Over the next year, San Francisco must examine and potentially redesign its system of behavioral health care, with input from the public. Some experts see this as an opportunity to improve services.
Category: Homelessness
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Health, Homelessness
Homelessness Challenges Persist in SF Despite City Following Newsom Policy Lead
Gov. Newsom says repeatedly that the state is “flooding the zone” with mental health, substance use and homelessness resources. Amid a slew of press conferences and announcements last week on the release of new mental health funding and a push to make homeless encampments illegal statewide, Newsom repeatedly called on local governments to take charge. San Francisco is engaging in many of the initiatives Newsom cited, but still faces considerable challenges in addressing homelessness, behavioral health issues and substance abuse.
Posted inHealth, Homelessness, Labor
Arrested UC Workers Released, Charged with Disrupting Public Meetings with Labor Protest
More than 20 labor leaders and University of California workers were arrested May 15 as they protested at a UC Board of Regents meeting at UC San Francisco’s Mission Bay campus. They were charged with willfully disturbing a meeting.
Demonstrators, who were protesting working conditions and calling for the university to engage in fair contract negotiations, were released after a few hours, said Liz Perlman, executive director of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 3299 , which represents 35,000 employees across several UC campuses, medical centers, clinics and research labs. Perlman, who was arrested, said she was given a citation with a follow-up court date.
Posted inCity Hall, Homelessness, Housing, Law & Justice
Eviction Rates in SF Soar as Legal Aid Faces Deep Funding Cuts
San Francisco is experiencing a surge in eviction court filings that has taken even the most seasoned eviction defense lawyers by surprise.
In February, 365 eviction lawsuits were filed — up 57% from a year earlier — and March had 303 filings, bringing the total for this year to 929.
At this pace, San Francisco is on track to seeing more than 3,700 eviction lawsuits this year, versus 2,923 cases filed in 2024, according to the Tenant Right to Counsel, which was established in 2018, when San Francisco passed the “No Eviction Without Representation Act,” requiring the city to fund legal representation for residents facing eviction.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, City Hall, Homelessness, Law & Justice, Public Safety, Social Services
Visible Progress or Political Theater? Factions Disagree on How to Clean Up Street Conditions
In February, the San Francisco Police Department converted a Sixth Street parking lot in South of Market to what it called a triage center — a fenced-off area where police could connect people to social services or put them in a van bound for jail.
According to a city staff report, in the first month of the triage center’s operation, police made 350 arrests, three-quarters of them drug related. Triage personnel connected 275 people to shelter and 408 people to health care.
Advocates for people struggling with homelessness or substance use disorder say the city’s approach is unnecessarily punitive, but some business owners and community members say they approve of what the mayor and Police Department are doing.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Homelessness, Housing, Immigration, Law & Justice
‘They’ll All Be Homeless’
San Francisco should brace for a surge in homelessness.
That was the assessment of local housing advocates following a Department of Housing and Urban Development announcement that it would “take steps” to ensure no funding would be used to “support sanctuary policies of states or local governments that actively prevent federal authorities from deporting” undocumented residents.
On Friday, HUD Secretary Scott Turner issued a letter informing the department’s grantees and stakeholders of his plans to comply with an executive order titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” signed by President Trump Feb. 19.
San Francisco adopted its sanctuary city policy in 1989. It prohibits city staff and police from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement unless required to do so by federal or state law.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Homelessness
New Records Show Spotty Compliance With Encampment Clearing Policy
Recently, San Francisco staff sometimes complied with a years-old policy designed to help people living on the streets retain essential property, new records show. Despite logging 126 encampment clearings over three months, the city recorded just 11 signed acknowledgements from unhoused people.
Posted inBay Area, City Hall, Homelessness
Advocates Fear Fremont’s New Homelessness Ordinance Will Force Domestic Violence Victims to Stay With Abusers
With Fremont passing an ordinance that many say is one of the nation’s most stringent on homelessness, advocates for domestic violence survivors say the tough law criminalizes vulnerable community members — and advocates are concerned that they themselves could be punished for helping to those living in cars or encampments.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Homelessness
City Seizing More Wheelchairs, Tents from Unhoused People, Data Shows
San Francisco workers have confiscated unhoused peoples’ property, including wheelchairs, tents and other essentials more often in recent years. Advocates said that “aggressive” crackdowns and policies that involve police citing and arresting people experiencing homelessness may be the cause.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Homelessness
SF Fails to Produce Evidence It Follows Encampment Clearing Policy
San Francisco cannot prove it follows an aspect of its encampment clearing policy intended to help people retain essential belongings. Despite 588 clearings from January to mid-November, the city lacks evidence of a single signed declaration that staff advised unhoused people to separate essentials from property it was confiscating.