The median age of San Francisco’s homeless population rose from 37 to 46 from 1990 to 2003, according to a recent study by University of California researchers. The study’s authors estimate the median is now 50, which is more like 65 if one considers the wear and tear of street life. As the median age rose, so did the number of years homeless people had been living on the street, and the number of diseases they contracted. Phillip Mangano, President Bush’s point man on homelessness, claimed the findings support the administration’s policies, which emphasize getting individual homeless people off the streets but do not focus on family homelessness. (SF Chronicle, 8/4)
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