San Francisco plans to launch three high-volume sites to manage the rollout of two COVID-19 vaccines, with the goal of reaching 10,000 people a day, Mayor London Breed announced Friday. The sites will operate in addition to existing medical facilities and smaller, pop-up sites to create a citywide vaccination network.
Author Archives: Nuala Bishari
Nuala Bishari is an award-winning journalist and editor based in San Francisco. She spent three years as news editor and reporter for SF Weekly, was a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner, and helped found a local neighborhood blog called Hoodline.
Posted inCalifornia, Labor
Proposition 22 Foes Slam Albertsons Plan to Use Gig Workers for Delivery
Workers’ rights groups that have been mobilizing and strategizing over how to react to the passage last year of Proposition 22 criticized a move announced this week by Albertsons, Safeway’s parent company, to eliminate hundreds of grocery delivery positions in California and replace them with gig workers from DoorDash.
Posted inCity Hall, Government & Politics, Health, Law & Justice, Neighborhoods
Advocates Fire Back at ‘Ineffective’ Drug Dealer Injunctions
Nearly four dozen groups announced Wednesday their opposition to San Francisco’s efforts to combat rampant drug dealing in the Tenderloin by using injunctions to increase penalties for dealers.
On Wednesday morning, a coalition of 45 organizations, including the public defender’s office, homeless advocates, immigration rights groups, drug policy organizations and youth-based nonprofits, held a press conference to express their opposition to the strategy. In a Dec. 3 letter to City Attorney Dennis Herrera, they said the injunctions are “draconian and wasteful,” and do little to address concerns around drug dealing and overdoses.
Posted inCity Hall, Coronavirus, Health, Homelessness
City Extends Shelter-in-Place Hotel Program
The city will house more people in hotel rooms than it had planned thanks to a law the Board of Supervisors passed unanimously Tuesday.
The legislation, drafted by Supervisor Matt Haney, establishes an emergency ordinance that requires the city to continue its practice of housing homeless people in hotel rooms while COVID-19 remains a risk. Emergency ordinances are used to rapidly respond to crises such as pandemics, and last 60 days.
Posted inCity Hall, Coronavirus, Homelessness
Supervisors Divided on Plan to Extend Shelter-in-Place Hotels
Some city supervisors are pushing to continue using hotel rooms occupied by vulnerable homeless residents during the pandemic for a second cohort after current room residents are moved into other housing. Proponents say that despite a possible loss of federal emergency funds, discontinuing the program too soon would leave thousands unsheltered during the health emergency.
Posted inCity Hall, Coronavirus, Homelessness
Shelter-in-Place Hotel Wind-Down Plan Lacks Adequate Data, Strategy on Race
Though roughly three-fourths of the assessed residents of San Francisco’s shelter-in-place hotels are minorities, the city has no plan to assure that those people get safe landing spots in proportion to their race as it prepares to wind down the program.
Of particular concern for advocates is the priority list used to determine how to allocate housing to those experiencing homelessness. This system, called coordinated entry, does not take into account race when determining who is most in need of housing, despite the predominance of African Americans among hotel residents, service providers say.
Posted inCommunity, Law & Justice, Neighborhoods, Technology
Police Pushing Amazon Surveillance Cameras for Mission District Residents
A new collaboration between residents and the San Francisco Police Department to address crime and homelessness may result in an increase in surveillance cameras — specifically, Amazon’s controversial Ring products.
The collaborations have emerged after residents reached out to Mission Station for assistance in managing tents, drug use and trash on their streets.
Posted inCoronavirus, Homelessness, Housing
Workers in Shelter-in-Place Hotels Face Unemployment, Uncertain Future
As the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing scrambles to find placements for the more than 2,300 residents of its shelter-in-place hotels, little attention has been paid to the people who work at those sites. Nonprofit organizations that run the hotels are working diligently not just to identify exits for residents, but to keep their […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Homelessness
City Reverses Shelter Eviction Policy, Extends Protections to Hotel Residents
San Francisco officials said they intend to reverse a policy change that would have left homeless shelter residents with fewer protections from eviction than they had before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The policy would have eliminated decades-old rules and endangered the rights of shelter residents and unhoused people citywide, increasing their risk of being pushed onto the street amid a coronavirus surge, advocates said.
On Wednesday, one day before advocates prepared to hold a protest initially billed as a “die-in” outside the Moscone Center South homeless shelter, the city reversed its decision.
Posted inCity Hall, Coronavirus, Homelessness, News
Closure of S.F. Shelter-in-Place Hotel Program Could Push Homeless Back to Streets
San Francisco’s decision to move more than 2,000 homeless people out of hotel rooms could drive many back onto the streets, leaving them as vulnerable to COVID-19 as they were when the temporary housing program was launched in the spring.