Skewed Coverage Of The Homeless?

This story from the San Francisco online daily BeyondChron offers an informed local perspective on the San Francisco Chronicle article on the homeless that was posted on the Planetizen website on October 10.

The Chronicle piece, which appeared on the paper's front page, tells how residents of the famously progressive city are fed up with the anti-social behavior of homeless people living on the street and are calling for a police crackdown.

That perspective is badly skewed, says BeyondChron's Randy Shaw, a San Francisco lawyer and housing activist. After marking the quarter-century shortfall of federal housing funds -- a development ignored by the Chronicle -- Shaw writes:

"You would never know from the Chronicle's recent reporting that San Francisco has housed 2062 Care Not Cash recipients since 2004, and over 4000 homeless single adults overall. Better to foster the impression that homeless people do not want housing, allowing the attitudes of a small minority to define the entire group."

Thanks to Zelda Bronstein