City officials Thursday pledged to abandon the current complaint-driven approach to addressing homeless encampments, saying it has been ineffective in moving large numbers of people from the streets into services and stable housing. Jeff Kositsky, director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said that beginning in mid-March, the Healthy Streets initiative — the multi-agency coalition tasked with abating homelessness — would stop relying mostly on calls from neighbors through the city’s 311 hotline.
Tag: 311
Posted inCity Hall, Homelessness, Public Safety
Complaints From Neighbors Now Driving City’s Response to Homeless Camps
For the past year and a half, San Francisco has relied almost entirely on complaints from 311 — the city’s nonemergency customer service line — to address homeless encampments, leading to a sharp increase in the proportion of encampments labeled “removed” by city workers, a review of public records shows.