> The problem is figuring out what to do about the homeless people who refuse to accept shelter and other forms of government assistance.

Does San Francisco have shelter beds that are sitting empty? We just don't have that problem yet. The people refusing shelter are refusing to throw away all of their remaining possessions for the promise of a few nights inside and then getting kicked out.

> The people refusing shelter are refusing to throw away all of their remaining possessions for the promise of a few nights inside and then getting kicked out.

That's true for some. But there are many who would not accept a guaranteed permanent shelter bed because they prefer the freedom of living on their own. If you won't accept the reality of that, you'll never solve the problem.

The solution is likely the same here as it is elsewhere: not a permanent shelter bed where you are stripped of dignity and any facsimile of a normal life, but real homes and real independent lives surrounded by real people and the social connections that make permanent escape from poverty possible. And all of it, ideally, before destitution rather than after. But that's expensive, so we will continue to see handwringing about the deplorable plight of the homeless while the glittering lives of the wealthy grow ever more gilded.

Those shelters are only useful for sleeping (that's the only thing they were optimized for). The people that go there still don't have a place to call home. During the day the homeless go outside and will cause all the same issues that come with regular homelessness.

Every shelter is full. Every mental health facility is full. The need for more of them is the most immediate problem to solve.

> there are many who would not accept

You're blaming people for how they would make a decision that they don't actually have. That's not dealing with reality.

It is not a matter of "refusing shelter" it is a matter of refusing the strings that come with the Shelter.

Like the story says most shelters have a litany of rules that most reasonable people would find objectionable. Some even require you to attend religious services, or preform some other act.

Then you have the one that refuse pets (homeless people will not and should not have to give up their pets)

then you have a Single Sex only shelters where couples would be split

Then you have the fact that in many cities there is an extreme lack of Men's shelters as most of the funding goes to Women and Children shelters.

I could probably list a dozen or more other facts more than "the damn homeless just refuse help"

My review of a Salvation Army shelter I stayed in https://goo.gl/maps/TpjnpVLgQPp

There are good programs but man, it's become fucking business.

> I could probably list a dozen or more other facts more than "the damn homeless just refuse help"

I never said that. It is an unfair misrepresentation of my argument.

Apologizes if that is not what you meant, I have been following this issue for many years and I have encountered a large number of people that shift the blame on to homeless themselves because they believe the current programs that are out there should be more than enough to solve the problem is the homeless would just "accept the help"

Text is an imperfect medium etc, but for what it's worth this is what I read in your statement above as well.