October 1, 2023

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…

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 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.