From homeless to housed: September Snapshot

Luisa Montes September 21, 2021

Every month, we track the number of people who exited homelessness in San Francisco so we can determine if we are on pace to meet our housing goals for the year. Staying on top of this information helps us ask the important questions – of ourselves and others – to make sure we are doing everything possible to get people off the streets and into homes.

In San Francisco, 112 people exited homelessness in the month of July, for a total of 729 people through July 2021. Comparing these numbers to previous months, we see that the City has slightly increased the pace of housing. But the scale of the need requires that this pace accelerates significantly; marginal increases of less than 20 people each month are not sufficient.

The solution to homelessness is a home, and for people who need help living independently, the solution is housing and supportive services like workforce assistance, behavioral health services, and case management.

This month, we are highlighting the City’s efforts to purchase and convert four hotels into housing with supportive services for our unhoused neighbors. Together, these proposed locations—pending approval from the Board of Supervisors, would take advantage of local and state resources to—create 368 new homes throughout our city,. And, significantly, the City is making a concerted effort to identify housing sites in neighborhoods that historically have not been home to much permanent supportive housing. The proposed sites are in Districts 5, 6, 9, and 11.

Proposed Housing Sites.

In the Mission District, there are two proposed buildings: one to house single adults and one to house Transition Age Youth (ages 18-24) experiencing homelessness. Support for the buildings in the Mission is high, and we are encouraged by the strong community showing in advance of the Board of Supervisors vote on 9/29.

The buildings proposed in Japantown and SoMa are planned for single adults. The SoMa building will go to a Board vote on 10/6 while a vote on the Japantown hotel has not been scheduled.. The Japantown hotel, in particular, faces opposition from the community that goes beyond the standard NIMBY arguments, raising questions about how best to ensure economic vitality in a neighborhood that has been significantly impacted by COVID-19. HSH has already held two community meetings to listen to community concerns and more meetings are planned. Regardless of the outcome for these specific projects, we can’t let nuanced opposition keep us from broader efforts to increase the neighborhoods where permanent, affordable homes are available in our city.

Housing and services in every neighborhood has been the foundation of our campaign from the beginning, and it was reinforced in the Our City Our Home Committee’s community-based recommendations to provide housing and services in areas outside the Tenderloin. If you’d like to follow these developments more closely and find opportunities to voice your support for these proposed developments, visit this page at the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.

We need you! All In is a campaign built on the people of San Francisco, and here’s how you can show up for our unhoused neighbors:

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