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Anyone still clinging to the myth that California-style social programs provide care commensurate with their cost should read the heartbreaking account from Matthias Gafni, Matthew Mitchell and Susie Neilson today in the San Francisco Chronicle. The Chronicle, with help from UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program, explains what happened to a formerly homeless local resident: Wilton McCain, who went by his middle name of Eric, had
moved into the Mission District building, called the Jazzie Collins Apartments, soon after it opened in 2022. City leaders touted the 96-unit complex as a revolutionary step forward in the long and fraught challenge of lifting people off the city’s streets. No run-down tenement or makeshift shelter, it was stylish and modern, offering residents kitchenettes, access to an outdoor courtyard, and hope. It seems that no expense was spared, except for the ones McCain needed. Last November when his sister Aisha McCain was not able to reach him for several days, she went over to his building and saw a fire truck parked out front. The Chronicle reports: She would
soon learn that, even though the facility was required to regularly check in with him, Eric had died so long ago that firefighters found his decaying body surrounded by insects. A medical examiner described the remains as “moderately decomposed” and broadly attributed his passing at age 54 to chronic alcoholism. McCain’s facility is one of many operated in the city by a nonprofit outfit called HomeRise. The Chronicle notes that HomeRise “receives tens of millions of dollars every year in public grants and loans to fund its vast operation”: In a statement to the Chronicle, HomeRise CEO Janéa Jackson said the nonprofit had already taken steps to strengthen
its wellness check policy, including by retraining staff and increasing their supervision.
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