SAN FRANCISCO—It was announced on Monday, October 25 by the Mayor of San Francisco and the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) that the city, in partnership with Tenderloin Housing Clinic (THC), is reopening the Abigail Hotel as a Step Up Housing site. The hotel will provide 59 units of housing for adults successfully transitioning from Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) to affordable housing, with a more independent living model.
“Throughout the pandemic, San Francisco has provided emergency housing and shelter for thousands of unhoused people, and as we continue to move forward with our City’s recovery, we need to do all that we can to ensure that those same people have access to permanent housing,” said Mayor London Breed. “We know that housing is the solution to homelessness, and the Abigail Hotel will provide people with histories of homelessness with a permanent place to live and will allow people newly transitioning off the streets access to supportive housing.”
The Mayor’s Office indicated in a press release that the Abigail Hotel was one of the first Shelter-In-Place (SIP) sites opened during the COVID-19 Pandemic, sheltering Transitional Aged Youth (TAY). It was demobilized as a SIP site on June 30, to transition to its current status as a Step Up Housing site. All rooms at the Abigail have a private bathroom, and the building includes a spacious lobby and community room as well as a state-of-the-art kitchen. Tenderloin Housing Clinic will manage the site, offering case management services five days a week for the independent living residents.
“It’s exciting to see another of the SIP Hotels continue to be a part of the city’s long-term strategy to help keep all of our residents housed,” said District 6 SF Board of Supervisor Matt Haney. “The Abigail Hotel will provide step up housing for those who have graduated from permanent supportive housing and can live more independently. By providing more of these housing opportunities for our city’s most vulnerable residents, we are establishing an essential piece of the framework that will help us finally get a handle on our homelessness crisis.”
“We are excited to transition The Abigail Hotel to step up housing,” said San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing executive director, Shireen McSpadden. “As people progress into step up housing they free up much needed spots in permanent supportive housing for vulnerable people in need of their first home or first home in a long time.”
“This opening marks the historic return of the Abigail Hotel to permanent housing for low-income San Franciscans,” said Randy Shaw, executive director of Tenderloin Housing Clinic. “Forty years ago, tenants fought to keep the Abigail an affordable, residential SRO. Thanks to Mayor Breed and HSH their mission has now been accomplished.”
Step Up Housing is part of the City’s Homeless Response System, and offers opportunities for residents of Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) to move from intensive supportive housing to independent living. By joining the program, tenants make their PSH unit available for other people experiencing homelessness. San Francisco currently operates nearly 400 units of Step Up Housing for adults and families.
For more details on San Francisco’s Homeless Response System, and the Housing Ladder Program, visit: hsh.sfgov.org/services/the-homelessness-response-system/housing-ladder/.
The reopening of the Abigail Hotel is part of the Mayor’s plan to address homelessness in San Francisco, where the strategy includes her Homelessness Recovery Plan. That plan will expand the City’s Homelessness Response System and seek to acquire or lease 1,500 new units of PSH in the next two years, the largest one-time expansion in the City in 20 years. For more details about the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, visit their website here: www.thclinic.org/.
