FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Contact: Mayor’s Office of Communications, 415-554-6131
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MAYOR LONDON BREED ANNOUNCES ACCOMPLISHMENT OF 1,000 SHELTER BEDS INITIATIVE AND NEXT STEPS TO HELP PEOPLE EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS
The City will open a new SAFE Navigation Center in the Upper Market area, bringing the total number of shelter beds open or in the pipeline to 1,065 by the end of 2020.
San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed today announced the City will open a new SAFE Navigation Center at 33 Gough Street, bringing the total number of new shelter beds opened, under construction, or in development in San Francisco to more than 1,000 by the end of 2020. Mayor Breed also announced the next steps in her efforts to help people living unsheltered on the City’s streets, with an initiative to create at least 2,000 more places for people across the spectrum of housing, behavioral health, and shelter over the next two years.
Mayor Breed made the announcement at the site of the forthcoming Transitional Age Youth Navigation Center, located at 888 Post Street. She was joined by City officials, service providers who operate the City’s shelters, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH), which creates, funds, and oversees the shelters, and San Francisco Public Works, which manages the design and construction of the new and expanded Navigation Centers.
“Opening up these shelter beds would not be possible without the commitment of our service providers, community partners, and dedicated City staff,” said Mayor Breed. “I’m proud we are on track to deliver on our promise to open 1,000 new shelter beds by the end of this year—the largest expansion in the last 30 years—but we know we need to do more. There are still thousands of people living on our sidewalks and our open spaces and we can no longer allow our streets to be the floor of our homeless response system. We have to make sure we are expanding our homeless response system across the entire spectrum of interventions, including housing, behavioral health beds, shelter, and other places. This is how we can create a place for everyone in need.”
“Thanks to the leadership of Mayor Breed, our team at HSH, our City partners and providers, we are on track to fill the gap in shelter we identified in our Strategic Framework,” said Jeff Kositsky, Director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. “Having a safe place to sleep inside is a critical step in the journey out of homelessness. I am thrilled that we begin 2020 with expanded shelter and additional housing coming online.”
“Navigation Centers provide unhoused people with a safe and humane alternative to living on the streets, and Public Works has been proud to partner on the delivery of these life-changing projects,” said Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru. “Addressing homelessness requires creativity, compassion and resolve, and the City, working with our community and nonprofit partners, is on the right path.”
“Five Keys is honored to have the opportunity to serve the homeless population in San Francisco and provide safe and dignified housing as a safe alternative from the streets,” said Steve Good, Executive Director of Five Keys, a nonprofit organization that provides staffing and programming at two of the City’s Navigation Centers. “We firmly believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to have housing.”
Mayor Breed announced the City will open a new 200-bed SAFE Navigation Center in the Upper Market area at 33 Gough Street. This site will be focused on providing a safe place for people living on the streets. San Francisco Public Works will design and manage renovations of the facility, and the Navigation Center will open by the end of the year. Yesterday, Mayor Breed introduced a resolution approving the lease for this project to the Board of Supervisors and the City began a public outreach process. The Mayor also introduced the lease for 888 Post at yesterday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
In addition to announcing the Upper Market SAFE Navigation Center, Mayor Breed announced a goal of opening at least 2,000 placements over the next two years for people who are experiencing homelessness. These placements will include Permanent Supportive Housing, scattered-site supportive housing, master leased housing, behavioral health beds, and expanded shelter and drop-in center capacity. Mayor Breed’s initiative recognizes that housing is part of the homeless response system, and that in order to get people off the streets and into shelter, the City needs to focus on creating new Permanent Supportive Housing and master-leased housing to improve flow across the system and open up spaces in the shelter system.
In the 2019 Point in Time Count, San Francisco’s unsheltered population was slightly higher than 5,000. HSH currently offers temporary shelter to approximately 3,400 people per night through traditional shelters, stabilization beds, Navigation Centers, and transitional housing. Mayor Breed’s announced resource expansion, along with 1,000 new shelter beds, will significantly expand the City’s ability to serve people who are experiencing homelessness.
Mayor Breed recently announced 151 new master-leased housing units for formerly homeless adults at The Abigail and The Post Hotels, and celebrated the groundbreaking of 44 units of Permanent Supportive Housing for formerly homeless seniors in the Mission.
In October 2018, Mayor Breed announced a goal to open 1,000 new shelter beds by the end of 2020. To date, the City has opened 566 beds and has 499 beds in development or planned. The 566 beds opened as part of the 1,000-shelter-bed initiative include:
• 84 beds at the Bryant Street Navigation Center
• 128 beds at the Bayshore Navigation Center
• 60 beds at the Buena Vista Horace Mann Community School shelter
• 14 beds for people with behavioral health and substance use issues at Hummingbird Place
• 60 beds at the Division Circle Navigation Center Expansion
• 20 beds at the Civic Center Navigation Center Expansion
• 200 beds at The Embarcadero SAFE Navigation Center
The City has 499 beds in the planning and development pipeline:
• 24 beds at Jelani House to be opened by February.
• 200 beds at the new Bayview SAFE Shelter (1925 Evans Avenue) will open later this year, in partnership with Supervisor Shamann Walton.
• 75 beds at 888 Post Street to serve as shelter for Transition Aged Youth, in partnership with Supervisor Aaron Peskin.
• Up to 200 beds at the Upper Market SAFE Navigation Center (33 Gough Street) will open in 2020.
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