Commentary: Cities fear ‘if you build homeless shelters, more will come’

A funny thing happened at a Palo Alto Council meeting: Somebody blurted out the truth. 

It happened during a discussion on homelessness in the ultra-rich progressive town in which leaders were scolded for not doing enough to help. There are about 300 homeless people in Palo Alto, homeless advocates said, but the city has barely lifted a finger to house them. Why isn’t the city building, or providing, more permanent housing for the down and out, they asked?

Amid the silence, a local resident piped up: Because it might attract “more homeless people coming into our city.”

You could have heard a pin drop. (Hat tip to the Mercury News.)

This is a sneak peek at Sherman R. Frederick’s Marinscope column for this week. Come back for the full column on Wednesday.