Homeless advocates have pressed San Francisco's Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to keep eviction protections for shelter residents, in fear that without them, many will end up on the streets.
Homelessness

City Reverses Shelter Eviction Policy, Extends Protections to Hotel Residents

11.19.2020
|
By
San Francisco officials said they intended 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.  Read more
Housing
Tantay Tolbert changes her son’s clothes on the dining room table in her new apartment. In March, the Homeless Prenatal Program in San Francisco offered her a hotel room for 90 days, and this became her first step into stable housing. After the hotel room, she transitioned into subsidized housing. “They looked out for me during the time of my pregnancy,” Tolbert said. “They gave us vouchers and made sure we had something to eat. It was catered food every day. It was blessed.” On June 16, Hamilton Families gave Tolbert the keys to her new apartment. “On Tupac’s birthday. It’s a Black holiday,” she said. A time to celebrate.

From an RV to Four Walls and a Pantry: One New Mom’s Story

11.18.2020
|
By
Earlier this year, the San Francisco Public Press featured Tantay Tolbert in “Driving Home: Surviving the Housing Crisis,” a photojournalism project by Yesica Prado documenting the experiences of people living in vehicles in the Bay Area. Prado followed up with Tolbert to find out how her life has changed in recent months.  Read more
Tents housing homeless residents of San Francisco line a street below the freeway in 2017.
Homelessness

Closure of S.F. Shelter-in-Place Hotel Program Could Push Homeless Back to Streets

10.07.2020
|
By
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. A plan by Mayor London Breed to add more than 1,500 permanent supportive housing units is not projected to be completed for two years.  Read more
This Navigation Center in the Mission, opened in March 2015, was one of the first to serve San Francisco's homeless population. In early 2019, development began on a plan to turn the site into 157 affordable-housing units.
Homelessness

Surge in S.F. Homelessness Funding Could Be a Game Changer

09.23.2020
|
By
San Francisco will soon spend previously unthinkable sums on the fight against homelessness. The massive influx of cash — nearly $600 million over the next year collected thanks to a voter initiative, combined with hundreds of millions of dollars in expenditures by the homelessness department — could be a game changer.  Read more
TechCrunch rented this event space on Market Street to stage its annual Disrupt conference.
Homelessness

TechCrunch Breaks With Event Company Over Homeless Sweep

09.17.2020
|
By
An unsanctioned sweep of a homeless encampment in central San Francisco has cost the event company Non Plus Ultra a big customer. The company rousted eight people in the middle of the night on Sept. 10, and – while city officials have largely remained silent – the action didn’t sit well with TechCrunch, which is renting Non Plus Ultra’s SVN West event space at Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue.  Read more