SAN FRANCISCO—At the end of July, the city government cleaned up streets in the Tenderloin District after residents, business owners, and Hastings College of Law filed a petition, complaints, and a lawsuit to do with homeless encampment issue.
According to the court document, “The city agrees that it shall cause seventy percent (70%) of the number of tents as counted on June 5, needs to be removed to a hotel room, safe sleeping site, off-street sites, or other placement by July 20. After July 20, the city will make all reasonable efforts to achieve the shared goal of permanently reducing the number of tents, along with all other encamping materials and related personal property, to zero.”
The city has responded to the lawsuit by cleaning up tents on the streets and has built the Safe Sleeping Village with Urban Alchemy at the Civic Center. Jerold, who works in Safe Sleeping Village, said in an interview that the program is also trying to help the homeless find helpful information, and some applicants had received qualifications to become workers in their organization to serve others.
From the government’s statement, the City has opened more than 20 hotels with 2,527 rooms for vulnerable residents to isolate, quarantine, and shelter in place, as well as 120 RVs and additional safe sleeping villages and sites. In the short-term, the city will continue to move approximately 1,000 more people currently experiencing homelessness off the streets and into alternative housing sites.
Furthermore, Mayor London Breed has announced the Homelessness Recovery Plan which states that the city will expand capacities in the Homelessness Response System and make 6,000 placements available for people experiencing homelessness through coordinated entry, including 4,500 placements in permanent supportive housing. This includes acquiring or leasing 1,500 new units for permanent supportive housing in the next two years. In the end, the city has started to alleviate the encampment problem by taking action and making concrete plans with other non-profit communities’ cooperation.
