The article [1] posits reasonable hypotheses for why the number might be lower, but doesn’t attempt to calculate it, ending with “math...always making things confusing.”
San Francisco spends a lot on its homeless problem. (Using the article’s numbers, stripping out eviction prevention, about $200 million a year.) It has little to show for it.
[1] https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Myths-like-homel...
$241 million from a budget of over $12 billion from a city that with businesses that collectively make hundreds of billions every year. Doesn't seem like that much. Same as 1 SoftBank funded startup that inevitably wastes it.
Little to show for it? The money is going to help people in a awful situation. Just because they haven't disappeared from the streets doesn't mean it's wasted.
The number is more like $3800 per person per year.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/heatherknight/article/Bu...