In This Issue

THE " homeless issue," as it's too conveniently called, has made for brutal politics in San Francisco. "Camp Agnos," the homeless encampment in front of City Hall, helped drive Art Agnos from the mayor's office. "Matrix," the harsh and unworkable police crackdown orchestrated by Frank Jordan, played a role in making him a one-term mayor. Willie Brown simply ignored the problem, asserting at one point that it couldn't be solved.

Then along came Sup. Gavin Newsom, with his Care Not Cash plan, a punitive (and, like Matrix, unworkable) initiative that would have cut the welfare payments of single homeless adults to $59 a month. With a huge war chest from downtown hotels and big restaurants, Newsom put it on the ballot last fall as Proposition N, selling it as a way to provide better services to the downtrodden, and won a big victory.

Now, as Rachel Brahinsky reports on page 16, a judge has struck down most of Prop. N – and you can almost hear Newsom celebrating. You see, if Care not Cash had actually taken effect as planned in July, Newsom would have had to explain come fall why it wasn't working. Because it wouldn't have worked. There would have been even more panhandlers, more street crime, more car break-ins ... more of the sorts of problems that get associated (unfairly) with homelessness.

Now, Newsom – who doesn't really care about homeless people or solutions to the problems of the indigent – can complain instead of explain. He can keep the bounce from all of the publicity without the political baggage of having to make a flawed policy work.

Now, the issue is back before the supervisors – and the progressives, particularly Sup. Tom Ammiano, a major mayoral rival, need to get their act together and come up with an alternative plan. It's tough and risky: There is no simple way for this city, or any city, to deal with the fallout of 20 years of federal housing cuts and the federal defunding of urban and social welfare programs. Anything that works is going to cost money in a year when there isn't any to spare.

There are some unpopular things that need to be said (like this: People who are homeless have done nothing wrong. Politicians who refuse to help them are the ones who have committed a crime). But that's the role the left ought to play in this town – and it's time to step up.