Changes chip away at hard-core problem
Clearing San Francisco’s streets of homeless people is not a simple matter of giving someone a place to live. For decades, it has required a sustained commitment by housing officials, mental health workers, police and nonprofit agencies.
The job is never done — the city’s newest count of homeless people shows 7,499 people without permanent shelter, a number that has hardly budged in more than 10 years.
About a third of the homeless population suffers from mental problems. Police issue tens of thousands of tickets every year for camping on sidewalks and other quality-of-life problems, but tent cities continue to proliferate.
The city has added three full-service Navigation Center shelters over the past year, as well as 300 supportive housing rooms or apartments where homeless people can permanently move inside with counseling on-site. But the shortage of both types of housing still leaves thousands of people living outside.
The Chronicle took a hard look at these core issues of homelessness last summer. Here’s an update on what’s changed since then and what still needs to be done.
What we reported:
San Francisco’s first Navigation Center opened on Mission Street in March 2015, drawing acclaim as an answer to the city’s decades-old homelessness problem.
The Navigation Center’s relaxed rules and welcoming atmosphere means homeless people are more willing to accept the offer of a bed there than in a traditional shelter. Unlike old-school shelters, the Navigation Center offers 24hour access, has storage for belongings, partners are allowed to sleep together, and pets may be brought inside.
The big difference? The Navigation Center has case managers offering intensive help on a range of services, including treating addictions, obtaining identification cards and finding housing.
The question was why some of the obvious benefits of the Navigation Center couldn’t be incorporated into the city’s dreary, unwelcoming homeless shelters.
What has happened:
More Navigation Centers are opening — ever so slowly. The Mission Street center, which was always considered temporary, will remain open for several more months. The second Navigation Center, at the Civic Center Hotel on Market Street, opened last summer. A third opened in Dogpatch last month after a long delay because of a city dispute with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. over turning on the lights.
A fourth center is to open this summer at 1515 South Van Ness Ave. Another center, for mentally ill people, is scheduled to open at San Francisco General Hospital in the fall, and a shelter will open South of Market early next year. All told, the six Navigation Centers should offer a combined 487 shelter beds.
However, not much has changed in the traditional shelters. Mayor Ed Lee did include funding in this year’s budget to pay for a few upgrades such as hiring a health care provider at the 334-bed Next Door shelter in the Tenderloin, doubling its nursing staff.
However, a November ballot measure that would have added $50 million a year to the city’s homeless efforts and paid for improvements to traditional shelters failed.
“Ultimately, that’s a great goal,” Jeff Kositsky, director of the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said of improving shelters. “But our focus is on opening up more beds in Navigation Centers.”
Over the last year, Kositsky has changed how homeless people qualify for help. Those living in tent camps no longer automatically jump to the front of the line for Navigation Center beds. Instead, such factors as age, health and time on the streets are considered.
Jackie Jenks, former director of the Hospitality House shelter in the Tenderloin, praised that change as having the most positive effect on shelter residents over the past year.
“That means whether you’re staying in a shelter or in a Navigation Center or on the street or wherever you are, you can still access housing,” Jenks said.
What’s missing:
Ken Reggio is the executive director of Episcopal Community Services, which runs the Next Door shelter. He said the extra medical care has helped, considering that nearly a quarter of those sleeping at Next Door are 60 or older.
“The needs are great,” Reggio said. “Increasingly, we’re seeing older folks suffering dementia, and to have the onstaff nursing is a real plus for us.”
He said he’s glad more Navigation Centers are opening, but hopes traditional shelters aren’t lost in the shuffle. An extra nurse is great, but more services need to be added to Next Door and other shelters.
“We would like to take the lessons learned from the Navigation Center and extend those to the shelters more broadly, but it’s a question of resources,” Reggio said.
Jenks agreed, saying not much has changed in the traditional shelters.
One thing has changed: the waiting list for a shelter bed in San Francisco. Last year at this time, the list fluctuated between 600 to 900 people. Earlier this month, it reached 1,108.