It’s a shift in city policy that could affect thousands of people and transform San Francisco’s image – and it doesn’t involve marriage licenses.

A new plan to combat homelessness was going to be the most ambitious undertaking by San Francisco’s city government before Mayor Gavin Newsom decided last week to dive head-first into the debate over gay marriages.

Newsom had a hand in crafting the homelessness policy. While a member of the city’s board of supervisors, he championed a voter initiative to cut welfare payments from up to $410 a month to $59 for 2,400 homeless people in San Francisco. The proposition, called Care Not Cash, was passed overwhelmingly by voters in 2002 but was ruled unenforceable by court order.

The idea was to funnel the money that would have gone to welfare checks toward housing, support services and drug rehabilitation programs for San Francisco’s most entrenched homeless people. The plan doesn’t address thousands of other street people who aren’t receiving money from San Francisco’s County Adult Assistance Programs.

Care Not Cash was seen by many as a political move by Newsom to scapegoat the homeless and use the issue to catapult him into the mayor’s office. It worked. He narrowly defeated a late, spirited campaign by Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez to succeed Willie Brown as mayor in November.

The biggest criticism of Care Not Cash was that it did not guarantee housing, only a bed in an emergency shelter, for people who would have had their welfare payments slashed. Opponents sued, and a judge halted implementation, ruling that only the board of supervisors can set welfare policy.

The board of supervisors passed a revised proposal last year offered by Supervisor Chris Daly. The new measure still cuts welfare checks but only when the recipient receives permanent housing or a spot in a drug rehab program. The city is coming up with plans to implement the new policy in April.

Anyone who’s been to San Francisco recently can’t help but notice how many people are living on the streets. Panhandlers ply their trade throughout the tourist districts, much to the chagrin of hotels and other businesses dependent on tourism. It can be a jarring sight for visitors used to a more suburban lifestyle.

Former Mayor Brown basically gave up on trying to solve the homeless problem during his administration. It will be interesting to see if this new approach can really make life better for some of San Francisco’s homeless people.

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