San Francisco's poop problem explodes on the city's streets and sidewalks

Poop on the streets has long plagued the city of San Francisco, but the problem has exploded over the past few years as the city's homeless population has surged.

Reports of human feces found on the streets and sidewalks jumped to an all-time record of 28,084 in 2018, up by more than five times the number reported seven years earlier. In 2011, there were 5,547 reports of human waste in public spaces.

BuzzFeed's John Paczkowski shared a graph of the incidents reported over the eight-year period.

During the first quarter of this year, there were 6,676 reports of people poop on the streets, Forbes reported.

Overall, at least 118,352 reports of human waste have been reported across San Francisco since 2011.

Government watchdog Open The Books documented every spot of human fecal matter reported to city services over the past eight years. Open The Books is a non-profit organization that accepts no government funding.

Complaints from residents prompted the city to launch a dedicated "Poop Patrol" late last summer in an effort to clean up the streets. A team of Public Works employees patrol the city's defecation hot spots to try to get ahead of the mess.

Which neighborhoods had the most reports?

Overall, 118 neighborhoods and 30 ZIP Codes across the city were affected, according to Forbes.

And nearly two-thirds or 72 percent of the reports came from 10 neighborhoods: Tenderloin; South of Market; Mission; Civic Center; Mission Dolores; Lower Nob Hill; Potrero Hill; Showplace Square; North Beach, and the Financial District.

But the highest concentration was focused in the city's center with more than 23,800 reports of poop since 2008.

What else?

The ever-growing homeless population has pushed the city's shelter to their limits.

With more and more individuals are sleeping on the streets, there's little chance for the problem to end any time soon.