Homelessness and the Magnet Myth

It is a common misconception that a majority of individuals and families experiencing homelessness have chosen to move to San Francisco from other cities in order to access San Francisco-based social services.

The narrative is that San Francisco (a bastion of liberal ideals) offers social services that act as a magnet to people in a homeless crisis.

It’s called the Magnet Myth and it’s simply inaccurate.

…and we have the data to prove it.

In 2009 President Obama signed into law the HEARTH Act, which reauthorized the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

HEARTH requires the establishment and maintenance of a Homeless Management Information System. For several years local communities have been collecting data on homelessness

San Francisco Human Services Agency and Local Homeless Coordinating Board work with a company called Applied Survey Research (ASR) to compile data collected by homeless service providers.

One data point collected is the zip code of the last residence before becoming homeless.

San Francisco reported that in 2015 “seventy-one percent (71%) of respondents reported they were living in San Francisco at the time they most recently became homeless, an increase from 61% in 2013. Of those, nearly half (49%) had lived in San Francisco for 10 years or more. Eleven percent (11%) had lived in San Francisco for less than one year.”

71% of homeless respondents were living in a home within San Francisco before they became homeless. Less than one in three individuals experiencing homelessness in San Francisco — only 29% — moved to San Francisco after becoming homeless.

In fact, 49% of those people who were already living in San Francisco before they become homeless had lived in San Francisco for at least ten years!

Families and individuals experiencing homelessness are not flocking to San Francisco to benefit from our network of social services. San Franciscans are becoming homeless, and that number is on the rise.

Between 2013 and 2015 the percentage of people living in San Francisco before entering homelessness increased from 61% to 71%. This statistic is alarming and it reflects San Francisco’s affordable housing crisis.

At a time when an increasing number of San Franciscans are becoming homeless or facing imminent homelessness, it is more important than ever to recognize the value of social services in San Francisco.

The Magnet Myth is not only false, it is harmful because it suggests that the existence of social service programs creates a perverse incentive for interests outside of San Francisco and a strain on the city’s resources. That argument is dangerous because it can be used to defund social service providers.

Individuals and families experiencing homelessness are not outsiders. They are people. And the vast majority of them in San Francisco lived here, in a home, before experiencing their homeless crisis.

San Francisco’s network of social services is not a magnet, it is a life line for our neighbors in need.