S.F. could move more than 500 people off streets into hotels
In the latest push to keep people off San Francisco’s streets, the Board of Supervisors…
In the latest push to keep people off San Francisco’s streets, the Board of Supervisors is poised to pass an emergency ordinance to move 560 more homeless people into shelter-in-place hotels over the next two months.
The ordinance— expected to pass at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting — simply formalizes a plan already under way.
It will extend the federally reimbursed program that leases hotel rooms for around 2,000 vulnerable homeless individuals, fill even more hotel rooms and make available permanent housing for those in hotels, although people may turn it down if they find it less appealing than their current situation.
“I believe it will save lives,” Supervisor Matt Haney said about Tuesday’s legislation. “This will mean we have ways to get people off the streets and inside at a time when COVID is still very much here, very few homeless people have been vaccinated, and the risks are huge.”
Once vaccines are available, San Francisco plans to start a mobile program to vaccinate some of its 17,000 homeless people, according to Dr. Deborah Borne with the Department of Public Health.
The shelter-in-place hotel program, launched last year to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by getting vulnerable homeless individuals out of congregate shelters and off the streets, faced an uncertain future at the end of last year. With more federal reimbursements flooding city coffers under the new administration, Haney said the city is starting intakes again.
Meanwhile, supervisors and advocates are pushing the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to also prioritize permanently housing more than 600 people still on the streets who were eligible before the pandemic. They say this population was bumped down the list when the city put shelter-in-place hotel residents in front of them in line for housing.
Abigail Stewart-Kahn, interim director of the homelessness department, told supervisors last week that the current “trade-off” is that under the board’s ordinance, the city needs to ensure there are still enough units for shelter-in-place hotel residents. The city has pledged not to kick anyone out of hotels without a permanent option. If hotel residents refuse spots, the city can turn to others who are eligible, she said.
The city’s COVID Command Center said in a statement Monday that it welcomed the opportunity to continue protecting thousands of vulnerable people during the pandemic. While the plan is to expand to hundreds more, the city said the total number may be slightly lower depending on how many people are referred by hospital and street outreach partners, the pace of housing and other exits and the need to clean or repair rooms during turnover.
Of the 2,100 people who’ve stayed in hotels, 457 have been discharged. As of last week, 144 have been placed in permanent housing, Stewart-Kahn said.
The city did not immediately respond to a question about what happened to 313 people discharged who didn’t get permanent housing. Keegan Medrano with the Coalition on Homelessness said that hundreds left or were kicked out of hotels for violating policies without the usual recourse for arguing their cases that exists in shelters.
The city has backfilled 71{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} of those vacated spots. Currently, there are nearly 1,700 guests.
According to federal guidelines, priority is given to individuals who are older than 65, infected with or exposed to COVID-19, or have high-risk medical conditions — a hodgepodge category that includes smoking but not asthma. Rooms will also be open to a much broader range of people, including homeless individuals living in city shelters or released from jail.
The challenge of connecting hotel residents with permanent housing remains, although spots are available. The city currently has 328 vacant housing units, with 629 more ready soon, Stewart-Kahn said.
Supervisor Ahsha Safaí, who introduced a resolution to urge the city to buy and convert more hotels into housing, challenged her to fill open spots with already eligible people.
“We have to speed it up,” he said.
Marlin Tanner, 70, said he landed in a shelter-in-place hotel after being admitted to San Francisco General as the victim of a drive-by shooting while living in his car in Hunters Point. Tanner said he also has diabetes, glaucoma and lower back pain.
“I was ecstatic, especially when I came down here and came in the room and it was just me,” Tanner said.
The relief of having his own space with a bathroom and mini-fridge is tempered by the uncertainty of not knowing how long he can stay. Tanner submitted his documents to get permanent housing three weeks ago, but hadn’t been offered a placement yet. He dreams of having a one-bedroom apartment with a yard so that he can get a dog.
Recent research shows that hotels were an effective public health response during the pandemic. Four city-run hotels where more than 1,000 homeless and other individuals isolated or quarantined reduced the strain on hospitals from March to May last year, a study published Tuesday by the Department of Public Health, UCSF and San Francisco General researchers in the medical journal JAMA reported.
The shelter-in-place hotel program, which likely had a similar effect, faced a rocky history. The city tried to wind down the program at the end of last year, to the vehement opposition of supervisors, with uncertainty about how long the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would continue to reimburse 75{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} of its eligible costs. The Biden administration announced earlier this year that FEMA would reimburse eligible costs up to 100{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} until October, part of the city’s surprising surplus this fiscal year.
Still, 15{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} of the program’s costs are not eligible for reimbursement, the controller’s office said. FEMA reimburses for shelter and food, but not care coordination. The city has also placed people in hotels who don’t fall under FEMA guidelines, such as anyone between 60 and 65 years old and people under 60 who have certain medical and mental health conditions who are working with a caseworker, according to Borne.
The city already allocated $22.8 million from other sources to fill the program’s funding gap.
San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Meghan Bobrowsky contributed to this report.
Mallory Moench is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter:@mallorymoench
