reportedly pulled six figure incomes, I knew of one at Stanford that drove to work panhandling in a nice Mercedes.) If you can take the time to buy them a meal of their choosing or what they need in a store, you have control and helped more...on top of treating them like a human being, not a problem or eyesore. Those wanting cash, not help, will refuse.
Yes, I understand it's asking more of people.

like payback said, vancouver has been "rich washing" for decades. i've heard some crazy stories from expo 88 era. before the olympics they cracked down on the poor. often ostensibly rounding them up and sending them to the suburbs (this is fairly normal procedure for cops who "catch" binners/panhandlers in richer areas: they "arrest" them, drive them out to the suburbs, and just leave them there).

http://thetyee.ca/News/2009/10/14/OlympicsHomelessLaws/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/03/vancouver-winter-olympics-homeless-row

I don't understand why she doesn't do what most women (and men) who don't want to be approached (be it by men, women, panhandlers, whomever!) while walking through a city do, and wear earbuds??? It's a very simple solution and provides an easy and practical way of ignoring most of these attempts (if not dissuading them altogether).

Also.. This.

And:
"Let's all stop and focus our attention on "catcalling" women. Let's forget the drone bombings of entire cities, the fact that the US has 900 military bases in over 153 countries, the fact that you are almost 9 times more likely to be killed by a police employee than a terrorist....let's take a break from that and focus on the fact that sometimes men are creepy to pretty women."


And:

"The path to empowering women is not by disempowering men.
While many feminist campaigns and viral videos are great at expressing the (superficial) problem, they're not helping to solve it. Prolonging the "battle of the sexes" and "blame game" mentality will never stop rape, harassment, or abuse. All that's being done is expressing pain and anger, which is fine, unless it's directed at another. Attacking men for attacking women isn't going to solve anything.
We need to go so much deeper than this. So much deeper.
We don't need to see more proof of "how fucked up society is"; this only propagates stereotypes that induce resentment and fear. We need to see the power of compassion, love, forgiveness, healing, empathy, and acceptance between both sexes. We need to learn why people hurt other people (hint: it's because they're hurting themselves) and how to heal it and empathize with it.
We need women to open up and love in the face of men approaching, not shut down and run away. We need men to open up and love in the face of rejection, rather than becoming bitter or forcing our will upon another.
Unabashedly, I do not support or promote campaigns that are based in pain, resentment, anger, or fear, no matter how noble the cause. I wish to lift up both sexes – nay, all people – without perpetuating the pain and conflict.
This darkness has been illuminated out in the world, now it's time to illuminate the darkness within ourselves and heal it. What we see out in our culture is a reflection of how so many of us are unable to resolve the conflicts, rejection, and hurt caused by the masculine and feminine inside of us. We can not fix this by signing new laws or going out and trying to control everybody; we do this by starting the forgiveness and healing process within ourselves and going out into the world shining love instead of hate."

pfft, the rich have welfare, they just call it tax breaks, and they have the lobbyists to keep them.

No one wants those on foodstamps to use them for alcohol and other frivolous items. name me one non-foodstamp-using person who does? It's a strawman that the right obsessively cling to.

As with so many things, it's not about laws or bureaucracy, it's about enforcement. laws mean nothing without enforcement. I'm getting sick of seeing more and more panhandlers downtown where I live and I completely agree that handouts are not an efficient solution.

but you know what isn't a good solution either? negative reinforcement. We've been living under the conservative idea that if we just keep punishing the poor and making their lives more miserable, then obviously that will be motivation to not be poor.

IT DOESN'T WORK. maybe it works for a small percentage of people, but those people aren't poor then. so you have a group of people that are continually being punished and devalued for no good fucking reason because if they aren't motivated to not be poor under these kinds of conditions, then they never will be.

so again, we have this situation where there are two solutions that aren't really effective, but one is slightly less bad than the other. sure some people may use their foodstamps for alcohol and other shit...but many people do actually use their foodstamps for...food. shock.

Even if you had a much more equal distribution of wealth, we're still going to have poor people and people in poverty.

I think the issue is largely mired in health, physical and mental. Even with all our technology...mental health is still unreliable and some people are so physically impaired that they can't work or work well.

Despite largely claiming to be pro-life, the right would either secretly want them to die alone in an alley or make them indentured servants to some corporation if they aren't already. That, I submit, is no life, at least not a good and healthy one.

I don't have the answer, all we can really do is point out that many of the things we've tried aren't working and will never work, and even if there are some successes, it's still largely inefficient, but what's the alternative? if you are "pro-life" then an inefficient solution is still preferable to a solution that simply doesn't work. So I call bullshit on people who like to claim they have the solution. If someone out there has the solution, they certainly haven't demonstrated it yet.

This is not a dupe. This is better with sound!
So many people are so well dressed! Market St has gone down since then.
I didn't count one homeless panhandler. Did you? I also didn't see any cops!

I wonder why this is... I wonder why there seems to be little in the way of street laws (or any regulation at all for that matter), and yet, there seems to be a seamless form of voluntary exchange through the video. A give and a take. And even without such regulation, there is that amazing road there. I wonder how they built it without the government. Hmm. puzzling.

Without government regulation, why aren't they shooting each other?

This must be a fake film.

No Federal Reserve, no income tax, no DMV, no gun control, no department of education, no DEA, no permits for everything, no fines (for riding on the back of a truck). What savages!

Like Marx said, way too prosperous!

(But of course, it's not a fake film.)

But...who built that road?

Your video, Panhandler Prank - Bragging About His Successful LIfe, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

*promote panhandling of all kinds....

..should make one of those cardboard skeeball games and take it to the underpass family for Easter...
I would give a panhandler a dollar every day I saw him in that Samurai cardboard armor...

>> ^G-bar:

"interesting"? that's all you have to say about this movie? This movie is brilliant! That movie actually inspired me to go down with guns blazing when I get freakishly old - I'll target all the people who kick cats and everyone who throws their cigarette butts on the street instead of a trash can! god I hate that!

It's been in some television shows too. I think Southland had an episode where some kid would throw his bike on the ground and make like the people hit him or someone had hit him. Then they'd either take the car or steal whatever they could out of it while people were checking on the kid.

Kid really can't be prosecuted since he's a minor, and.......good luck on the rest.

Soon as it's on TV, it seems like you start to see those kind of crimes in the news. Not sure if it's new awareness of it, a surge in the crime, or it catching people's eye because it seems kind of fantastic since it was on television.

And there's another less obvious crime that this video made me think back to with the guy in the street being on crutches.

People faking disabilities for quick cash. Homeless people do it.....I've got a funny story about this I'll stick at the end of this comment. And there are people who go around with these little US flags with a piece of paper on it that shows sign language, and it might be legitimate in some cases. But they show up in fast food joints and go out to the tables, throw out some sign language and point to the paper and another that asks for donations...then give you a little plastic flag and leave quickly. They don't have any kind of charity affiliation that you can see....

And the homeless guy story. My dad and his cousin worked at the GM factory. The cousin used to give guys money because they'd claim they didn't have enough money to eat (lunch money basically) because they didn't make enough. And even after my dad pointed out that they make the same or more than both of them do, he still felt sorry for them. Well this changed when my dad showed him the "homeless" guy that would sit out in front of the plant during their shift changes. He was older maybe 50-60 and would tell them how bad it was for him and probably get 10-30 bucks each shift change, in the early to mid 70s. One day the cousin gave him a buck and my dad laughed at him, and this cousin is kind of a hotheaded guy so he accuses my dad of being a heartless prick, etc. So my dad gets him to walk with him to the edge of the building and he points out a nice caddy sitting there idling WITH A DRIVER, and tells him to check for that car every day that "homeless" guy is around. The days he wasn't out during shift change, the car was not there. The days he was there, car was sitting out there idling. The guy made enough money by panhandling at the GM plant to hire a driver to drive him around and was there nearly every day the plant was open....getting money from the workers and very few ever caught on. Got some other "homeless" people stories, but this one is by far the best I've ever heard.

Whole video centers on the reveal, and the new message is dumb. Both of messenger's above are better, and his original message was better. Almost anything would be better. It doesn't work as a profound statement (for the audience of "us"), it wouldn't work well for a panhandler, and it certainly doesn't sell their skills as advertisers.

If you're going to go sappy, you have to go real sappy (like messenger says: Grandchildren would be gold - or use some detail of his routine or personal story that's particularly moving, etc..). But I don't think sappy is the best approach - it looks calculated and cliche. People are fairly resistant to direct "guilting" - much better to let the sob-story be implied, and focus your message on something else.

The successful panhandlers I see go self-deprecating, otherwise funny, double-take inducing ("HELL-PANDAS ATE MY EYES"), audience-pandering ("OBAMA WON'T PAY FOR MY EYE SURGERY"), or try to offer something incidental in return for donations (magazines, trinkets, something they made, music, etc..).

Video would have been better if they'd kept the music, tone, and dialog - and then revealed the sign as "NEED MONEY FOR BOOZE".

oh fuck it.
i'll throw in also:
1.grew up with an irrational fear of men and authority due to my father being extremely strict.yet he remains one of the most amazing people i have ever encountered.my life has been less since his passing.
2.in high school i was always the guy who protected the weaker from bullies and got in a lot of trouble doing but i dont regret any of that.
3.did so much blotter acid in high school that i am now strichnine(sp?) sensitive and now it just turns me into one big cramp.
4.did a tour in the navy and had the bright idea to get a free lift to spain upon discharge.couldnt find any work yet still stayed and spent all my money,had to panhandle in the airport to get the money to get back to the states.
5.while i am fantastic at starting projects i rarely finish them.dropped out of college three times and left seminary school after less then a month.though i did get my propulsion engineering degree it was from the navy,dont think that counts and i hate math.
6.while i am not the prettiest man i have always been able to date far above my league.dated 2 porn stars and quite a few you men here may have seen in your favorite nudey mag.
7.in my 20's i traveled around DJ'in for titty bars,and yes,i dated many of them also.
8.started writing poetry,bad poetry, when i was 7.i still think my poetry is bad.
9.was raised episcopalian but left the church at 14 when father ryan could not answer my questions in any sunbstansive way.
10.in my late 20's i married a beautiful abusive woman who would burn the bottoms of my feet so i would not fall asleep while she was screaming at me in a drunken blackout.i withstood this abuse for 3 years,which was constant,until i decided enough was enough and walked out leaving her everything.until this moment i had never realized just how passive aggressive and fearful i actually was.i actually give her credit for freeing me.
11.in my early 30's some friends introduced me to exstasy.while the drug was not something i indulged in for long i fell in love with the whole scene and traveled the raves for about 3 years and every now again i will participate but the things i saw and learned live with me still.
12,took a road trip with some friends from chicago(where i was living at the time)to san diego.after a drug induced crazy weekend they left me in a pool of my own vomit and went back to chicago.needless to say we are no longer friends,but san diego was nice,so i stayed awhile.
13.did a midnight move out when i lived in lauderdale,left everything.on the drive to tampa the rotor arm in my car snapped in alligator alley.i left it and signed the title over to a clerk at a chevron in naples because she said her car was dead.3 dollar part would have fixed my car.
14.hitch-hiked from providence to phillie with my best friend from childhood.think we were 16.the trip took us almost a week and we dropped between us 33 hits of acid.that was fun calling your dad to tell him you are in phillie and not to worry while tripping balls.
15.stole a car in my teens to save my friends girlfriend from her crazy ex boyfriend.we didnt even have our licenses yet.
16.music is everything to me.i am not a purist nor an elitist.if it speaks to me and my mood at the time i will love it.
17.i can be argumentative just for the sake of being contrary.i may even agree with your point but will interject a contrary view just to better understand the subject.
18.have no patience for egotistical lazy thinkers and respond accordingly.
19.over the years i have come to realize that the more i think i am understanding something the larger my ignorance seems to grow.this is frustrating as it is exciting.
20.while i do not subscribe to a religion.in fact i am vehemently anti-religious.i am a man of faith.closest definition would be gnostic-christian but i also subscribe to kabballah.
21.i consume far too much media and many times do not give a proper alottment of time to process all that information due to my adult a.d.d.
22.i have found teaching to be my hidden passion and hope for an opportunity soon to practice that passion once again.
23.i live by a code of :honesty,open-ness and respect.i am rarely offended because i never let anyone dictate how i should feel about myself.
24.i am most likely the most opinionated person you know but i always listen to what you have to say.
25.i dont regret anything that i have done,seen or experienced because i would not be who i am today.

i find the people on the sift fascinating.