Homelessness is an issue that intersects the lives of all the people of San Francisco. Over the past 20 years, the situation has worsened, affecting not only homeless individuals, families and children but also residents, neighborhoods, businesses, and the tourism industry. According to the Coroners Office, on average, over 100 people die each year on the streets while, according to the Mayor’s 2005 Homeless Count, at least an estimated 6,000 are without permanent homes on any one night. It is important to note that these numbers are in fact human lives and they reveal a larger social tragedy and modern moral failure.

According to the 2001–2006 Continuum of Care, a five-year strategic plan for homeless services adopted by the Board of Supervisors, the causes of homelessness include poverty; lack of housing, living-wage jobs, vocational skills, and health care; and the disruptions resulting from substance abuse, severe mental illness, and domestic violence. In addition, other contributions to the cycle of homelessness in San Francisco include historical policy decisions on the state and federal level, such as the drastic reduction of federal funding for public and subsidized housing, defunding of community mental health programs and cuts in public assistance. While state and federal policies have a major impact and state and federal funding and participation is essential, the structure and programs for dealing with homelessness are essentially local.

While the high-profile initiative “Project Homeless Connect” has certainly increased civic participation and public engagement around the issue, SFPO believes that the City must also have a consistent homeless policy that addresses all aspects of the problem, not just the “chronically homeless.” In addition to the single adult population, the First Five Commission of San Francisco in 2005 estimated that 2,600 homeless San Franciscans are members of homeless families, and on any given night more than 500 children sleep in the city’s transitional or emergency shelters. Homeless children are more likely to experience developmental problems, educational delays, behavioral issues, and learning disabilities.

Much has also been made of the reduction of the City’s general assistance rolls through the implementation of Care Not Cash, but not as well known is that since 2004 the city has decreased the number of shelter beds, further limiting resources available to our most vulnerable populations. While almost 2,000 homeless individuals have lost public assistance since the measure came into place, policy makers have no idea how individuals fared after losing their assistance.

Furthermore, the City must move away from the persistent efforts at criminalizing homeless individuals. Since Mayor Newsom took office in January 2004 until June 2006, the San Francisco Police Department issued 31,230 “quality-of-life” citations. According to a recent study by Religious Witness with Homeless People, more than $5.8 million in taxpayer money has been spent on police, paperwork, and court staff issuing and prosecuting these violations during the 30-month period, with the majority of these cases (more than 80%) being dismissed. Knowing that the city has limited capacity, it is unconscionable that the Mayor would put resources into efforts to confiscate people’s property and criminalize those already suffering from poverty, inequity, and lack of opportunity. These funds can and should be used toward increasing the capacity and improving the quality of services available to the homeless.

SFPO Recommendations:

SFPO believes that homelessness is a national issue which directly reflects the increasing poverty and inequity in our society today. We understand that the city alone will not be able to solve this growing crisis but it is our moral responsibility to do the best we can to provide for our most vulnerable populations. As the city of St. Francis, the city must take a proactive approach in finding solutions and providing support to help homeless individuals, children and families transition out of homelessness. San Francisco has already experienced the failed policies of previous administrations such as Mayor Jordan’s MATRIX program and now Mayor Newsom has decided to follow suit by recently promising to clear Golden Gate Park of homeless individuals despite the fact that the shelter system is at capacity and people have no where to go. Instead, SFPO calls on the city and its residents to resist this constant cycle of public persecution of our society’s poor and challenges Mayor Newsom to show courage and leadership to protect the rights of those who are experiencing homelessness by restoring their dignity and showing them the respect that is the foundation of our basic human rights. To these ends, SFPO recommends that the Mayor:

• • Preserve emergency homeless services until full housing is achieved and support the replacement of a new 24 hour drop-in center after the McMillan center at 39 Fell Street is transitioned to a respite facility.
• • Create permanently affordable housing for all homeless San Franciscans, including the allocation of over 700 safe, decent and permanently affordable housing units for homeless families.
• • Halt the issuance of citations used to criminalize homeless people, such as camping, blocking the sidewalk. The funds currently used for law enforcement efforts against homeless individuals should instead be used to increase available services.
• • Support the creation and passage of human rights legislation for homeless shelter residents. The Local Homeless Coordinating Board and city departments should develop a standard “Bill of Rights” for all shelter residents, inform residents of these rights, and create standard system-wide operating policies which ensure fair and decent treatment.
• • Invest fully in community based integrated mental health and substance abuse treatment. The city must maximize and leverage local, state, and federal funding including new Proposition 63 money to ensure a continuum of services.
• • Ensure comprehensive access to higher education and relevant job training opportunities that lead to living wage employment for homeless individuals.

The SFPO is a coalition of community based organizations, labor, advocacy groups, and individuals committed to building a progressive vision for San Francisco.

SFPO

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 1st, 2006 at 12:57 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.