San Francisco mom in desperate need of permanent housing for special needs daughter
San Francisco mom of special needs daughter looking for housing
A San Francisco mother claims city bureaucracy is preventing her from securing permanent housing for her family, including her daughter with special medical needs.
SAN FRANCISCO - A San Francisco mother claims city bureaucracy is preventing her from securing permanent housing for her family, including her daughter with special medical needs.
Maria Savala said a computer algorithm has determined her housing eligibility, and she wants an actual person to assess her family's situation.
Community rallies for support
The backstory:
Outside Cesar Chavez Elementary School in San Francisco's Mission District on Wednesday, supporters gathered to rally for seven-year-old Samara and her family's efforts to obtain permanent housing.
The girl's mother said the family currently resides in a communal living shelter, but stressed the need for permanent housing to help take care of Samara, who faces multiple medical challenges following surgery.
"For more than a year, my family has struggled to find decent and adequate housing for my daughter, Samara's recovery," Savala said through a translator.
Advocacy group Faith in Action and staff from Samara's school joined the rally, saying the basics of caring for community start with stable housing.
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"Maria and her family are an integral part of our school community and San Francisco," said kindergarten teacher Anand Vedawala.
Algorithm vs. human judgment
What they're saying:
Maria Savala expressed frustration with the computer algorithm that lowered her family's housing eligibility score, calling for a human evaluation.
"We need these case evaluations to be carried out by a thinking rational human being who has the ability to evaluate each person with human judgment, not with a keyboard that decides, measuring our reality with a score," she said.
After marching from the school to a nearby Catholic Charities facility to check her score, Savala was turned away due to the absence of appropriate staff.
City's response and limitations
San Francisco's Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) said it cannot comment on individual cases but acknowledged the limited availability of permanent supportive housing.
The agency said it helps families find other paths to permanent housing, including rental subsidies and other financial assistance.
"It is HSH’s goal to get families off of the streets and into safe and dignified shelter and ultimately out of shelter into long-term stable housing," the agency said.
Officials noted that permanent supportive housing is reserved for families with the highest need for long-term housing and ongoing services. The Savala family and their supporters argue that they meet these criteria.