by Randy Shaw on May 22, 2023 (BeyondChron.org)
Five Ways San Francisco Can Do Better
San Francisco is in its fifth decade of widespread visible homelessness. And people are more confused and less hopeful about solutions than ever before.
Why? The answer is surprisingly simple: the federal government has never restored the affordable housing funding slashed in President Reagan’s 1981 budget (See my June 2016 story, “Blame Reagan for Homelessness.”).
How can that be you ask? How can we believe that Congress has never addressed such a longstanding crisis?
Well. the facts are clear: the United States went from subsidizing rents for 75% of eligible families to less than 25% today.
Ongoing homelessness results.
Beyond Chron has included more stories on homelessness than any other issue. Check out our 2004 story on then-Mayor Newsom’s plan to end San Francisco’s chronic homelessness in ten years.
San Francisco and other major cities had their first real chance to end homelessness with President Biden’s Build Back Better housing plan— but it-was blocked by Senator Manchin. But San Francisco can take some obvious actions to reduce the scale of the problem.
Here are five actions the city can immediately take.
More Effectively Fill Permanent Supportive Housing
I wrote about the city’s failure to fill permanent supportive housing units two years before the SF Chronicle claimed to “break” this story ( See “San Francisco’s Failed Homeless Strategyhttps://beyondchron.org/san-franciscos-failed-homeless-strategy/,” February 23, 2021). It makes no sense that the city fails to fill vacancies. I hope the new Homelessness Commission finally gets HSH to fix this problem.
Economically Expand Supportive Housing
The most cost effective strategy to expand supportive housing is to buy step-up buildings that can be operated without much staff. Moving stabilized tenants from SRO rooms without bath into those with baths frees up units for the unhoused.
The city stopped acquiring step-up housing despite the cost benefits because the City Attorney ruled that Prop C funds could not be used. But the city formerly funded such housing out of its general budget—why did we stop?
Temporarily Limit Acquisitions to Sober/Recovery Hotels
San Francisco’s vast permanent supportive housing supply lacks a single building where the unhoused population can live in sober environment and get recovery treatment. To make up for this deficit, newly acquired SROs should be limited to those willing to undergo mandatory recovery services.
Opponents of sober hotels argue that rich people can drink and use drugs in their homes so it’s unfair to restrict the freedom of the unhoused. But nobody is forcing anyone to move to a sober hotel. Rather, it must be an option. The city has thousands of units unavailable to those seeking a sober environment with recovery staff on site; this needs to change with the next budget.
Deter Those Refusing Shelter or Housing
A legally dubious federal court injunction prevents the city from moving people from public spaces despite their refusing shelter. I fully expect the Ninth Circuit to overturn this ruling. Once that happens San Francisco needs to do something it has never fully committed to in the past: prevent refuseniks from camping in public spaces.
The city says 40% of campers refuse shelter. No matter how much shelter or housing San Francisco provides, if 40% of those on the street are free to refuse there is no hope for meaningfully reducing homelessness in the city.
Return to Leasing Rather Than Buying SROs
Prop C funds were primarily used to buy rather than lease SRO’s for permanent supportive housing. Much of these funds were used for the 50% state match under Governor Newsom’s Project Homekey.
The city’s purchase strategy sounds like a good deal. But it severely depleted available acquisition funds. In other words, far fewer unhoused will get housing under the purchase strategy.
We need the Homeless Commission to request a complete economic analysis of the leasing vs. purchase options. While its commonly thought its better to buy than rent, that is not true when you have 6000-8000 needing housing and the chief supply is historic SRO hotels.
What About Expanding Shelters?
My five strategies does not include a plan unanimously backed by the Board of Supervisors to add 2000 shelter beds. The estimated cost is $40 million.
I understand the logic: under prevailing 9th Circuit law the city can’t move campers without offering shelter so the city needs to have enough beds. But what’s never been clear to me is how funding shelters reduces homelessness. Most shelters have a time limit. If there is no permanent housing available the shelter resident simply returns to the street.
Pressure for more shelter beds comes from those upset with people camping. But if campers refusing shelter are allowed to stay in public spaces this goal is not achieved.
Isn’t Treatment a Prerequisite for Housing?
Part of the current unhoused population faces too many substance abuse problems to function effectively in supportive housing. But considering that well over 90% of supportive housing placements live in their homes for at least a year, the notion that most unhoused people shouldn’t be housed prior to getting substance abuse treatment isn’t supported by the facts.
Let’s not forget that the SIP hotels where all this damage occurred during COVID was akin to a shelter. It was never permanent supportive housing.
There are obviously other steps the city can take with its resources. The bottom line is clear: San Francisco needs new directions in its homelessness policy. The status quo is not working.
(Join me and other panelists on May 23 at 7pm at Manny’s for a talk on how expanding permanent supportive housing reduces homelessness. Click here for tickets.)
Randy Shaw
Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s latest book is Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. He is the author of four prior books on activism, including 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. He is also the author of The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco
