SAN FRANCISCO—On Tuesday, April 13, the Mayor of San Francisco announced that she will re-engage in her efforts to open a drug sobering center in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District for those who are experiencing the effects of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and other substances. Mayor London Breed introduced a lease for the building at 1076 Howard Street to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
“This location will provide a safe place for our Street Crisis Response Team and other outreach efforts to bring people who are using drugs and should not be left to themselves,” stated the Mayor of SF. A total of 699 overdose deaths transpired in San Francisco in 2020. The hope is that this new facility will help shorten the curve. “Creating a drug sobering center will save lives,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco’s Director of Health.
The mayor’s initial plan is to have the facility serve up to 20 individuals at a time. The facility will include one-on-one peer support, access to harm-reduction supplies, education & housing consultants. The patients will have access to clothing, showers, and hygiene supplies. There will be on-site security for safety monitoring as patients receive treatment, health assessments and first aid.
Originally, the building at 180 Jones Street was meant to be where the sobering center would have been placed but due to COVID-19, those plans were paused and that site was instead been converted to a Safe Sleeping Site. The new facility will serve as a pilot program to inform future plans and investments on how to help reduce the current overdose numbers in the city.
