Shelter Hearing: Calling on the Mayor to Fund 2,000 New Shelter or Temporary Housing Placements

We urge the Mayor to fund 1,000 new shelter beds and 1,000 leased apartments in next year’s budget.  With more than 4,000 unsheltered people living on our streets, adding 1,000 shelter beds and 1,000 apartments would make an immediate impact on bringing people inside.  We personally witness the effects of unsheltered homelessness on my neighborhood and our City.  Too many people are dying.  There are more affordable models to provide shelter and housing.  RescueSF has documented that leased buildings are much less expensive than purchased or constructed shelter or housing.   For example, 711 Post -- a hotel that was converted into a homeless shelter -- shows that the City can provide non-congregate shelter that is appealing to unsheltered people and also cost-effective for the City’s budget.  With more people in our shelters, we will need cost-effective housing solutions to move people into housing and open shelter beds for the people still on our streets.  Instead of spending vast sums on building or buying expensive housing that will serve relatively few people, the City should use proven methods to subsidize apartment rentals for people leaving homelessness.

   Everyone -- both housed and unhoused -- have waited too long.  We do not want more business as usual.  Treat homelessness like a natural disaster.  After living with homelessness for more than four decades, the residents of San Francisco are demanding action on ending this crisis.