Daly City, CA (GlossyNews) — Karen Salvio came to San Francisco in 1994, a bright-eyed young woman fresh out of college. After she moved into her new apartment, she went out for the evening to have a few drinks. But when Karen jumped in a cab to go home, she couldn’t remember her new address. After riding around for hours and exhausting all her funds, Karen arrived at a homeless shelter in the Mission the next afternoon.
“It’s a common problem in a city like San Francisco where every building starts to look the same after a while,” says homeless advocate Mary Smith. “People come from all over the country to live here, they get turned around, never find their home again, and end up in the shelter. It was a huge problem for the 30 years the Grateful Dead played around here every other weekend. Now it’s the kids who leave their apartment listening to music, texting or whatnot and paying no attention to landmarks. When their batteries and money run out, here they come. There’s not much we can do at that point. Trying to help them by asking for a description of the place they lived is a joke.“
Although the cycle of homelessness never seems to stop here, apartment owners and landlords don’t mind taking advantage of the situation, “We ask for a large deposit and first and last month’s rent up front. That protects us from those idiots who forget to write down their address and wander away in the middle of the rental agreement,” says wealthy apartment building owner Marty Shmiggins.