Category: Social Services
Posted inCalifornia, Health, Homelessness, Social Services

The Often Vicious Cycle Through SF’s Strained Mental Health Care and Detention System

Avatar photo by Madison Alvarado and Yesica Prado

Thousands of people last year fell into San Francisco’s complex, reactive, strained system for treating severe mental health and drug-related crises.

To explain how that system works and its effects on the people who enter it, we begin with the story of one man, Jay. As with many others — including those who are unhoused or are detained without their consent following a call from an alarmed observer — Jay had received temporary care, entailing multiple involuntary psychiatric holds, that failed to address his long-term problems. That left him back on the streets to fend for himself or, with the help of passersby, try again to get the aid he needed.

Posted inHealth, Law & Justice, Overdose Crisis, Public Safety, Social Services

Proveedores de Servicios Exigen Acceso a Reclusos Latinos

Avatar photo by Sylvie Sturm

La falta de programación en español es un problema crecientemente grave ya que el encarcelamiento de latinos ha aumentado desde el lanzamiento el junio pasado de una ofensiva policial contra las drogas en los vecindarios de Tenderloin y sur de Market. • Read in English: https://www.sfpublicpress.org/service-providers-demand-access-to-latinx-jail-inmates

Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Elections, Government & Politics, Health, Law & Justice, Overdose Crisis, Social Services

Drug Policy, Addictions Specialists Oppose Prop F Tying Welfare to Drug Tests

Avatar photo by Sylvie Sturm

Numerous drug policy experts and addictions specialists from across the country — as close as UCSF and as far away as Rhode Island — publicly oppose a San Francisco ballot measure that would compel adult welfare recipients to undergo drug screening before collecting cash benefits.

And efforts to publicize the measure have brought practitioners who don’t always agree about addiction treatment practices to the same side of the debate.

Posted inHealth, Law & Justice, Overdose Crisis, Public Safety, Social Services

Service Providers Demand Access to Latinx Jail Inmates

Avatar photo by Sylvie Sturm

Spanish-language programming at San Francisco’s County Jail has since become virtually non-existent as routine lockdowns caused by staff shortages have made it practically impossible to hold classes. Even while deputies work mandatory 16-hour shifts, there aren’t enough of them to escort people who administer rehabilitation sessions and other training programs into the jails.

On Feb. 2, numerous social service providers for the Latinx incarcerated population implored the Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board during its monthly meeting to help them gain access to the jail.

Posted inCity Hall, Elections, Health, San Francisco March 2024 Election Guide, Social Services

Proposition F — Illegal Substance Dependence Screening and Treatment for Recipients of City Public Assistance

Avatar photo by Sylvie Sturm

Proposition F asks voters whether the city should be allowed to screen single adult welfare recipients for drug dependency and require those identified as suffering from substance use disorder to enter treatment to continue receiving cash assistance through the County Adult Assistance Program.

Posted inAging, Climate Change, Environment, Health, Social Services

Protecting Chinatown’s Older Adults From Climate Disasters Requires More Funding, Nonprofits Say

by Ambika Kandasamy

Community organizations say the systems in Chinatown to protect older populations during extreme weather are not enough to meet the needs that could arise. Without sufficient financial backing, the health of many older residents in the neighborhood could be threatened during extreme weather disasters. Similar scenarios could transpire in San Francisco’s other climate-vulnerable areas.

Posted inAging, Climate Change, Health, Housing, Social Services

For Chinatown’s Older Residents in SROs, Climate Disasters Pose Greater Risks

by Ambika Kandasamy

Chinatown faces higher threats during periods of extreme weather due to a range of socio-economic factors as well as the built environment. Within the neighborhood, older adults living in single-room occupancy buildings are among the populations at heightened risk. Reasons for this include physiological changes related to aging and financial barriers associated with making climate-resiliency adaptations to older buildings.

Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Overdose Crisis, Social Services

SF ‘Failing’ on Housing as Overdose Solution, Health Expert Says

Avatar photo by Sylvie Sturm

Sarah Evans has spent decades advancing drug overdose prevention initiatives around the world. As a division director for Open Society Foundations — a grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros — Evans promotes one surefire way to help abate San Francisco’s homelessness and fatal overdose crisis: housing.

“The way that people get off the street is by getting into housing, where people can get support and stay there even while they are continuing to struggle with substance use disorders of all kinds and mental health issues,” said Evans, who leads the organization’s drug policy programs globally. “It literally is the only way.”

San Francisco isn’t doing enough to meet this housing need, according to health experts.

Posted in“Civic” Podcast, City Hall, Health, History, Homelessness, Overdose Crisis, Social Services

San Francisco’s Fatal Overdose Crisis Was Decades in the Making

Avatar photo by Sylvie Sturm

As San Francisco continues to search for solutions, our team at “Civic” is exploring the origins of the city’s opioid overdose crisis, what has been done to help and what might be making things worse. After six months of research involving hundreds of studies, reports and archival news clippings, and three dozen interviews with people with lived experience and professional expertise in homelessness, addiction, medicine, criminal justice, housing, social work, street outreach, business, education, harm reduction, policymaking and advocacy, we’re launching the series, “San Francisco and the Overdose Crisis.”

Over six episodes, the series will explore what influenced rampant opioid addiction and its connection to homelessness, the 150-year history of policing and prosecuting drugs in San Francisco, the long battle to open a safe consumption site in the city, and grassroots efforts to stem the tide of drug-related fatalities. 

Posted inCity Hall, Health, Law & Justice, Overdose Crisis, Social Services

City Leaders at Odds as Overdose Deaths Trending Toward Record High

Avatar photo by Sylvie Sturm

Accidental drug overdose deaths continue to torment San Francisco, according to data released Tuesday by the city medical examiner’s office.

While June saw the lowest monthly number of overdose deaths this year, 54, in July it climbed back up to 71. With 473 overdose deaths this year, San Francisco is on track to surpass its highest recorded number of overdose deaths in a calendar year — 725 in 2020.

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