by Randy Shaw on April 22, 2024 (BeyondChron.org)
Momentum for Recovery Grows
San Francisco is undergoing a transformation in how it perceives its drug crisis. Long wedded exclusively to harm reduction, forces across the city are pushing to prioritize recovery. The difference? The former approach promotes addiction while the latter offers people the opportunity to transform their lives.
On Wednesday, April 24 a coalition of recovery groups holds a “Recovery First” rally and educational summit. It comes on the heels of Assembly member Matt Haney’s introduction of AB 2479, which would open up as much as 25% of state Housing First funding to drug-free recovery housing.
The tide toward recovery is turning. And to learn more about why, join the rally on City Hall steps that starts at 8:30am. And/or attend the summit that starts at 9:30 am at the Main Library.
The event is sponsored by the Pacific Alliance for Prevention and Recovery in partnership with Mothers Against Drug Addiction & Deaths, The Way Out, Salvation Army, Positive Directions Equal Change, UCSF Citywide Case Management, New Community Leadership Foundation, and the Tenderloin Housing Clinic (THC), of which I am the Executive Director. Richard Beal, who heads THC’s recovery programs, will be awarded the Shirley Lamar Award at the event.
Haney’s AB 2479
Haney’s legislation represents a huge step forward for recovery. It will finally give all California cities the resources to expand recovery services. That the state has barred drug-free recovery housing as part of its Housing First program was a mistake; Haney’s bill sets the state on the right course.
I encourage all those concerned about the drug crisis to support AB 2479.
San Francisco’s drug crisis is hampering the city’s economic recovery. Expanding drug-free recovery housing offers help and solutions the city desperately needs.
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
