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If you live on the west coast, you’re no stranger to the ongoing debate over housing the homeless in hotels on the taxpayers dime. The finest hotels in San Francisco and Los Angeles are putting up a fight, but places like the Palace hotel in San Francisco are currently housing those without a roof over their head, and their expenses are being covered by the city. In fact, San Francisco estimates that it will spend upwards of $1oom housing 7k homeless in hotels for just 90 days.
An interesting sidenote will be issue of getting them out once the city stops paying. One, there is a moratorium on evictions and two, for the homeless that are a bit savvy, they could potentially declare tenant rights. California has some of the most liberal laws protecting squatters…30 days and you’ve fulfilled the minimum requirement to be considered a month to month renter – meaning the law would need to be involved in order to evict ( if evictions are back on the table). There was a famous case of this in Palm Springs back in 2014 where some renters did this at an AirBnb. After it was all said and done, it took the owners months and thousands of dollars of legal expenses and lost income to get their squatters out.
Well, the debate has gotten even more heated as it was announced that the city will facilitate drugs and alcohol being delivered to the homeless staying in hotels paid for by the city. This is in addition to methodone being administered for opioid addicts and will include cannabis and alcohol. That’s medical cannabis with a specific purpose, no recreational cannabis just to clarify. If you’ve been to California, then you already know how strict the states laws are regarding getting a medical marijuana ID. The requirements are pretty strict and I could be a bit off here, but if you inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide you have a pretty good shot at getting medical marijuana. It is worth noting that drugs and alcohol are being funded by private donations; however, the delivery will be facilitated by the city and is part of their “hard reduction therapy.”
I can’t remember where I read this, but a couple of months ago when this was all being proposed It was speculated that the city would figure out a way to provide the homeless with their usual daily activity. That prophecy has been realized. Part of the explanation was that it would minimize drug dealers, etc from making constant deliveries to hotels, allow addicts to get treatment ( ? ), and potentially create a safer environment within the confines of the hotel for everyone who is there and self isolating.
It will be interesting to see how policies like this affect the ongoing discussion of de-urbanization, increasing debt loads of municipalities, and losses in net migration. The homeless epidemic is particularly shocking across LA and SF where lavish displays of wealth, high cost of living, and poverty are juxtaposed in the light of day. I’m certainly not a public health official, but I am one that has traveled a lot, and I live in LA. Taxes are high, infrastructure is failing, and with the increasing viability of work from home jobs, I wonder how many will people will choose to live elsewhere, and whether tourists will be dissuaded from staying in hotels that continue to house the homeless once restrictions are lifted.
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Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.