SF supervisors resolve to improve and preserve shelter space
SAN FRANCISCO - The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday adopted two resolutions involving shelter beds, one that urged the addition of new beds and another that advocated saving existing ones.
The city's severe shortage of shelter beds has taken on enhanced importance since a federal judge in December 2022 barred the city from clearing tent encampments while there are not enough shelter beds to cover all people sleeping on the streets. Testimony in the case showed the city's bed shortfall exceeds 4,000.
The city has appealed the injunction but has not been successful to date in suspending the court order while the appeal is pending.
The first resolution was initially proposed by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and calls upon Mayor London Breed to fund 2,000 new shelter beds over the next two years. The resolution was reported favorably out of the Budget and Appropriations Committee on May 2, and adopted unanimously Tuesday.
The resolution does not identify the source of funding for the new beds and comes at a time when the city's projected two-year deficit exceeds $775 million.
The second resolution relates to a trailer site located on port lands near Pier 94 and often referred to as Site F. At the latest count, the site contains 114 trailers and more than 100 residents.
Site F was originally set up during the pandemic and was supposed to end on Feb. 28 when the public health emergency declaration was lifted. However, given the severe bed shortage, the city's Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) requested a two-year extension, which the port denied. The port and HSH then agreed to a 10-month wind down arrangement that would close the site to new admissions by Oct. 2 and close completely the site at year's end.
The resolution was initially tendered by Supervisor Shamann Walton and urged the port and HSH to keep Site F open and operating. The resolution pointed out that displacing the existing residents would work great hardship on them.
The resolution passed unanimously Tuesday. Several supervisors spoke out against the closure of the site and said it reflected a lack of vision and leadership. Supervisor Ahsha Safai said the closure would be "unconscionable."
Supervisor Myrna Melgar said the site should be expanded to serve more people, not closed. She pointed out that she has been working for two years unsuccessfully to find a place in the city that can provide safe parking for people living in their vehicles with electric, water and sanitary services. She said it was "inconceivable" that the city would let this Site F -- which has those services -- close.
A memorandum to Walton from Emily Cohen of HSH -- also distributed to other supervisors -- assured that the existing residents would not be forced to return to the streets. The memo says that "No guest of the site will be asked to leave without another option being offered. In most cases, multiple options will be offered to each household."
The memo did not address the consequences to the city of the loss of a hundred beds at a time of extreme shortage.
The memo surprisingly disclosed, apparently for the first time, that HSH has already begun to take trailers out of service, months before it would be required to do so even under the wind down agreement. The memo says that HSH "stopped new intakes to the site as of April 19, 2023."
The wind-down agreement does not require intake to end until Oct. 2.
As a result of departures and the end of intake, six of the 114 trailers at the site are now vacant.
HSH's failure to fully utilize available beds has been a sore spot with Safai, who called out HSH in March for leaving 80 beds empty at the Embarcadero Navigation Center because HSH did not have beds and mattresses for the rooms.
The Port Commission was initially scheduled to vote on the wind down plan on April 25 but without comment deferred the matter first to May 9 and then to June 13.
While the port is run separately from the city, the mayor appoints, and the Board of Supervisors confirms, the members of the commission.