Category: Social Services
Spare Room? Mayoral Challenger Zhou Says You Could Help Homelessness Crisis
Ellen Lee Zhou has a plan to help end San Francisco’s homelessness crisis. And it could involve you. Zhou, a public-health worker, said that if elected mayor, she would pay homeowners monthly stipends to house and mentor some of the city’s estimated 4,300 unsheltered residents. Interested? Sixth in a series analyzing the mayoral candidates’ records and pledges on housing and homelessness.
City Rolls Out Tech Platform to Improve — and Ration — Shelter, Housing for the Homeless
San Francisco has begun rolling out a new technology platform that officials say will better help the homeless population by giving priority for shelter and housing to those with the greatest need. But the ONE System also functions as a form of rationing of scarce affordable housing.
On the Move: One Hardworking Family’s Struggle to Escape Homelessness
City native Victoria Ortiz’s path to homelessness began in the East Bay more than two years ago when she was pregnant, working at a Staples and subletting a room. A housemate stopped forwarding the rent to the landlord, and everyone was evicted. This is the story of her determination to find stable housing for her family while living at a shelter in San Francisco.
Rebuttal to Beyond Chron Criticism of Public Press Report on Residential Hotel Vacancies
Last week on his blog, Beyond Chron, Tenderloin Housing Clinic Executive Director Randy Shaw belatedly referred to my Fall 2017 Public Press cover story about vacancies in single-room occupancy hotels as “extremely misleading” and “false.” I was disappointed, but not surprised. And I am not alone.
Host Homes Could Get Young Adults Off Streets
San Francisco has the highest percentage of unsheltered youths in the nation — more than 1,200 between 18 and 24 years old, at last count. Host homes could get many off the streets. Would you welcome a homeless youth into your home?
For Alcoholics, ‘Wet Houses’ Offer a Home
Studies have found that the 1811 Eastlake project in Seattle helps keep alcoholics off the streets and out of jails and emergency rooms — and even helps them drink less.
For Alcoholic Residents at Dann’s House, ‘It Feels Like Home’
On the outskirts of Traverse City, Michigan, Dann’s House provides supportive housing to eight alcoholic homeless men. Unlike most housing for the homeless, there’s no expectation that residents will stop drinking, even on-site. But their consumption is down, and their lives improved.
How to Fill All the Empty SRO Rooms
Master leasing of single-room occupancy hotels in San Francisco has housed thousands of homeless people — and done so in hotels that are, by and large, a huge improvement over those of a generation ago. But hings could be better.
How Pacific Northwest Cities Have Made Space for Homeless Encampments
San Francisco officials have been skeptical of sanctioning homeless encampments as transitional housing, but local activists note that the model has a long track record in Seattle, Portland and Eugene, Ore.