San Francisco supervisors want to distribute homeless shelters throughout the city

San Francisco supervisors homeless shelter plan

A new plan is in the works in San Francisco meant to transform two neighborhoods that have long struggled with homelessness and drugs – the Tenderloin and South of Market, and to distribute homeless shelters in every district of the city.

SAN FRANCISCO - A new plan is in the works in San Francisco meant to transform two neighborhoods that have long struggled with homelessness and drugs – the Tenderloin and South of Market.

Spreading service around

What we know:

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents one of these neighborhoods, plans to introduce legislation that would require at least one homeless shelter or behavioral health facility in every district of the city.

Currently, the Tenderloin and SoMa are home to a disproportionate number of those sites. Sup. Mahmood's measure lays out an 18-month timeframe for city agencies to set up those new facilities.

This isn't the first time a supervisor has attempted this. In 2019, then-Supervisor Matt Haney proposed legislation to force other parts of the city to open navigation centers, but that legislation failed to pass. Jane Kim, a previous Tenderloin supervisor, also made an attempt.

The supervisor joined KTVU's The Four to talk about his latest effort as he represents the Tenderloin.

"This legislation was done on behalf of the community," Mahmood said. "For too long, for decades, certain neighborhoods from Tenderloin to SoMa to Mission to Bayview have born the brunt of responsibility for housing, for our fentanyl crisis, and for homeless services as well."

Communities want equity

Mahmood says the community wants equity.

"We want every district in the city to do their fair share," said Mahmood. The legislation calls for every district to approve one site within the next year. He said he's optimistic about this legislation getting passed despite previous failures. "We already have the votes to pass this legislation with co-sponsors of supervisors from the west side and the east side."

Supervisor Shamann Walton, who represents the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, is co-authoring the legislation. Mahmood said he sees the newly-elected board of supervisors that took their positions in January as being to his advantage in getting this legislation passed.

"For the first time in many decades in our city's history, we have a board of supervisors that is functioning and looking at the city as a whole rather than neighborhood by neighborhood," Mahmood said.

The supervisor told a story about going out with the HOT Team (Homeless Outreach Team) in the Tenderloin. The crew told him about a man in the Richmond District who became homeless and because there are zero emergency shelters in that neighborhood, they didn't want to go to get services in the Tenderloin.

"People become homeless in every neighborhood. I think that's the thing we have to recognize," said Mahmood. "Unless those people have somewhere to go, they either go out onto the street or have to go into other neighborhoods."

Mahmood said his legislation has a 1,000 feet rule. "No two shelter and behavioral health sites can be within 1,000 feet of each other.

He said what has happened in the past is that these types of services get concentrated in one neighborhood that it affects the surrounding small businesses and families and children who live there.

What about pushback?

As for the possible pushback from residents and business owners who might say, ‘I don't want a homeless shelter near me.'

"We already have Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who represents District 7, which also has zero emergency shelters and she's working collaboratively on this legislation," said Mahmood. He said the 1,000 feet rule might also help some of the neighborhoods lacking services. "Actually it's going to help the people that they might see on the streets in their neighborhood come inside."

He said homeless services are different from how they were in the past.

"We just had a site, 822 Geary, open up in my district and in that component we have guaranteed safety, police presence, ambassadors that are and that's kept it going and safe and very well functioning. I think that's the model for what we want to see in different districts as well."

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