Opinion: SF's “Homeward Bound” was far more successful than barrier-free housing
SF's Homeward Bound program subsidized homeless individuals' transportation back to their hometowns (at $280/trip), which helped many reunite with family members and caregivers. The city has since sunsetted the program as a stand-alone approach. The SF Examiner's Eric Jaye contrasts HB's efficacy/low cost with lingering “solutions” like Housing First (which is both unhelpful and incredibly expensive).
Over the past decade a program called Project Homeward Bound helped over 10,000 homeless people in San Francisco return to their hometowns. The program, launched by Mayor Gavin Newsom, asked homeless residents if they wanted help reuniting with their families or other supportive networks — and if they did, and only if they did, helped them with transportation home.
While not every person stayed united with their families and caregivers, the program helped 10,000 people return home. The cost, according to city estimates, was just $280 per trip.
Compare that $280 with the cost of permanent supportive housing funded by San Francisco taxpayers — which is now easily surpassing $1 million per resident when support services are considered. (The cost for building the permanent homes alone is now well over $750,000 per door.)
That’s $280 versus $1 million. A few days to return homeless residents to their families compared to the many years it takes to build permanent housing. A home — with loved ones and community support versus institutional “supportive housing.”
The choice seems clear. But in 2022, San Francisco allowed Homeward Bound to “sunset” and merged it into existing programs without the clear mission to measure and drive a program that helped people get home. The program was already winding down, with 741 homeless people reunited with family in fiscal year 2018, 562 in 2019 and just 394 in 2020.
This article originally appeared in the San Francisco Examiner. Read the whole thing here.
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