Data from San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing show that accessing shelter is very difficult for unhoused people in San Francisco due to a lack of available beds and other barriers.
Category: News
Posted inCity Hall, Health, Law & Justice, News, Overdose Crisis
Supervisor Defends Dropping Support for Addiction-Treatment Centers
Supervisor Matt Dorsey received backlash this month for asking the mayor to redirect the entire $18.9 million in city funding budgeted for a new drop-in addiction treatment center toward jails instead.
Dorsey told the San Francisco Public Press that he reversed his previous support for the centers — called wellness hubs — once the city’s plans narrowed to one site from six, and removed safe consumption sites, which would have allowed people to consume drugs under supervision so they could receive immediate help in case of overdose.
Dorsey said he now wants the funds to go toward jail health services, including forcing treatment for people in jail who are struggling with substance abuse disorder.
Posted inLaw & Justice, News
State Supreme Court to Weigh In on Long Trial Delays
A lawsuit against San Francisco Superior Court over its routine failure to uphold defendants’ right to a speedy trial is now in the hands of California’s Supreme Court. San Francisco has more than 1,100 cases past statutory time limits, and 115 of those defendants are languishing in jail without a conviction.
Posted inCity Hall, News, Reparations, Social Justice
New Reparations Ideas Include Senior Housing, Legal Assistance and a ‘Black Card’ for Local Discounts
The San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee shared its final recommendations to remedy historical and ongoing harms to local Black communities.
Posted inNews, Public Safety, Ride-Hailing’s Dark Data, Transportation, Utilities
Local Planners Say State Failed to Track Safety Incidents on Uber and Lyft
The state agency responsible for ensuring Uber and Lyft rides are safe failed to consistently track the number of accidents, assaults and drunk driving complaints that occur on them, according to a new study by San Francisco traffic planners.
The California Public Utilities Commission did not even consistently collect the most basic industry information, such as ride requests and miles driven, the report from the San Francisco County Transportation Authority shows.
Posted inClimate Change, Economy & Business, Housing, Land use, News, Sea Level Rise
Promising to Prevent Floods at Treasure Island, Builders Downplay Risk of Sea Rise
Sea level rise is forcing cities around San Francisco Bay to weigh demand for new housing against the need to protect communities from flooding. Builders say they can solve this dilemma with cutting-edge civil engineering. But no one knows whether their ambitious efforts will be enough to keep newly built waterfront real estate safe in coming decades.
Meanwhile, developers are busy building — and telling the public that they can mitigate this one effect of climate change, despite mounting evidence that it could be a bigger problem than previously believed.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, California, Community, Government & Politics, History, News
California Indian Tribes Denied Resources for Decades as Federal Acknowledgement Lags
In the last 13 years, the U.S. Department of Interior has actively reviewed applications for acknowledgement of only 18 tribes, even as hundreds remain in line. The Public Press has identified more than 400 tribes seeking federal recognition and is working to confirm that 200 others with publicly listed applications are genuine.
Many have been waiting for decades. The Death Valley TimbiSha Shoshone Band is the only California tribe that has been recognized in the 44 years since the federal acknowledgement process was established.
Posted inCoronavirus, Economy & Business, Government & Politics, Health, Housing, News
San Francisco Rent Relief Tracker
More than one month after statewide eviction protections expired on June 30, less than 4% of rent relief funds requested by San Francisco households remain unprocessed, with 55% of funds paid out.
Posted inNews
As Statewide Eviction Protections Expire, SF Measure Kicks In
Although a statewide eviction moratorium for tenants with pending rent relief applications expired Thursday, some tenants in San Francisco and Los Angeles saw a glimmer of hope as previously voided local protections kicked back in.
Cities and advocates hope the enactment of new protections will help to fill the gap for struggling tenants facing eviction for rent due after June 30.
Posted inCoercive Control, Government & Politics, Law & Justice, News
Expanding View of Domestic Violence Gives Survivors New Tool, but Unsympathetic Judges Remain an Obstacle
A California law enacted in 2021 allows domestic violence victims to claim coercive control — a broad range of behaviors including humiliation, surveillance, intimidation, gaslighting and isolation that strips an intimate partner of a sense of autonomy and personhood.
Experts in domestic violence say judicial skepticism of abuse victims, often with misogynistic overtones, has long been widespread in U.S. family court, creating dangerous hurdles to justice. The expanded conception of domestic violence on paper is of limited use if judges continue to cast a skeptical eye on testimony, usually from women, of manipulation within intimate relationships.