SAN FRANCISCO—The advocacy group Safe Embarcadero lost its request to halt the construction of a new 200-bed homeless shelter on Seawall Lot 330. Safe Embarcadero is comprised of residents and local business owners with a focus on public safety in the region. The organization’s argument for the seizure of the proposed shelter is situated around rising crime statistics in the neighborhood.
Attorneys for the non-profit organization cited an attack on a woman by a mentally-ill homeless man on Beale Street as a cause for concern. Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman ruled against the group’s request to halt construction. Schulman stated that the concern over the potential rise in crime does not overwhelm the need to build the proposed shelter.
District 6 already has multiple shelters including St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco and MSC Homeless Shelter with over 200 beds which is one of the biggest in Northern California.
Donors have raised more than $80,000 to cover legal fees to prevent the Homeless Navigation Center from being built.
“The community is fully supportive of efforts to end homelessness. South Beach is home to the Delancey Street Foundation, a residential facility helping former drug users recover from their addictions and others facing difficult situations, including the formerly homeless. The East Cut is home to Rene Cazenave, which provides housing for the formerly homeless, as well as most of the new affordable housing in the City.
The rushed process the Mayor is following to build the homeless shelter by the end of the summer is concerning to the community. We are worried that the rushed process puts the political goal of building a large Navigation Center ahead of legitimate concerns about public safety, drug use, and other problems that a large shelter may bring to the community. According to the city’s own data, a third of the homeless are drug users and some are sex offenders. The Navigation Center will not allow drug use inside, meaning that about 75 drug users will be forced into the surrounding family neighborhood to use drugs. The community is also concerned about the environmental effects of building on a site that is known to have toxic materials beneath,” reads a post on the Safe Embarcadero for All GoFundMe page.
“Homelessness is a crisis in our city and we need to act to get people off the streets and into housing,” said Mayor Breed in a tweet. “We’re happy to demonstrate how these Nav Centers work and the benefits they’ve brought to other neighborhoods, but we can’t afford unnecessary delays.”
Another group named Safer Embarcadero for All has created a GoFundMe page in response to the building of the homeless center. The GoFundMe has already raised over $162,349 as of April 4, 2019. This new GoFundMe page has created confusion for many with one resident in the District 6 region informing the San Francisco News that it has led to some people donating to the wrong GoFundMe page.
The resident added that the homeless are not interested in staying inside the Navigation Centers and that there are currently about 40 homeless people in the densely populated region. He added that some of the homeless in the region are addicted to drugs and suffer from mental illnesses.
“Most defecate on the streets, do drugs and leave trash,” the resident told the San Francisco News. He added that the city of San Francisco is not managing the trash and many voters in the region feel left out and ignored. There are already four shelters in District 6 and there are some concerns from residents that the construction of the new shelter could expose toxic soil exposure to residents.
The resident told the San Francisco News that some assume they do not want to help the homeless, to which he replied “that is not true.” He noted on multiple occasions residents provide food and items in need to homeless individuals living in the region.
There are also concerns of traffic congestion because of limited access whenever baseball games transpire in the area. There are currently only two ways in an out of the facility. Members of the community have concerns about safety and have noted that government leaders are refusing to meet with the community to discuss. “Mayor Breed has refused to talk to the community,” stated the resident to the San Francisco News.
The resident alerted the San Francisco News that there is a vacate property near San Francisco General Hospital that would be a suitable site for a new homeless shelter. He noted that if the proposed location of the new homeless shelter in District 6 is built, residents have already threatened to move. He noted the area is home to plenty of high-rises and families.
Lawyers for Safe Embarcadero argue that the city of San Francisco will lose potential tax revenue should the plan for the new shelter be completed. The Port of San Francisco will lease the 2.3-acre waterfront location for the discounted price of $400,000. The value of Seawall Lot 330 in terms of city tax revenue could exceed the amount of the lease by more than double. The new shelter on the Embarcadero is expected to open by December 2019.
Written By Emanuel Trujillo and Donald Roberts
