Shelter from chronic crisis
San Francisco Mayor London Breed is planning to introduce legislation to fast-track the process for bringing new homeless shelters online. One of the ordinances will declare a “shelter crisis,” allowing city officials to circumvent certain building code requirements and public appeals processes.
Breed has also stated her intention to look for potential locations for new shelters outside of the Mission, South of Market and the Tenderloin — the three neighborhoods that have traditionally shouldered the vast majority of homeless shelters and services.
It’s a valiant effort to enlist the entire city in what is, in fact, a citywide issue.
The question is whether it will work — or whether San Francisco’s NIMBYish politics will defeat yet another attempt to solve one of this city’s most persistent problems.
Breed’s first step will be getting the legislation through the Board of Supervisors.
There’s little reason to believe she won’t be successful there. Everyone in San Francisco can agree that the city needs more shelter beds. (There are about 2,500 beds available now, nearly all of which are booked every single night.) It’s the next step, creating new shelters, that will be the real challenge.
Breed’s legislation builds on an emergency shelter ordinance that was approved by the Board of Supervisors last year.
That ordinance, which will sunset in several weeks, slashed red tape for setting up shelters on specific sites — including a supportive housing complex on Sixth Street and several of the full-service homeless shelters known as Navigation Centers.
The current ordinance, however, was site-specific and narrowly targeted to sites in the southeastern neighborhoods.
What will happen when the city locates a potential site outside of these areas?
That’s when we’ll find out how dedicated the supervisors really are to ending the homeless crisis.
Breed’s ordinances will apply to any potential shelter site the city owns or leases, but they will also allow the supervisors to veto proposed locations with a supermajority vote.
Some newly elected supervisors have already stated a lack of interest in having homeless shelters or housing in their districts. It’s not difficult to imagine them banding together to upend the mayor’s determined effort. Even as she lobbies for the passage of her new legislation, Breed will need to plan for the obstacles ahead.