Rebuttal: on Shelter Policies in SF

By Charles Pitts

Randy Shaw just published a new story mentioning people staying in shelters having a 14-day limit. Mr. Shaw complained that poor people are using drugs in the neighborhood. The rebuttal is:

Temporary shelter of 14 days- one does not have adequate time to do much of anything such as transition from shelter to housing. At 14 days, the only thing one really has the time to do is apply for more shelter. At 14 days, that's just enough time for someone to get their ID if they immediately leave the shelter and go to the DMV. Getting an ID at that rate would also mean everything would have to go correctly and no errors be made. Mr. Randy Shawn’s suggestion of 14 days also goes in violation of city law which states a person has 90 days, and you can have it extended up to 180, as noted in the shelter grievance policy page 18. This policy has changed in face of the pandemic to stop the spread of disease such as coronavirus and possibly tuberculosis.

The goal should be to help homeless people get an income stream and housing and escape extreme poverty. At 14 days, none of this can be achieved. The housing process could take up to 6 months. Getting IDs, bank statements, birth certificates, SSI cards, to get housing applications completed and addressed takes much more than 14 days. The logistics of it could take more than 180 days.

At 14 days, it's not enough time for case management to connect with people in order to address any of their needs to escape extreme poverty or homelessness. Randy Shawn’s 14-day plan has not worked in the past and very likely will not work in the future.

I'm sure 14 days goes against all best practice models.

San Francisco needs to start working on viable plans and alternatives to help people get income streams and economically advance. San Francisco needs to create volunteer opportunities and more job fairs.

San Francisco is dealing with an aging population and disabled population where many people need medical assistance and outright In-Home Support Services to deal with physical and mental disabilities.

Mister Shaw's primary argument about homeless people having housing with attached bathrooms instead of everything being down the hall. Half or the majority of the housing Mr Shaw has bathrooms and every other amenity down the hall. Very likely, people with ADA requirements and other issues need bathrooms and other cooking facilities in their unit. We need to have serious dialogue regarding the best housing model for poor people and we need four different types of housing models.

 1 ) A shelter system where there's legitimate accountability for shelter staff and shelter where poor people have the authority to adjust policy and procedure regarding how they live. 

2 ) Halfway houses where it's other than 200 people stacked up on top of each other. Something where five to 20 people live communally.

3 ) Housing where people have an attached bedroom and bathroom all together.

4 ) Independent housing where it is primarily a residence by itself such as a house. 

The housing model of the single room occupancy only works because that's the only housing model that's available. The single room model needs to be totally eliminated and revamped. How society treats poor people needs to be redone. We need several philosophical and economic changes within our society.