Chucky appears to be back on the homeless beat this week with two stories about it. One is something that might piss people off, the other something that might not piss people off. We'll start with the one that might piss people off one first so we can cheer everyone up at the end with the one that won’t piss people off and make the post heart-warming, just in time for the holidays.

Today's column deals with the idea that some homeless people need longtime care more than anything else. The thing that'll make homeless advocates get their knickers in a bunch is the idea that if those particular homeless people don't want help, we should force them get the help. All this according to Niels Tangherlini-- paramedic, social worker, homelessness go-to-guy. Tangherlini thinks this way because of the fact that just a few homeless people are the ones hospitalized the most. According to a 2005 Chronicle report, 362 individuals made up 3,869 visits to the hospital, all at a cost of roughly $11 million. Malcolm Gladwell, he of "Tipping Point" fame, has noted this too, primarily in the New Yorker but it's hard to remember what he said as we mainly read it to come up with jokes for the cartoon contest.

On Sunday, Nevius presented an idea to help, mainly aping Portland's approach to the homeless. Portland has created a bunch of rules to keep people off the streets but has asked the business community for a little something-something to provide the homeless with better services, like actual bathrooms. Portland's approach appears to be working as there are less numbers on the street than before and street crime is down. Gavin and his posse has met with Portland officials to go over this and kinda dug it. We couldn't help note, however, that those attending the meeting with Portland officials mainly included Gavin's people and Supervisors Elsbrand and Alioto-Pier: ie those who do a little Gavin slurping. Guess the invites to the others got lost in the mail.