Housing advocates protest SF temporary homeless housing plan

Housing advocates are calling on the City of San Francisco Mayor and the Department of Homelessness and Supportive (HSH) to expand the shelter-in-place hotel program.

The program was intended to house SF's homeless population during the pandemic to lower the risk of exposure to COVID 19. Since the start of the pandemic, the city has housed nearly 2,200 homeless people in city-funded hotels. 

The organization Hotels not Hospitals held a rally on Saturday afternoon in response to how the city is handling the program. 

Just weeks before Christmas, HSH had plans in place to phase out the program, putting the unhoused individuals at risk of being back out on the streets. 

But, the Board of Supervisors stepped in before that happened, drafting an emergency bill that extended the program for 60 days. 

"It doesn’t change the fears that the people have in the hotels that they are, eventually, going to get evicted," said Sylvia Vivana of Hotels not Hospitals. "So, we need to do a lot more than just postpone evictions." 

Supervisor Matt Haney drafted the emergency legislation and said it's a slimmed-down version of the original bill that received opposition.

"This has been an ongoing struggle since the beginning of this pandemic and it should’ve never been a fight," Haney said. 

Mayor London Breed and HSH have argued in the past that there's just not enough funding to expand the program. 

Now, the City has state and federal funding to help.

The program costs about $178 million a year but $114 million will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  

"There’s no reason to end this program any time soon," Haney said. "The federal government has committed to funding this program for the duration of the emergency."

Housing advocates and Supervisor Haney said there is money available. Prop C funding was allocated a few years ago but never used. 

"What that opens the possibility for is thousands of placements that we fund that wasn’t previously available," Haney said.

"A lot of this Prop C money should be going to just covering that for people, to just covering housing whatever people need," said Viviana. "These are basic things!" 

Haney hopes Mayor Breed and HSH is committed to making sure those funds go to good use and those housed in the shelter-in-place housing program will have permanent housing. 

Breed's office nor HSH have responded to KTVU's request for comment. 

San Francisco Board of Supervisors will reconvene on the issue in March when the extension is up.