Choice and Homelessness

Cities and societies, just like individuals, are the sum of their choices

As there is nearly every day in San Francisco, there is a sad story today in the local paper about homelessness. This one reports that the city “has never been so flush with cash” and plans to spend “more than $1.1 billion over the next two years” to confront the problem.

Anyone who lives in or near San Francisco knows this is a never-ending story. Some time back, when I had the good fortune to oversee local reporting for San Francisco’s afternoon newspaper, I assigned and edited hundreds…