More people on SF streets are newly homeless

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Twenty of 21 cities surveyed for a new report from U.S. Conference of Mayors reported an increase in requests for food, and 59 percent of those requests came from families. In addition, 16 of 25 cities reported a significant increase in homeless families, with San Francisco among the leaders.

"Monday we had 136 families on the waiting list for a shelter," said Dariush Kayhan, the city's homeless policy director. "That's 50 percent more than we had on the list one year ago."

What's more concerning is that, according to the city's Human Services Agency, 62 percent of those on the waiting list are new to the system. They haven't been homeless in San Francisco before…

Indications are that we are only seeing the beginning of what the faltering economy will do to those living on the edge of homelessness…single men, particularly returning veterans, continue to be most likely to end up on the street.

clipped from www.sfgate.com Capt. Martin Cooper of the Salvation Army has been handing out free sandwiches and soup near the Civic Center in San Francisco for the last year and a half. Lately he's noticed some troubling changes. First, he's been running out of food. He used to take 50 sandwiches. Now he takes 500 and it isn't enough. Second, Cooper has been surprised at the folks who are asking for a meal. They're often clean-shaven, well dressed and utterly desperate. "We were over by the Civic Auditorium," Cooper said, "and there was a guy lying on the sidewalk with a blanket pulled over his head. I leaned down and asked him if he wanted something to eat. He pulled the blanket down and there was a 5-year-old little boy lying with him." Recently he reached down to a man on the sidewalk and asked him if he wanted something to eat. The man asked if he had to pay for the food. Told that it was free, he admitted that he hadn't eaten in three days. Then he began to weep.