Main Street, Santa Monica, July 4, 2019

                                                           (photo: John Gabree)

A step in the right direction

San Francisco approved a ballot initiative, Prop C, despite opposition by incoming governor Gavin Newsom, aimed at curbing homelessness, dealing a political blow also to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who publicly opposed the measure. It's set to raise up to $300 million to fund housing, mental health and homeless initiatives by taxing large corporations. Dorsey opposed it because, he said, it could prove stifling for smaller corporations, a position that drew him into a public feud with vocal initiative backer Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.

It should go without saying

It is unfair and counter-productive of society to dump the job of providing services to the homeless community on businesses, like coffee shops and gas stations, and public organizations, like libraries, that are ill-equipped and unprepared to handle them.

Apps: A homeless person on your iPhone

With charitable donations plummeting because of the state of the economy, the fundraising efforts of nonprofits have needed a creative boost. Just how creative is demonstrated by iHobo, a Tamagotchi-like iTunes application that lets you interact with your very own homeless person, shows just how creative. In just a week, iHobo shot to the top of the iTunes chart, with over 200,000 downloads. Although at first glance it may sound exploitative, the thinking behind it, the app's creators claim, is as serious as it is provocative. Although it's generating significant word of mouth, innovative marketing ploy's success won't ultimately be measured by publicity or even download volumes, but by the uplift in donations it produces. iHobo: No 1 on the street by Meg Carter (Guardian UK 2010-05-24).