SF’s ‘First Journey Home’ Bussing for Homeless Statistics Unveiled

A new report on where where recipients of San Francisco’s Journey Home bussing program, which gives one way bus tickets to homeless people in San Francisco, was released on Friday.

San Francisco’s original homeless bussing program, Homeward Bound, ran between 2005 and 2013 under the guidance of then San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Over 10,000 homeless were sent out of the city under the program, with only one in eight getting back. And, as the Globe noted earlier this week, many charities in and around the city still offer bus tickets for homeless people in the city wanting to get out, with some being sent as far away as Florida.

However, San Francisco never revisited Homeward Bound despite the homeless population growing exponentially and making shelter spots hard to come by. In September of last year, a new bussing program, Journey Home, began on a small-scale soft launch. Between then and August 2nd, the city only paid for 92 tickets out of San Francisco. However, Mayor London Breed announced last week that the bus program would be returning to the city on a larger scale, as part of her sweeping reforms to tackle homelessness in the city and remove encampments. According to Mayor Breed, Journey Home would “prioritize relocation support and services.” All homeless people in the city will be offered a bus ride before offering shelter and housing, essentially removing the ‘housing first’ policy that has prevailed.

With a lot of homeless people now geared to be bussed outside of San Francisco, it begs the question: where will they go?

A new report on Friday revealed where the 92 first recipients of the program went, showing sort of a preview of what the upcoming homeless exodus will look like. Of the 92, a total of 25 bussed elsewhere in California. The leading place out of state was Oregon with 9 people going there, followed by 6 going to both Nevada and Texas. The next highest was Ohio with 4. Other popular states included Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, New Mexico, and Tennessee.

The report, compiled by the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and the Human Services Agency, also noted that the most popular places within California for those in Journey Home were Los Angeles County, Sacramento County, and Humboldt County.

While a sample of only 92 recipients taken over a year is not much for a sample size, others with similar programs noted that it is roughly accurate on where homeless people want to be bussed to.

“We have had a bus program for years, mostly by Greyhound, and it is sort of telling the same thing,” said Jack, who helps run a private homeless charity in the Bay Area, to the Globe on Friday. “We measure by city though. Biggest place is Los Angeles, although with all the encampment clearances lately, that will likely change. But outside the state, the biggest is Las Vegas. Then it is Phoenix, Austin, San Antonio, Nashville, and Denver. Portland and Seattle used to be big, but now no one wants to go there. In recent years, a lot more people have been asking for Houston and Albuquerque too.

“I can’t say it is jobs moving everyone, or even cost of living. Mostly people want to go home. San Francisco’s program, wow, we’re going to see so many go out now. Texas is probably going to hate this, as will Arizona. California’s weather is great compared to those places, but things are turning in California in other areas. Those 92 are only a preview of what is to happen.”

It is currently unknown when Journey Home’s first statistics post Breed-expansion will come out.