> The city of San Francisco released data last week showing that 55% of homeless individuals rejected shelter when offered it
I think it's very important to understand why people turn down the beds. There are several reasons-
* Shelters have very restricted hours, so if someone has a job that includes nights they likely can't use a shelter. A large number of homeless people are employed.
* To accept space at a shelter homeless people often have to abandon their belongings. If they have a tent, for example, these normally aren't allowed.
* Getting a bed for one night does not mean that they'll have one the second night. So throwing away their tent for one night in a bed just doesn't make sense.
* Shelters often don't allow pets, and a lot of homeless people have dogs.
> She’s right. San Francisco is under a federal injunction that bars officials from enforcing laws against camping or sleeping in public spaces as long as its homeless population exceeds available shelter beds.
There's a really, really important point here. If every homeless person accepted a bed, there still would be no where near enough to cover the homeless population. This is part of the reason people aren't willing to accept temporary shelter, as they know it's temporary (since there isn't enough for everyone the city basically rotates people around)
It's also really important to note that SF has, per capita (of population, not of homeless population), the lowest amount of shelter beds of any major city in the US. The bay area itself is even worse, as some cities don't have any shelter space at all. A huge part of this is because housing is so expensive, as is building.
This article tries to play it off as people just choosing to be homeless, but the reality is a lot more nuanced than that.