{"id":27140,"date":"2023-06-30T11:51:04","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T18:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=27140"},"modified":"2023-06-30T11:51:05","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T18:51:05","slug":"shelter-housing-and-how-sf-leaders-view-ucsf-homelessness-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/06\/30\/shelter-housing-and-how-sf-leaders-view-ucsf-homelessness-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Shelter, housing and how SF leaders view UCSF homelessness study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Adam%20Shanks\">By Adam Shanks | Examiner staff writer |<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jun 29, 2023\u00a0Updated\u00a018 hrs ago  (SFExaminer.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/f\/33\/f3380000-f602-11ed-b4d4-635f628ccbd1\/646703e4e36bb.image.jpg?resize=400%2C267\" alt=\"Homeless tent encampment on Van Ness Avenue\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Homeless tent encampment on Van Ness Avenue near Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco on Thursday, May 18, 2023.Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A sweeping study published by San Francisco researchers last week analyzed the primary causes of homelessness in California and made a series of recommendations for solving the state\u2019s most vexing problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it\u2019s unlikely to end the ceaseless debates in San Francisco over how The City should address its enduring struggles to rein in homelessness, treat people with mental health disorders, or combat addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Led by Dr. Margot Kushel at the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/housing\/california-homeless-population-mostly-local-new-study-finds\/article_b43e2ba2-0f95-11ee-813b-fb4909af05b0.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the study collected information<\/a>&nbsp;from thousands of people experiencing homelessness across eight representative regions in California, including the Bay Area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who has taken a leading role in The City\u2019s evolving homelessness policy, called&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/homelessness.ucsf.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/2023-06\/CASPEH_Executive_Summary_62023.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the UCSF study<\/a>&nbsp;a \u201cpolitical document\u201d tailored to meet its authors\u2019 preconceived notions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think it has to be&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/homelessness.ucsf.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/2023-06\/CASPEH_Report_62023.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">accepted for what it is<\/a>, which is a lot of interviews with unhoused people across the state,\u201d San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman told The Examiner. \u201cIt\u2019s not focusing on San Francisco; it\u2019s a statewide survey of info by unhoused people about their own circumstances and how they got where they are and what they\u2019ve experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kushel, in an email to The Examiner, stressed that the study intended not only learn about the causes and conditions of homelessness but assess the barriers to ending it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLike all studies, we have to state our aims up front,\u201d Kushel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study surveyed 3,200 participants, including 325 who were interviewed in-depth. The majority were unsheltered \u2014 meaning they sleep outside \u2014 as are most homeless people in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBecause one of our goals at the outset was to look at solutions to homelessness (people in shelters are homeless, so by definition, being in a shelter doesn\u2019t solve homelessness), we spent effort on understanding barriers to housing,\u201d Kushel explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study found that despite rumblings that California is a de facto destination for the nation\u2019s homeless, most are from this state. A primary reason for this is the state\u2019s high cost of housing, which makes it likely that a person will become homeless \u2013 and will struggle to regain housing once unhoused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study expressly advocated for policies to reduce obstacles to housing and touched on themes deeply familiar to San Franciscans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>San Francisco has long found itself embroiled in a debate over whether or not it should pour resources into affordable and permanent housing \u2014 a policy endorsed by the UCSF study \u2014 or fund the expansion of temporary emergency shelter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A central question with which city leaders wrestle is whether San Francisco should make itself a model for state and national policies for which it advocates \u2014 namely, by investing in housing. Or, should The City acknowledge its limits and aim to quickly and efficiently mitigate unsheltered homelessness by expanding shelter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those questions played out in a recent budget committee meeting as Mandelman and Supervisor Hillary Ronen debated the best path forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ronen decried the negative attention San Francisco receives but said in the committee meeting that \u201cthe problems are not unique to San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat we are dealing with \u2026 is the emergency of poverty, and we don\u2019t call it poverty, but that\u2019s at the root cause of all of the issues,\u201d Ronen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ronen acknowledged The City could do things better, but said it\u2019s a \u201cbalancing act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHow do you address the root causes so that we\u2019re not dealing with this problem forever, versus how much do you address the symptoms &#8230; of poverty so that it\u2019s not life and death situation for people today,\u201d Ronen said. \u201cThe root of these problems are not with the way that we govern in San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She pointed to Mayor London Breed\u2019s recent proposal to pull funding earmarked for young adult and family housing to fund the expansion of temporary shelter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDo you take money from youth and family homelessness to deal with the more visible adult homelessness in the street, or do you end family and youth homelessness so that they don\u2019t become the adult homeless tomorrow?\u201d Ronen asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The City, she added, never commits to a strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mandelman said Ronen isn\u2019t wrong but that he and Ronen are trying to \u201caddress different problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mandelman argues that while the study\u2019s proposed solutions to homelessness might work on the state level, they aren\u2019t necessarily a prescription for San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, Mandelman argues that The City should implore the state and federal government to tackle systemic issues, while it invests in solutions \u201cthat address our San Francisco problems in particular,\u201d such as the proliferation of encampments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The City spends a significant portion of its budget \u2014 which totaled $14 billion last year \u2014 on a broad array of homeless services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>San Francisco\u2019s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing had a $672 million budget last year, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/sf-budget-how-london-breed-would-cut-780-million-deficit\/article_10f06b26-ffc9-11ed-8617-cb5781b1f086.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mayor London Breed\u2019s proposed budget this year<\/a>&nbsp;called for the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/hsh.sfgov.org\/about\/budget\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">department to receive $690 million<\/a>. A bit more than half funds permanent housing efforts, while slightly less than a quarter is earmarked for shelter and crisis intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019re Hillary Ronen, you advocate to model at local level to try to pressure them into following along,\u201d Mandelman said, adding that his preference is to do \u201csome of that,\u201d in San Francisco, but work more directly to address locally the \u201cmost problematic manifestations\u201d of inadequate state and federal policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMaybe that looks like an increased police presence, and breaking up drug rings, and displacing open air drug markets,\u201d Mandelman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mandelman believes The City should rapidly expand the amount of temporary, emergency shelter it offers to the homeless, breaking up open-air drug markets, and more readily compelling people into mental health treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An expansion of shelter would theoretically allow The City to begin enforcing sweeps against homeless encampments. The City is currently barred from carrying out sweeps, in part because of the massive deficit of shelter beds it has compared to its homeless population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And while the study implores the government to \u201cfacilitate swift exits from homelessness\u201d and notes that many respondents struggle to find shelter, Mandelman highlighted how it does not expressly advocate for shelter as a solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study states that 90% of its respondents reported spending at least one night unsheltered in the last six months, and 41% said they had attempted to access a shelter but were unable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kushel does not deny the importance of shelter and hopes her work can guide how shelter should be implemented. The study found that most people in shelters were \u201cgenerally pleased\u201d with their experience, but those unsheltered had wide-ranging concerns like curfews, requirements to vacate during the day, and COVID-related health risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd basically all, whether in shelter or not in shelter, wanted housing,\u201d Kushel added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/what-should-solving-sfs-unsheltered-homelessness-cost\/article_3431cdcc-ae44-11ed-814f-e7827eb49891.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">People in shelters<\/a>&nbsp;were more likely to receive help in obtaining housing, while unsheltered people were more likely to view such services as ineffective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, \u201cwe found (as have others) near unanimous desire for permanent housing,\u201d Kushel said. \u201cOur findings suggest the significant challenges that California faces, with its extreme shortage of housing for extremely low-income households, to end this crisis, and suggest concrete steps that could get us to the goal we all share, of ending homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But that might be too big a task for San Francisco to tackle on its own, Mandelman argues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The City is embarking on a state-mandated plan to make housing more readily available by building more than 80,000 new homes by 2031. Its&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/hsh.sfgov.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Home-by-the-Bay-Single_Page-Layout.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">new five-year strategic plan on homelessness<\/a>&nbsp;calls for the addition of 3,250 new units of permanent supportive housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as of the most recent homeless count in 2022, more than 4,000 people were living on the street. Investments in expanding permanent supportive housing have been successful, Mandelman acknowledges, and \u201cwe are improving people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBy that measure, it is working,\u201d Mandelman said. \u201cBy the measure of, are San Franciscans feeling the benefit of their buck? Absolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Adam%20Shanks\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/avatars\/7\/0e\/fc3\/70efc372-d70d-11ec-981c-577dc43f214f.9cd60a12d877dd1bb0b7132c1d69ee33.png?_dc=1654126500\" alt=\"Adam Shanks\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Adam%20Shanks\">Adam Shanks<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A sweeping study published by San Francisco researchers last week analyzed the primary causes of homelessness in California and made a series of recommendations for solving the state\u2019s most vexing problem. But it\u2019s unlikely to end the ceaseless debates in San Francisco over how The City should address its enduring&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/06\/30\/shelter-housing-and-how-sf-leaders-view-ucsf-homelessness-study\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/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":[735],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27140"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27144,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27140\/revisions\/27144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}