The camps are managed by Urban Alchemy, the San Francisco-based nonprofit that has rapidly grown into a multimillion-dollar street services enterprise and embodies an elastic philosophy of shelter.
Aggressive marketing aligned with rising public discontent over homelessness made for a winning strategy. By 2021 it reported $51 million in revenue primarily from contracts for street outreach and shelter operations in San Francisco; Austin, Texas; Portland, Ore.; and Los Angeles.
“…I realized some homeless people have money that I could leech from them with rent payments, just not enough to be worthy of living in a permanent structure. So I just took that idea and ran with it!”
“And if any venture capitalists aren’t convinced we’re serious about turning a profit, it’s BYOT” “the T is tent”