Editor,
Supervisor Speier’s recent guest perspective is a nice little tale about homelessness — but that’s all it is: anecdotal. It’s naïve to take the word of someone struggling with addiction or mental illness at face value, and unrealistic to suggest that the county can meaningfully “facilitate” family reunification when most families have already extended help time and again, only to be manipulated or emotionally and financially drained.
The most glaring issue from her night in the shelter is completely overlooked. Speier notes that 12 shelter beds were vacant, so she wasn’t taking someone else’s spot. Yet, I see unhoused individuals sleeping on the streets in my neighborhood every night. If people are rejecting shelter, then the county’s outreach — currently contracted through LifeMoves — is falling short. A deep dive into the data tells the real story, and I would welcome the opportunity to sit down with Supervisor Speier to review the evidence about the current program.
If someone declines a shelter bed, we must be willing to enforce anti-loitering laws. Jail is not ideal, but it is more compassionate than allowing people to slowly deteriorate on the streets under the guise of “tolerance.”
It was also disappointing — and frankly self-important — for Supervisor Speier to compare her brief encounter with homeless individuals to the pope’s act of humility. Public service doesn’t need symbolism. It needs results.
We need accountability, enforcement and the courage to confront hard truths — not soft stories and political theater.
Grace Xuereb
Burlingame
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(1) comment
Good morning, Grace
Thanks for your letter. You're correct. We need results. We don't need more public awareness... homelessness is all too real, and everybody know it. Jackie recently made a splash in the media by calling for fiscal responsibility in our county. That's something folks on both sides of the aisle can support. Perhaps she can use her experience in Congress to help find out where the state's "lost" $20 billion earmarked for homelessness programs was spent. Maybe she can use that same experience to expose the homelessness-industrial-complex that thrives by not solving the homelessness crisis.
Have a great weekend.
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