Recently, San Francisco business owners are taking a stand against Gavin Newson and local leaders, demanding they fix the homeless issue in the area, in exchange, the group threatened to not pay taxes until the problem is solved.
The Castro Merchants Association is a group representing over 100 businesses in the Castro District in San Francisco.
Dave Karraker, co-president of the Castro Merchants Association spoke with SFGATE and explained how businesses in the association will potentially stop paying taxes if the three demands are not met.
These demands are: 35 shelter beds designated for “mentally ill and substance-abusing individuals who have taken up residence in the Castro,” a request for monthly metrics on the services offered or provided to unhoused people in the neighborhood, and a plan for what to do after people decline services.
“Whatever they’re doing isn’t working. It isn’t leading to a noticeable difference in the conditions in the Castro as it relates to the drug addicted and the mentally ill,” said Karraker
The San Francisco Chronicle reported A homeless encampment run by San Francisco costs the city $60,000 per year, per tent.
“We’re just seeing constant vandalism, constant drug use in public, people passed out on the sidewalk, people having psychotic breakdowns, and it’s just not something a small-business owner should have to deal with,” Karraker said.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing responded directly to a formal letter from the Castro Association with a letter of their own saying:
“However, we greatly appreciate hearing from community members about what they are seeing on the streets and will continue to work with the Castro community to improve conditions for all in the Castro,” according to the letter.
To add to the debacle, homeless organizations filed a suit against San Francisco and Mayor London Breed, alleging that the city has failed to provide affordable housing for homeless people.
The complaint said: “The current homelessness crisis in San Francisco is the result of decades of failed economic policies that led to dramatic wealth inequality, an unprecedented housing shortage fueled by racism, and the defunding of social services programs—leaving many San Franciscans in crisis.
Despite awareness of these root causes, the City is using unhoused residents as the scapegoats for a crisis of economic and racial justice that it helped to create. San Francisco should fight to end homelessness.”
Clearly, in San Francisco, no one is happy.
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