SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Sidewalks once crammed with people passed out next to tents, tarps and piles of trash have all but disappeared from a large swath of San Francisco known for its highly visible homeless population.
The number of people sleeping rough fell to fewer than 3,000 in January, the city’s lowest in a decade. Federal Count.
And those numbers are based on what Mayor London Breed (Democrat) A difficult reelection Fight in November — Enforcement has begun to be strengthened After the anti-camping law went into effect in August, U.S. Supreme Court decision.
A person walks under a Mission Cabins sign at the Five Keys temporary housing complex in San Francisco, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Homeless The road hasn’t disappearedAnd in January, the number rose 7% to 8,300, according to the same Federal Statistical Office tally.
But now that the issue has fallen out of the public eye, questions are being asked: where have the people gone, and whether the change marks a turning point in a crisis that has long dogged San Francisco.
“The sidewalks are a lot cleaner,” said Terry Asten Bennett, owner of Cliff’s Variety Store in a historically gay part of the city. Castro DistrictShe added that she hates seeing homeless people taken away.
“But as business owners, we also need clean, attractive streets that will entice people to come and shop and visit our city,” she said.
Homeless advocates say encampment sweeps, which remove people from the streets, are an easy way to hide homeless people from public view.
“Shelters should always be transitional,” said Lucas Ila, an activist with the San Francisco Homeless Coalition. “Putting people in there shouldn’t be a long-term solution.”
Five Keys CEO Steve Good walks past a restroom at Five Keys’ Mission Cabins transitional housing in San Francisco, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Other California cities have also reported visible declines in homelessness due to improved outreach and increased temporary housing. The coastal city of Santa Cruz reported a 49% decrease in rough sleeping people this year. Los Angeles It recorded a 10% decrease.
San Francisco has increased the number of shelter beds and permanent supportive housing units by more than 50 percent in the past six years. At the same time, city officials have increased the number of shelter beds and permanent supportive housing units by nearly 500. Clean-up operation carried out Last year, Breed Bus ticket priority Get off the streets for homeless people Police approval Further efforts will be made to eradicate tents.
San Francisco police have filed at least 150 complaints of illegal lodging since Aug. 1, up from 60 in the past three years. The city’s police department also Deleted Over 1,200 tents and structures.
Homeless people are extremely difficult to track, and it’s impossible to know where everyone who once lived on San Francisco’s streets has gone.
Some people still sleep on sidewalks, some under blankets, and tents continue to pop up under freeway overpasses and in remote corners of the city, but the tents that once appeared outside libraries and subway stations and stretched for blocks in the Mission, Downtown and South of Market neighborhoods are gone. Tenderloin District Progress has been made.
Steven Barthel, who became homeless a year ago after losing his job due to a shoulder injury, moved into one of the 60 new tiny huts after the car he was living in caught fire in May.
Mission Cabins is a new type of emergency shelter that offers privacy and allows pets. But like any shelter, there are rules: no drugs, no weapons, no outside visitors, and residents must consent to having their rooms searched.
“At first it was hard, just getting used to going in and being searched and having your bag looked at,” admitted Barthel, 51.
The tidy six-square-metre room, with twin beds and shoes lined up, has a locked door that leads to a sunny courtyard, the sound of children playing at the primary school next door, echoing through the air on a recent morning.
David Lavogin is interviewed in his room at the Five Keys transitional housing center in San Francisco, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
“It’s a big thing to have your own space here and be able to close the door and not share anything with anybody,” he said.
But Barthel is opposed to clearing the encampment, saying two friends had rejected their beds because they thought the shelter would be infested with rats – a mistake – but crews did collect their tents and everything inside.
“Now they have nothing left. They have nowhere to live at all,” he said. “Like a lot of people, they’re just walking around or taking the bus.”
Since 2018, San Francisco has added 1,800 emergency shelter beds and about 5,000 permanent supportive housing units, where residents pay 30 percent of their income in rent and receive subsidies for the rest, for a total of more than 4,200 beds and 14,000 units.
Varieties, first Winner The mayor can claim credit for the expansion, even though some of the plans were in place before she took office in June 2018 and her administration received significant financial support.
The funding comes from the federal government, which is fighting the pandemic, and from the governor of California (and former mayor of San Francisco) who campaigned on fighting homelessness. Tent Camp His priorities: Governor Gavin Newsom They’ve pumped at least $24 billion into the effort. Since taking office in 2019, he has implemented a range of policies, including a program to convert hotels into housing.
San Francisco also benefited from a controversial 2018. A wealth tax on the city’s tech giants Breed countered that companies would back out. But they didn’t. Shadow of the pandemic No impact whatsoever.
of Funding He helps people get off the streets and tripled the annual budget of San Francisco’s Homeless and Supportive Housing Agency from about $300 million in 2018 to $850 million this year.
But the department’s budget is expected to fall below $700 million next year, raising concerns from experts who say more is needed in a city where the median home price is $1.4 million.
Workers clean up outside the Five Keys temporary housing complex in San Francisco, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (Photo by The Associated Press/Jeff Chiu)
“The housing market remains too expensive for too many people, and as long as this continues, people will continue to fall into homelessness,” said Alex Visotsky, a policy researcher at the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
Homeless advocates say that’s why the city needs to invest in more affordable housing.
One of those places is 835 Turk St., a former hotel purchased by the city and reopened as supportive housing two years ago. It’s home to David Lavogin, who lost his home after his mother died.
David Lavogin is interviewed in his room at the Five Keys transitional housing center in San Francisco, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
“Obviously, things could be better,” he said, sitting on his single bed, “but from where I’m coming from, I have no complaints.”
But building housing takes time, and renovating old buildings isn’t cheap: The city bought 835 Turk for $25 million and spent $18 million to renovate it. Twice the estimated amount — Repair it.
In the meantime, shelters are adapting to the situation and accepting couples and people with pets.
Steve Good, CEO of Five Keys, the company that operates Mission Cabins, says it takes new residents about two weeks to get used to the Mission Cabins rules. “Having some rules to keep you safe is better than living on the street with no rules,” he said.
A person sits behind a tent on a sidewalk in San Francisco, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Photo by The Associated Press/Jeff Chiu)
“Amen,” said Patrick Richardson, 54, who stopped by to watch Good’s interview and is on his way to a two-year college in Oakland, where he’s studying to be an x-ray technician.
Richardson had been sleeping on couches and sidewalks until an aid worker offered him a hut.
The new house “saved me,” he said.