Not happy with 2,700 rooms, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has said the city needs additional space and is demanding that the city lease 8,250 hotel rooms to house the city’s homeless population.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- You’ve gotta love San Francisco. Call it the law of unintended consequences.
San Francisco, one of the most liberal cities in a state full of liberals recently decided to lease 2,700 hotel rooms as emergency housing for “at-risk” homeless people to stay in to escape the COVID-19 outbreak.
Now, they seem surprised that word got out and they are attracting homeless people from far and wide to take advantage of the city’s hospitality.
Mayor London Breed was likely shocked and appalled when she found out that the homeless were flocking to the City by the Bay, and said she needed to “draw the line” on who would be eligible for the housing, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
“People are coming from all over the place—Sacramento, Lake County, Bakersfield,” said Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson.
“We have also heard that people are getting released from jail in other counties and being told to go to San Francisco, where you will get a tent and then you will get housing.”
Nicholson cited a situation where about ¾ of the estimated 100 people who were camping out in city-provided tents along Fulton street next to the art museum appear to have found their way to the city in hopes of obtaining a hotel room.
A man named “Cordell,” who came to the city from Stockton said that “it would be better than living with this crap,” as he swept the area around his tent this past Thursday.
The first indication of an increase in the homeless community with out-of-towners was noticed by the city’s Homeless Outreach Team and then by the Fire Department, due to interaction between their paramedics and street people.
“We have over 45 stations across the city. Our folks are embedded in their communities and they know who is on the streets,” Nicholson said.
She was not alone in her assessment of the situation. In separate interviews with a homeless outreach worker and a fire paramedic, who both declined to be identified due to not being authorized to speak on behalf of the city, they confirmed what Nicholson was saying.
“These people are very honest when you talk with them,” said the paramedic. “They come right out and ask, ‘How do I get a hotel room?’” said the paramedic, who added that the homeless tend to call 911 fairly regularly.
Part of the “game” is that when paramedics arrive at the call, the homeless individual will cough, causing the paramedics to transport them to the hospital for evaluation. If they happen to test positive for COVID-19, they are then put in the que to be quarantined in a hotel room.
The hotel rooms the city has leased as emergency housing are intended for those who are older than 60 or who have underlying health problems, as well as frontline workers.
Not happy with 2,700 rooms, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has said the city needs additional space and is demanding that the city lease 8,250 hotel rooms to house the city’s homeless population during the current pandemic.
Mayor Breed has complained that just housing 1,000 people in hotel rooms has “proven to be an ‘incredible logistical challenge.’” This is why Breed is trying to take a step back.
In total, the state of California has secured over 15,000 hotel rooms statewide for either people who get sick or for vulnerable homeless people.
It is unknown why the homeless are coming specifically to San Francisco given the availability of rooms statewide, however given the fact that the city is providing alcohol, methadone and cannabis to addicts and homeless isolating from COVID-19 might be a reason.
“The reality is we’ve got to focus our limited resources on reaching the people who have been here on our streets for a long time,” Breed said. “These are the people our paramedics and outreach workers know well and that we need to help.”
One member of the city’s board of supervisors, Matt Haney and who is leading the push for additional hotel rooms said:
“There are absolutely thousands of people who have been homeless for a long time here in San Francisco, many who are older or with medical conditions—who should be given the opportunity to shelter in place just like everyone else.”
The Chronicle noted that the biggest of the homeless “campgrounds” is on Fulton Street. The city is encouraging the use of tents to shelter in place and avoid contact with others, the tents are packed in behind police barricades, often close within mere inches of each other. The Chronicle also noted that few of the homeless “campers” wear masks.
The city has paid for portable toilets and a washing station, with public works crews regularly cleaning the area.
The out-of-town arrivals are also getting some attention from the San Francisco Police Department, according to the website Mission Local. They noted that on Tuesday several police cruisers came up and parked next to the camp with lights flashing, and they stayed until early the next morning.
A spokesman for the SFPD said that the officers were sent to that location “as part of our efforts to maintain high visibility, reduce crime, and remind the public about sheltering in place and social distancing requirements.”
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