The phrase “transitional housing” has been around a long time, but San Francisco has come up with a whole new dimension. Behold, a recent Tweet from the mayor:
Turns out the mayor has included $6.5 million in next year’s budget with the intent of eliminating trans-homelessness over the next five years. San Francisco is estimated to have up to 20,000 homeless living on the streets. How many are trans? “According to the mayor’s office,” according to the gay news outlet Bay Area Reporter, “there are an estimated 400 TGNC residents experiencing homelessness at any given time.” (TGNC—I had to look it up—stand for “Transgender and Gender Non-conforming People.”)
San Francisco currently spends (somehow) nearly $55,000 per homeless person; the new budget item will add an additional $16,000 for each TGNC person. Nice gig if you can get it. It seems we’ve reached the Orwellian stage: All homeless are equally miserable, but some homeless are more miserable than others?
Reminder:
There’s some unintended comic relief in the complete Bay Area Report story on the program:
Trans leaders applauded the proposal, even as some of them are at odds with Breed over the controversy of San Francisco Pride’s policy of banning police officers from marching in uniform in the Pride parade. After LGBTQ first responders on May 23 said that they would skip the parade due to the ban, Breed and gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey said they would not march in the June 26 parade if the San Francisco Pride officials do not reverse their decision. That led leaders of the Transgender District stating that they would not attend Breed’s June 2 Pride flag-raising ceremony at City Hall, as the B.A.R.’s Political Notes May 30 column noted.
The Castro LGBTQ Cultural District also said it would skip the flag-raising.
Nevertheless, trans leaders stated that they are on board with Breed’s homelessness plan.
Happy Pride month everybody!
(File under: Further Tales of the Once-Golden State.)
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