City Hall Archives - Page 14 of 48 - San Francisco Public Press

San Francisco has opened 28 shelter-in-place hotels for people experiencing homelessness including the ornate and historic Hotel Whitcomb, pictured, on Market Street. Altogether, there are more than 2,000 rooms available to shelter in place.

City Hall, Coronavirus, Health, Homelessness

Even as Funding Expands, Hotels May Resist Taking in More Homeless Residents

by Nuala Bishari January 28, 2021January 29, 2021

San Francisco is willing to open more hotel rooms to the homeless but may face roadblocks from hotel owners and service providers who would be needed to staff the sites.

On Monday, the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing sent a letter to community organizations outlining a rough plan to address an influx of funds expected from the Biden administration, which said it will fully reimburse local governments the cost of temporarily housing COVID-vulnerable homeless people in hotels. But the city’s letter comes with a caveat.

A man sits on the sidewalk with has hands restrained behind him while police officers look on.Four police officers responded to a call in March 2020 about a homeless man in the Castro.

City Hall, Government & Politics, Homelessness, Public Safety

New Emergency Homelessness Response Plan Calls for Elimination of Healthy Streets Operation Center

by Nuala Bishari January 20, 2021January 27, 2021

In an attempt to limit police involvement with emergency calls about homelessness, a city group is proposing eliminating a multimillion-dollar program launched in 2018.

The group, composed of representatives of about two dozen city agencies and non-profits, released a 74-page paper Tuesday outlining its plan, called the Compassionate Alternative Response Team.

Former San Francisco Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru speaks at a rally asking for walking safety during seventh annual Walk to Work Day at City Hall on April 10, 2019. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, left, and San Francisco Mayor London Breed, center, join then-Transbay Joint Powers Authority Board Chair Mohammed Nuru in turning on a bus schedule screen to celebrate the opening of the new Salesforce Transit Center. Nuru was arrested by the FBI in 2020 on corruption charges.

City Hall, Elections, Government & Politics, Politics

Elected Watchdogs in Scandal-Plagued Cities Show How SF Might Avert Future Corruption

by Max Pringle January 13, 2021October 7, 2021

Recent corruption scandals at City Hall highlight the need for good-government reforms, especially after efforts to create a public advocate’s office failed in July 2020. “It was a lost opportunity,” said David Campos, former supervisor and current chief of staff for District Attorney Chesa Boudin. The measure benefitted from precedents set in cities across the country that were similarly wracked by graft and mismanagement, including Detroit, Chicago and New York.

Photo courtesy of James Wedick.Photo courtesy of James Wedick.

“Civic” Podcast, City Hall, Government & Politics, Law & Justice

Retired FBI Agent Explains How Probes Like Those Into S.F. Corruption Work

by Laura Wenus December 28, 2020December 29, 2020

The FBI arrest of former San Francisco Department of Public Works head Mohammed Nuru on fraud charges in January kicked off a cascade of raids, charges and investigations that have spurred the departure of several other city department heads. Such investigations can take years, and are relatively difficult to complete. James Wedick, who retired from the FBI in 2004 after nearly 35 years with the bureau, spent years investigating corruption and was responsible for the bureau’s corruption squad in Sacramento.

City Hall, Government & Politics, Health, Law & Justice, Neighborhoods

Advocates Fire Back at ‘Ineffective’ Drug Dealer Injunctions

by Nuala Bishari December 17, 2020December 17, 2020

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.

Protesters from POOR magazine, a publication and activist organization, attempted to occupy the Marriott Marquis hotel in downtown San Francisco in May to demand the city house more homeless residents in the thousands of hotel rooms left vacant during the coronavirus pandemic. City supervisors voted to expand the hotel room shelter program this week.

City Hall, Coronavirus, Health, Homelessness

City Extends Shelter-in-Place Hotel Program

by Nuala Bishari December 16, 2020December 16, 2020

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.

Tents line Golden Gate Avenue while nonprofit and city workers discuss hotel placements with unhoused residents in July 2020.

City Hall, Government & Politics, Homelessness, Housing

Should Windfall Create Homelessness Solutions or Help Balance the City’s Budget?

by Noah Arroyo December 14, 2020December 14, 2020

Facing the high costs of pandemic response, San Francisco officials are making a play for a pile of cash that voters created through a 2018 ballot measure. But many of their proposals for that money lose sight of what voters had in mind when they passed Proposition C, says the measure’s author. That was to finally turn the homelessness crisis around. Proposition C established a gross-receipts tax on large businesses, netting hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue that was locked up in court until September. City staff last week appealed to the fund’s oversight committee, requesting money to cover recent expenses and expand existing programs, including a pharmacy run by the Department of Public Health. But these are hardly the types of results that voters expected, said Jennifer Friedenbach, who wrote the ballot measure and is the executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness.

During the pandemic, San Francisco has housed about 2,200 homeless residents in shelter-in-place hotels, including the Buena Vista Inn at Lombard and Gough streets.

City Hall, Coronavirus, Homelessness

Supervisors Divided on Plan to Extend Shelter-in-Place Hotels

by Nuala Bishari December 11, 2020December 11, 2020

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.

Stephanie, 57, lost her housing two years ago and was sleeping in a tent in the Tenderloin as of June. Like all the unhoused people photographed here, she was eventually relocated to a shelter-in-place hotel room. Close to half the residents of those hotel rooms are African American, according to an assessment by the city that only covered about half the hotel population.

City Hall, Coronavirus, Homelessness

Shelter-in-Place Hotel Wind-Down Plan Lacks Adequate Data, Strategy on Race

by Nuala Bishari December 9, 2020December 9, 2020

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.

Joe Eskenazi, managing editor at Mission Local

“Civic” Podcast, City Hall, Elections

Journalist: Money Poured Into S.F. Elections Failed to Shift Outcomes

by Laura Wenus November 23, 2020November 30, 2020

Every odd-numbered San Francisco supervisorial district had an election in November. One race was extremely close and several were targeted by big independent expenditure money. But Joe Eskenazi, managing editor at Mission Local, reports that money was apparently ineffective, failing to propel candidates to victory and failing to dissuade voters from passing new tax measures.

Category: City Hall