Opinion

San Francisco doesn't have a homeless problem

Steven, a homeless man, sits at his tent in a homeless encampment near Division and Bryant streets in San Francisco, California, on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015. Steven, a homeless man, sits at his tent in a homeless encampment near Division and Bryant streets in San Francisco, California, on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015. Photo: Connor Radnovich, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Connor Radnovich, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 48 Caption Close San Francisco doesn't have a homeless problem 1 / 48 Back to Gallery

San Francisco doesn't have a homeless problem any more than a cancer patient losing their hair would tell a doctor they have a baldness problem. It's not about where people live. It's about why people live that way.

Walking up Mission Street, passing a woman with festering, puss-filled lesions along her legs, watching a man lying on his back on the concrete, writhing and grunting, and hearing a man screaming obscenities at firefighters in an ambulance -- all within the same block on the same morning-- it hit me. The solution to San Francisco's homeless problem is simple.

STOP CALLING THEM HOMELESS.

San Francisco has a mental health problem, and there are 7,500 people, most with some degree of mental illness, wandering the streets.

Not having shelter, for the most visible of city's homeless, is the least of their problems.

It's the fact that they want to drink their own urine. Or the fact that they can't stop screaming at strangers. Or the fact that they continue to see supernatural creatures attacking them from the sky.

On Maslow's hierarchy of needs, San Francisco often suffers at the bottom level of security, shelter and oxygen. Our citizens live at the lowest level -- needing to establish nominal physiological functionality -- knowing not to endanger themselves, knowing not to sociopathically attack others, not to sadistically spit at passersby. It's not about shelter. Maybe it never was.

Are all the fellow humans, formerly known as homeless, mentally ill? No.

A handful lost their jobs, couldn't make rent, and don't have relatives with couches. These are the ones who take their kids to the shelter, or sleep in their car while they go to temp jobs. They're not the problem. They're the people we know and can relate to. They're more likely to be getting and accepting help. They need more, but they'll get help and they'll overcome their situation.

But the ones that tarnish our city's reputation, endanger our health with their untreated diseases, and shatter the peace of a stroll down Market Street are mentally ill.

That's what the city needs to focus on.

If we had 8,000 people get sick with the measles, imagine the government resources that would swoop in.

No one wants the measles, right?

But the truth is, mental illness can impact any of us, and any one of us can end up homeless and mentally ill.

Maybe you remember former 49ers linebacker Terry Tatulo. After suffering brain injuries and career ending concussions, he suffers from early dementia and has lived under the freeway for much of his NFL retirement.

We're spending $169 million a year on the problem but that includes monies for housing. Maybe we should spend it all on treating the disease first.

So, to help everyone see the problem, stop calling these people homeless, and maybe by understanding the problem, we can get them mental help, and eventually a home.

Until then, watch your step around the sidewalk.

That's not dog poop.

Commentary by Brandon M. Mercer



