San Francisco Spends $5 Million of Taxpayer Money to Give Free Beer and Vodka Shots to Homeless

San Francisco Spends $5 Million of Taxpayer Money to Give Free Beer and Vodka Shots to Homeless

San Francisco has such a significant homelessness problem that there are literal poop maps distributed so residents know where to avoid feces lines on streets.

As the once-great city descends into a Mad Max dystopia, public officials think that the solution is to use $5 million in taxpayer dollars to give free booze to homeless people…many of whom are likely to be alcoholics.

Adam Nathan, founder and CEO of the small business AI marketing tool Blaze and the chair of the Salvation Army San Francisco Metro Advisory Board, posted a thread on X slamming the program after watching a string of unhoused drunks line up for their shots, stating it “just doesn’t feel right.”

“Did you know San Francisco spends $2 million a year on a “Managed Alcohol Program?” It provides free Alcohol to people struggling with chronic alcoholism who are mostly homeless,” Nathan wrote on the social media site.

His estimate was actually just 40% of the total cost — the four-year-old “managed alcohol program” actually costs the city $5 million a year, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The program as described by the Chronicle sees nurses dispense “controlled doses” of vodka and beer to street people at specific times of the day. Intended to keep the homeless off the streets and out of jail or the emergency room, it’s run out of a former hotel in the city’s Tenderloin district.

Did you know San Francisco spends $2 million a year on a "Managed Alcohol Program?" It provides free Alcohol to people struggling with chronic alcoholism who are mostly homeless. I stumbled upon the building where they have this program. This is what I saw.🧵

— Adam Nathan • blaze.ai (@adampnathan) May 8, 2024

Apparently, the goal of the program is to reduce the amount of emergency room visits by homeless alcoholics who binge on alcohol to the point that they are suffering severe health consequences.

But a professor at the UCSF School of Nursing, Shannon Smith-Bernardin, who helped set up the program in San Francisco explained how the aim is to stabilize the amount of alcohol being used by the homeless people ‘so they’re not binge drinking or stopping drinking and having seizures and then … start figuring out what’s next.’

Aside from pouring the pints, and serving the shots, the program also allows those taking part to receive medication and therapy in a further drive to reduce the alcohol cravings.

Nathan has brought the program on his social media feed earlier this week, posting details of what he discovered after walking into the former hotel where the scheme operated. He was appalled by what he had seen.

‘I’m no doctor or “expert” on issues of drug policy. But I am a taxpayer. When did this Managed Alcohol Program get approved? Where were the public hearings? Why is it hidden away in an old hotel? Who approved a $2 million budget for it?’ Nathan asked on X.

Here is a video from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine featuring “experts” explaining the program, which also includes a massive dose of social justice. It’s worth checking out for the comments.

Admittedly, it is a bold strategy.

https://t.co/NOLnJnis9u pic.twitter.com/q6vb7igo5U

— Leslie Eastman ☥ (@Mutnodjmet) May 14, 2024

Let’s see if it pays off.

California Governor Gavin Newsom was called out by a reporter after he continued to dodge questions about blowing the state’s $24 billion spending on the homeless.

….California spent $24 billion tackling homelessness over five years but didn’t track if the money was helping the state’s growing number of unhoused people, a damning report says.

At a press conference announcing his plans, he was asked by Angela Hart of KFF Health News if he felt his administration did enough to ensure the money was well spent and if he was worried the appetite for spending was lessening based on the homelessness program.

The usually confident Democrat hemmed and hawed for two minutes, to which Hart responded: ‘I’m sorry governor, I didn’t hear responses to either of those questions.’

The fiasco is so astonishing that even California Democrats are beginning to complain.

Some California Democrats are turning on their Golden State leader after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s homelessness council failed to track whether billions of dollars spent on curbing the homelessness crisis were successful in the last five years.

“You come to a budget committee, and there’s no numbers,” Democratic Assemblymember Phil Ting said to Newsom’s housing and homelessness officials during Monday’s budget committee hearing. “How many people have we helped? How many people are off the street?”

“Because that’s what people want to know,” he added.

I suspect Newsom will be grilled even harder as news about the free beer and vodka is spread.

Failure of this magnitude is hard to hide and difficult to explain away with an explanation of “incompetence.” The officials of San Francisco and Sacramento who created these harmful homelessness programs have engaged in destructive, misplaced compassion—likely with a huge side of graft.

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