SF Homeless Housing Program Called Big Success

SAN FRANCISCO,Calif. (KCBS) -- Care Not Cash is now three years old and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom says it has helped the city put over 1,800 homeless people into housing.

Barbara Taylor reports from the KCBS City Hall Bureau and says the program has been controversial but Mayor Newsom said it has become a national model for getting the homeless off the streets. The program diverts assistance payments into housing.

“We’re improving the quality of life not only for the individuals that are getting the benefits of these services, but for the entire community,” said the mayor.

Trent Rhorer, the head of the Department of Human Services said the program has housed about 1,900 homeless with 1,870 switched from General Assistance to Care Not Cash. “The housing retention rate is over 95-percent meaning a year after we have housed the individuals, they are still in that housing or they moved on to better housing,” he said.

The city has funneled over $14 million into housing for the homeless.

“We have received the highest record rate for federal funding in the history in the City and County of San Francisco,” said Angela Alioto of the mayor’s Homeless Housing Council.

San Francisco has received $19.2 million in federal homeless housing money so far this year.