San Francisco recently ended the practice of giving cash to the homeless urban outdoorsmen, and it's having astounding results.

Under the new guidelines, homeless people who were getting as much as $410 a month now have a choice of accepting housing and getting a check for as little as $59 -- or keep living on the street and still getting a check for as little as $59.

City records show that the number of homeless people getting cash assistance fell from 2,138 at the start of May to 1,769 as of June 1.

Apparently when the city stopped handing out "free" money, people who weren't really homeless to begin with stopped asking for assistance. While many San Francisco liberals were shocked by the revelation, Mayor Gavin Newsom wasn't surprised. Alameda County tried the same thing years ago.

With the change, there was no incentive for anyone who wasn't actually homeless to claim otherwise.

Throw in a get-tough policy that included follow-up calls to make sure recipients were keeping up with their treatment programs, and Alameda County saw its homeless cash assistance numbers drop from 2,000 to 200.

Apparently they all moved to San Francisco.