Vallejo looks to copy homeless shelter beds

Mayor London Breed toured the latest big addition to the homeless shelter system in San Francisco on Monday, but this time she brought along a fellow leader who’s eager to replicate what she was showing off:

Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan.

The two came to look at 60 new beds opened Monday at the Division Circle Navigation Center in the Mission District, and Sampayan was visibly thrilled. The center now has 186 neat, regularly cleaned beds, plus clinic space for medical staff and case managers, and Sampayan wants the same kinds of beds and services in his city. Only a bit smaller.

Vallejo now has just one small churchrun homeless shelter, and Sampayan is asking his City Council to pick a location by late October for a new 125bed navigation center based on San Francisco’s model. He likes that navigation centers let homeless people stay 24/7, bring in their partners and pets, and give them intensive counseling with the aim of quickly housing them.

“This is over the top, so spot on,” Sampayan said as he walked through the Division Circle spread of beds, meeting rooms, eating spaces and counseling offices. “They are modeling exactly what I want. It’s very exciting.”

Breed was pretty excited herself, since the 60 new spots bring the total of shelter beds she’s created to 346. That brings her closer to the 1,000 total beds she vowed last year to add by the end of 2020. The new beds will be aimed particularly at homeless people with mental health and substance abuse issues.

“You all remember not so long ago just outside this place what the street looked like,” she said, referring to the sprawling homeless camp along Division Street that drew national headlines during the 2016 Super Bowl. Today, the street is clear of camps, and many who are now in the Division Circle shelter were brought in from the same neighborhood.

“I’m so proud of what we’ve done here,” Breed said.