Let's End Street Homelessness
City streets aren't a substitute for shelter
What can you do?
The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing released the Place for All report in December. Unfortunately, their proposal is not feasible. Despite requirements in the legislation to produce a plan with a path to implementation and a comparison of alternative approaches, the report exclusively analyzes a single approach that relies heavily on the most expensive form of shelter, "permanent supportive housing". The plan and its price tag are unrealistic, and the city must adopt a more feasible plan.
Our friends at RescueSF have put together a cost-efficient proposal for 2,000 shelter beds. In the absence of a feasible plan to end street homelessness from HSH, this would be a huge step forward.
The Board of Supervisors will consider the report at their meeting on March 21st. We need your support to ensure that the Board instead works toward a more realistic plan:
- Support the RescueSF proposal for 2,000 shelter beds, and
- Demand an analysis of more feasible alternative approaches to ending street homelessness.
Things you can do:
1. Sign the petition
Sign our petition to get updated with what's going on with "A Place for All" and ways you can get involved.
2. Send an email to our officials
Emails matter. They are direct and personal. We make it easy: these links will open a prefilled email. You can view it, edit it, and then hit send when ready.
Email your Representatives!
Make your voice heard, it matters.
Make the change happen here!
Give public comment on March 21st
The Board of Supervisors will consider the report at their meeting on March 21st. Sending an email using our tool above will count as public comment, but you can also call in to the meeting to give public comment.
The item will be up on the agenda sometime after 3pm on March 21st.
Once the item is up, dial +14156550001,,24919422643#,,# to join the meeting.
Then press *3 to raise your hand and be called on to give comment.
What happened:
On June 7th 2022, Supervisor Mandelman's "A Place for All" legislation passed the Board of Supervisors unanimously, co-sponsored by Supervisors Matt Haney, Catherine Stefani, Myrna Melgar, and Gordon Mar. It:
- Required that the city develop a plan within 3 months to build enough shelter to accommodate all who need it. The plan could utilize a combination of safe sleeping sites, innovative tiny homes, navigation centers, and traditional shelter.
- Required that the Board consider adopting the plan within 90 days of its completion.
For too long, the city has spent more and more money on homelessness without a concrete plan. The result has been a steady increase in both cost and the number of people forced to live on the streets.
GrowSF believes we need to end the homelessness crisis by efficiently using our city's resources to shelter as many people as possible. Supervisor Mandelman's "A Place for All" required the city to develop a plan to do that.
Read on to find out how you can help or click here to read our answers to objections.
Who supports "A Place for All"?
Supporters:
- Supervisor Stefani (D2)
- Supervisor Dorsey (D6)
- Supervisor Melgar (D7)
- Supervisor Mandelman (D8)
- Supervisor Safai (D11)
- Former Supervisor Mar (D4)
- Former Supervisor Haney
Endorsements:
- SF Examiner
- RescueSF
- Union Square Alliance
- San Francisco Marin Medical Society
- Golden Gate Restaurant Association (GGRA)
- Castro Merchants
- Castro Community Benefit District (CBD)
- Corbett Heights Neighbors
- Dolores Heights Improvement Club
- Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association
Our answers to objections
"Shouldn't we just build Permanent Supportive Housing?"
GrowSF believes that we must also expand permanent housing options, but these options are costly and difficult to build, and they should not be our only answer. As the SF Examiner wrote in its endorsement of the legislation, "[t]rying to solve the urgent homelessness crisis on our streets with permanent housing only is like trying to bail out the ocean with a teaspoon."
"Has it worked elsewhere?"
Investing in temporary shelter as a cost-efficient way to get people off of the streets has worked in other cities. For example, New York City has a "right to shelter" imposed by the courts. This has been extremely effective at keeping people sheltered in New York. 95% of unhoused people in NYC have shelter of some kind, while in SF, fully 1/3 of unhoused people are forced to live without any shelter at all.
While A Place for All will not be as strict as the right to shelter in New York, it will be a significant step closer to ending unsheltered homelessness.
Convinced? See how you can support A Place for All
Questions?
Check out the "A Place for All" press release, fact sheet, and full text.
You can also reach out to us at contact@growsf.org