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by randy shaw

Chron's homeless lies

IT'S BAD ENOUGH when the media parrot the Bush administration's ongoing mistruths about homelessness. It's even worse when the San Francisco Chronicle aggressively promotes such lies, first to elect Mayor Gavin Newsom and now to portray him as an unparalleled leader on the issue.

Here are the facts: In the week before the Dec. 9 mayoral runoff, the Chronicle was desperate to make homelessness the defining issue in the race. Newsom had long polled well on the issue, but the paper needed to close the deal by convincing voters his election was essential for ending homelessness.

So the Chronicle ran two front-page stories within a week of the election to launch the completely imaginary idea that federal funds were available for San Francisco's homeless – if only we had a mayor who created a plan. Reporter Kevin Fagan first raised the need for a plan Dec. 4 in the last of his five-part "Shame of the City" series. According to Fagan, getting homeless people off the streets requires a "sweeping plan," but "the trouble is that there is no plan." Fagan's entire series ignored both the Bush administration's direct responsibility for increased homelessness and its track record of curtailing housing programs for the poor.

The paper then followed its series by headlining, on the front page of its Sunday preelection edition, "Feds Say S.F. Just Needs to Decide: Homelessness Funding Awaits 10-Year City Plan." According to Fagan's story, "millions more in federal and private funds, even money from the cash-strapped state, could flow into the city if the new mayor creates a comprehensive 10-year plan." Repeatedly quoting Bush administration representative Philip Mangano, Fagan aggressively promoted Mangano's claim that San Francisco will "absolutely have a better chance at new resources" by creating a 10-year plan.

Contrary to the Chronicle's reports, there are no "new resources." The Bush administration has consistently opposed increasing housing funds, and its 2005 budget eliminates housing subsidies for more than 30,000 Bay Area families, quite possibly plunging them into homelessness. A bill creating a National Housing Trust Fund was close to passage in 2002, until the Bush administration instructed all House Republicans to vote against it. The trust fund would have allocated $5 billion annually to construct more than 150,000 low-cost housing units. When confronted with a real 10-year plan to end homelessness, the same White House and Congress the Chronicle said we should be turning to was not interested.

While the notion that the Bush administration would provide meaningful "new" money for the poor seemed absurd on its face, the sheer length of Fagan's piece, and its authoritative tone, likely led many readers to accept its bizarre premise. Fagan again made sure to completely ignore the Bush record in addressing homelessness. Nor did he take the obvious step of asking the city's congressmember, House majority leader Nancy Pelosi, why she didn't help us secure these alleged millions in federal homeless funds.

After I sent Fagan an e-mail questioning his portrayal of Bush homeless funding, he called me and said he agreed with my concerns and wanted to meet to discuss this and other homeless issues. During our meeting he repeatedly said my points about Bush's record were well taken. He stated he would provide such info on Bush's actual homeless record in future articles. But that hasn't happened.

Now that the Chronicle has achieved its goal of helping to elect Newsom, the concept of a 10-year plan gives it the opportunity to erroneously claim Newsom was the first mayor to put the city on a clear course. But as Sister Bernie Galvin of Religious Witness with Homeless People told me, "progress should be measured by the number of homeless persons housed, not by the creation of yet another plan."

Randy Shaw is director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic.