{"id":39839,"date":"2025-02-26T13:31:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T21:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=39839"},"modified":"2025-02-26T13:31:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T21:31:06","slug":"how-hsh-ghosts-the-tenderloin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/02\/26\/how-hsh-ghosts-the-tenderloin\/","title":{"rendered":"How HSH Ghosts the Tenderloin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by\u00a0Randy Shaw<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0February 24, 2025 (BeyondChron.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drug users are regulars at the city-funded Monarch<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HSH Refuses Public Meetings, Ignores Community Input<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco\u2019s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) has pushed to transform the Tenderloin into a homeless services and drug containment zone. In a city that demands public input over a neighbor\u2019s deck, HSH converted four Tenderloin tourist hotels to shelters without holding a single in-person public meeting<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not one. No in-person public meeting giving residents, small businesses and property owners a chance to express concerns about land use changes that negatively impact them. The Tenderloin\u2019s low-income status apparently exempts the neighborhood<\/a> from the city\u2019s community input rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now HSH is up to more tricks. It wants to extend the conversions of the Monarch and Adante tourist hotels (1015 and 610 Geary) \u2014 to shelters. This despite the negative impacts these conversions have already had on the neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city still operates a former tourist hotel at Ellis and Larkin as a shelter despite buying the property for permanent housing. This is one of two tourist hotels bordering Little Saigon that HSH converted to shelters; their drug tourists wrecked the once thriving street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mayor has already announced 822 Geary in the Tenderloin as his first new 24-hour mental health crisis facility. If HSH gets its way we\u2019ll soon have homeless and 24-hour extreme mental health crisis services on the 600, 800, and 1000 blocks of Geary. Another 24-hour drop in center is set for 888 Post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City Hall loves talking about the Tenderloin as a neighborhood of children. Does anyone think converting tourist hotels to drug shelters, encouraging drug use on sidewalks, and bringing people in behavioral crisis from across the city to the neighborhood 24-hours a day helps Tenderloin kids?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s pass a law. Politicians must stop using Tenderloin kids for photo-ops until they start implementing policies that improve their quality of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HSH has refused requests to do an economic impact analysis of how these shelter conversions and 24-hour facilities impact surrounding businesses. The study would likely support those urging the city to stop opening new homeless shelters and mental health facilities in the already over-saturated Tenderloin, lower Polk and lower Nob Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supervisor Mahmood told the TBC on February 13 that he could get an economic impact analysis from the Board\u2019s legislative office in a couple of days. We still haven\u2019t seen it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refusing Public Meetings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HSH convened a zoom meeting around Thanksgiving for public input on the lease extensions. Chris Schulman, Executive Director of the Lower Polk Community Benefits District, was on the zoom call. According to Schulman, \u201cHSH said this was the first of several meetings on extending the Adante and Monarch leases. They described this zoom meeting as just a \u2018starting point.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, it actually was a finishing point. No public meetings were subsequently scheduled. And when Homeless Policy Chief Kunal Modi scheduled a February 13 meeting with the Tenderloin Business Coalition to discuss the lease extensions, no representative from HSH showed up. This despite the TBC being told that HSH Director Shireen McSpadden would attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supervisor Mahmood asked the TBC for a show of hands as to how many saw extending the wildly expensive leases for drug housing at the Monarch and Adante as a \u201cbright red line\u201d for opposition. Everyone in the crowd raised their hand. The crowd included Anand Singh of UNITE HERE Local 2, who announced that the union would do whatever it could to stop these destructive lease extensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll soon learn whether the new supervisor for the Tenderloin supports the community\u2019s position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has \u201cChange\u201d Come to City Hall?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of us hoped that our new mayor and D5 Supervisor would end the city\u2019s misuse of the Tenderloin as a containment zone. Stopping the use of tourist hotels as drug shelters is a good start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But HSH has other ideas. After spending tens of millions of dollars to wreck Little Saigon, HSH is now pushing Mayor Lurie and Supervisor Mahmood  to spend millions more ruining the Tenderloin\u2019s only other commercial district on Geary Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Businesses on the 800 block of Geary have already expressed concerns. Would you open a business on the 600-1000 blocks of Geary when the city is bringing troubled people from across the city to the area 24 hours a day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where Does Mayor Lurie Stand?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Lurie has stated he wants to help the Tenderloin. He has passed emergency fentanyl legislation, pledged to close drug markets, and wants to help small businesses. After walking by the drug scene at Jones and Ellis he tweeted a video announcing his displeasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the crowd of drug users and dealers at Jones and Ellis remains. And while I believe Mayor Lurie is sincere in his commitment to help Tenderloin small businesses, he has not taken a single action that supports that commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked on February 10,  \u201cDoes SF Have Plan to Revitalize Tenderloin?\u201d
<\/a>Unfortunately, the answer is still no. Even worse,the Tenderloin has been excluded from the mayor\u2019s Downtown Plan. Ned Segal, the mayor\u2019s economic policy advisor, has refused to meet with the Tenderloin Business Coalition. Businesses had hopes for help from the new administration but are losing faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of helping the Tenderloin rebuild an economy largely destroyed by city-funded projects like the Monarch and Adante, Mayor Lurie has yet to oppose extending these destructive uses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while the mayor promotes recovery over harm reduction, the city continues spending millions of dollars handing out of drug paraphernalia in the Tenderloin. That money could be shifted to help small businesses in the neighborhood survive the damaging impact of the city\u2019 pro-drugs programs over the past five years. Such funds could also be used to attract new businesses, once the mayor signals that no new homeless and mental health services will not be opening nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extending leases for drug hotels doesn\u2019t stop drug tourism. It encourages it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ignoring Past Commitments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prior administration pledged that 822 Geary would be the last homeless\/acute mental health facility placed in the Tenderloin. They said that if Tenderloin stakeholders wouldn\u2019t fight 822 Geary that no new facilities would open in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This promise has been ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HSH\u2019s attitude raises a question: why do city policies favor people who come to the city with no resources and who need shelter over the hard working small business people and residents of the Tenderloin? Why does the city care so little about Tenderloin and lower Polk businesses that they will put them out of business rather than shift these shelter hotels outside the neighborhood?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city could offer permanent housing to all occupants of the Monarch and Adante tomorrow. They could give them five days to move to that housing or leave the shelter. Those refusing the housing will demonstrate that HSH allowed San Francisco taxpayers to spend millions of dollars providing private baths, meals and free rent to people who have no intention of leaving homelessness.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve repeatedly written how San Francisco\u2019s allowing drug tourists to spend years in rent-free, private bath housing encourages homelessness and drug tourism (See \u201cHow San Francisco Promotes Drug Tourism<\/a>,\u201d December 2, 2024) It\u2019s time for Mayor Lurie to end the prior administration\u2019s failed policy. Now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Monarch and Adante can easily be vacated of shelter occupants by the end of March. Claims otherwise are simply false. And if the mayor is concerned about having enough shelter beds, there is a long list of hotels outside the Tenderloin who have offered HSH to become shelters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supervisor Mahmood talks about geographic equity. But passing legislation requiring geographic equity after extending leases for Tenderloin tourist hotels to become shelters makes a mockery of the term. It\u2019s like passing a housing preservation bill for the Fillmore after the wrecking ball destroyed hundreds of homes and displaced thousands of residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If these leases get extended the supervisor should pass a geographic inequity<\/em> bill. That would confirm how San Francisco treats its largest remaining low-income, working-class neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Thursday! Join me for a book release event for my updated book on the Tenderloin at the Tenderloin Museum on February 27 at 5:30. It\u2019s also available via zoom. To register, go to https:\/\/www.tenderloinmuseum.org\/public-programs-2025-1\/2025\/2\/27\/shaw-10th-anniversary-book-launch<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randy Shaw<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco\u2019s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s new book is the revised and updated, The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco. His prior books include Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More Posts<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Randy Shaw\u00a0on\u00a0February 24, 2025 (BeyondChron.org) Drug users are regulars at the city-funded Monarch HSH Refuses Public Meetings, Ignores Community Input San Francisco\u2019s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) has pushed to transform the Tenderloin into a homeless services and drug containment zone. In a city that demands public input… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39839"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39840,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39839\/revisions\/39840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}