There is absolutely a homeless-industrial complex (HIC). The city of San Francisco spends $70,000 annually per homeless person![0] The homeless there are homeless because severe mental and addiction issues cause them to reject help, not because resources aren't available.
And no, weather is not the most important reason for why so many homeless come here. If it were, San Diego would have a worse homeless problem than San Francisco.
The most important difference is that the city of San Diego spends one third as much as San Francisco per homeless person. ($46.8 million in city spending[1] for an estimated 1900 homeless.[2])
The HIC uses every virtue-signaling, heart-tugging propaganda tool at its disposal to increase the flow of money thrown into its bottomless maw, despite no metric ever improving one bit whatsoever.
[3] The count is only of the homeless in downtown San Diego. While presumably most homeless San Diegans are there, just as there are very few San Franciscans living on the sidewalk in Pac Heights, the point is that a larger number would mean that much less spending per homeless person in the city as a whole, and that much more glaring a discrepancy between the two cities.
And no, weather is not the most important reason for why so many homeless come here. If it were, San Diego would have a worse homeless problem than San Francisco.
The most important difference is that the city of San Diego spends one third as much as San Francisco per homeless person. ($46.8 million in city spending[1] for an estimated 1900 homeless.[2])
The HIC uses every virtue-signaling, heart-tugging propaganda tool at its disposal to increase the flow of money thrown into its bottomless maw, despite no metric ever improving one bit whatsoever.
[0] <https://abc7news.com/sf-homeless-plan-housing-all-san-franci...>
[1] <https://www.lajollalight.com/news/story/2023-04-15/san-diego...>
[2] <https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-07/downtown...> [3]
[3] The count is only of the homeless in downtown San Diego. While presumably most homeless San Diegans are there, just as there are very few San Franciscans living on the sidewalk in Pac Heights, the point is that a larger number would mean that much less spending per homeless person in the city as a whole, and that much more glaring a discrepancy between the two cities.