City officials quickly learned that not long after a homeless encampment was cleared, a new one would often take hold in the same area. So they quietly added a team to keep encampments from re-emerging.
Category: Navigating Homelessness: Which Way Home?
When Mayor Ed Lee launched the city’s “pioneering” navigation centers in 2015, he envisioned that homeless people would move from the streets to long-term housing in 10 days or less. But reality quickly crushed that idea, in large part because housing was scarce.
Posted inCity Hall, Food Systems, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Navigating Homelessness: Which Way Home?, Neighborhoods
Nomads by the Bay: Homeless Camp Faces Cycle of Displacement
The story of Box City reflects the city’s shifting approach to homeless encampments and the impact on their residents. Many believed the navigation centers — touted as a model of moving people from “street to home” — would lead to long-term housing. But they were left demoralized and jaded about the government’s ability to help them.
Posted inNavigating Homelessness: Which Way Home?, News
A Legacy of Criminalizing Transience and Homelessness
The California Legislature enacted the state’s first anti-vagrant statutes in the mid-19th century, targeting Native Americans and Mexican-Americans. Since then, policymakers and voters have regularly acted to rid city streets of people who are homeless or indigent. This brief timeline highlights some key years and actions.
Posted inNavigating Homelessness: Which Way Home?, News
‘Quality of Life’ Citations at Record Lows
As San Francico police respond to more calls for “quality of life” volations, citations have declined sharply in recent years, and the courts have been throwing out warrants for violations, quietly decriminalizing homelessness citywide, an analysis of city records shows.
Posted inAging, Homelessness, Housing, Navigating Homelessness: Which Way Home?
As Shelter Wait Times Soar, Older Homeless in Limbo Daily
The wait time for an emergency shelter bed for homeless San Franciscans has hit a record high, as growing demand outstrips availability, city records show. Among those waiting weeks on the list recently were someone 97 years old and three people in their 80s.
Posted inCity Hall, Community, Homelessness, Housing, Media, Navigating Homelessness: Which Way Home?, Transportation
More Homeless Returning to Streets From Navigation Centers
Two years after the city launched its navigation centers, fewer than a quarter of the nearly 1,200 people who have passed through have been placed in verified long-term housing, and more are returning to the streets, an analysis of city records shows. The most common outcome is a one-way bus ticket to another city.
Posted inFrom the Newsroom, Navigating Homelessness: Which Way Home?, News
From the Editors: A City in Flux
In the Summer 2017 issue of the San Francico Public Press, we examine the city’s efforts to help homeless people through initiatives in place for years and ones that are expanding under the new Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. Some are experimental, which can be challenging for the people seeking services and for those trying to administer them while working out policy kinks.