San Francisco poised to trim cash to homeless.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

SAN FRANCISCO _ After decades of watching their city become a magnet for the homeless, San Franciscans finally are fed up with the growing number of street people who aggressively panhandle for money, pass out in downtown doorways and reject help from social service agencies that are paid millions a year to combat homelessness.

So next week, with the support of even some of the city's best-known liberals, voters will probably slash cash benefits for many of the city's homeless, from more than $300 a month to just $59.

The measure is intended to force chronically homeless single people into drug and alcohol treatment or other programs to keep them off the streets. But critics say Proposition N goes against the city's longtime history of tolerance for the less fortunate. What's more, they're not convinced the measure _ if it passes _ would deliver its promised services.

Supporters of the proposition counter that the city and county of San Francisco spent $104 million last year on homeless programs, yet the number of homeless people kept ...