Surprised?

Yesterday morning the SF Examiner published the biannual homeless data.  Put in rounded numbers (which reflects the correct level of accuracy) San Francisco had 6,000 homeless at the beginning of 2005.

Now subtract the 3,000 homeless who got housing in the two intervening years for a cost of roughly $15 million and subtract the 2,000 homeless who were given free bus tickets to go to their original homes.  If you subtract 3,000 and 2,000 from 6,000 we should have 1,000 homeless still left in San Francisco.

Fortunately, the SF Examiner is owned by Philip Anschutz a brilliant businessman who can read numbers and hires reporters who can read numbers and who are allowed to publish numbers in the Examiner, unlike every other newspaper in the U.S. (except for the Wall Street Journal which also allows reporters to use numbers in their reporting).

Surprise... now, instead of 1,000 homeless left in the City, the census shows we still have over 6,000.  The most likely reason is that providing housing and bus tickets attracts homeless to San Francisco.  This is what Trent Rhorer, head of the homeless program, has to say: "The City is proud of the work that’s been done so far and will continue to ... work on extending services and housing to homeless people..."

Thanks Phil Anschutz, your newspaper has not only shown the failure of this 85% Lefty City to understand rudimentary economics but the City's failure to understand 2nd grade arithmetic.