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by PNN staff
Introduction
San Francisco has failed to solve the problem of homelessness. While the number of homeless individuals and families in San Francisco and across the U.S. has continued to rise at an alarming rate,we have witnessed an alarming increase in police-based responses to the presence of homeless people in public spaces. But homelessness is an economic issue, not a nuisance issue.
There has been precious little public discussion of the reality that homelessness, like most other social problems, can, in fact, be alleviated. The Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco submits the following Plan For Action to all concerned residents of the City and County of San Francisco, and urge all who are concerned about the homeless problem to take action for change.
Guiding Principles
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We must ensure that homeless people can actively participate in the development and implementation of programs and policies that directly or indirectly impact homeless people.
The City must stop sinking money into temporary Band-Aid solutions.
The City must stop creating and continuing policies that criminalize people for life sustaining acts that they must do in public because they are homeless.
The City must ensure that all services in San Francisco must be provided with dignity and respect.
Action Steps
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The City must have a commitment to provide dignified, decent housing to meet the needs of homeless and very low-income people in San Francisco. Central to this commitment is the responsibility to develop new funding sources dedicated to the creation of truly affordable housing.
Housing
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Create a Housing Trust Fund from general fund money that is dedicated to the preservation and creation of low income housing. Trust fund would be used for homeless people, and models would include limited equity cooperatives and community land trusts.
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Create housing for undocumented families and individuals with a bilingual staff that include language and skill training workshops.
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Make existing housing available at the Presidio for homeless people.
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Pass legislation that mandates that 20% of all surplus public lands be dedicated to housing homeless people.
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The City must ensure that housing affordable to very low-income people will conform to health and building standards.
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Fund a citywide eviction prevention program, combining legal services with grants for back payment of rent.
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Provide one to one replacement of all HUD housing units demolished through HOPE VI or other programs.
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Close loopholes that currently allow landlords to evict low income people in order either to raise rents or avoid tenants rights.
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Create housing subsidies for families and individuals.
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Implement "vacancy control", where rents are maintined through periods of vacancy regardless of the length of stay of former occupant.
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Use existing regulations to create rather than destroy low income housing.
Health Care
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Health care must be made accessible and available to all, appropriate to the needs of patients or clients, integrated in its approach and compassionate in its application.
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Provide bilingual and culturally sensitive programs for women that come from domestic violence.
- 24 hour access to bathrooms throughout the City.
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Commit to full funding of treatment on demand to build a community based treatment system that fully serves the diversity of San Francisco. This includes spending $20,000,000 over five years, implementing the recommendations of the San Francisco Treatment on Demand Planning Council. This must include bilingual and culturally appropriate substace abuse tretment for Latinos.
Rebuild the mental health care system to address both the acute and chronic mental health care needs of homeless San Franciscans, including culturally appropriate and bilingual mental health care for Latinos.
Expand residential treatment programs, both in number and length of stay. This should include different program options such as coops.
Guaranteed access to latest medications and therapies, including but not limited to the latest psychotropic medications.
The City must make all efforts to make health care facilities welcome and available to homeless people. This means having well trained staff, as well as not prohibiting homeless people from being on clinic properties after hours.
Increase availability of mobile medical vans to increase access to health care to people who are unable to access the clinics and hospitals.
Economic Justice
People must have adequate access to humane employment, and economic opportunities in order to acquire and maintain housing.
Actively support a living wage bill in San Francisco that will allow working families and individuals to be self-sufficient.
Create more language and training programs for non-English speakers (documented and undocumented) with more appropriate schedules that allow for those that work or have children may attend.
Provide worker rights training to day laborers.
Provide job retention services to ensure that there are necessary support services for homeless people placed in jobs.
Ensure full implementation of First Source Legislation by pressuring businesses to hire homeless people and public assistance recipients, as well as have training programs that lead people into jobs.
Award workfare workers the rights of other union employees, including paying prevailing wages, work place protections and allow for other benefits.
Establish citywide jobs program, making 200 full-time and 100 part-time jobs available to workfare workers at prevailing wages for a period of 2 years.
Make quality, affordable childcare available to working parents.
Make the CalWORKS program one infused with dignity for recipients, that keeps them informed of their status, reduce paperwork, and provide ongoing, adequate training for workers.
Expedite reciprocity agreement with adjoining counties that allow families forced to leave San Francisco to continue their training, education, childcare and other CalWORKS related programs in San Francisco while they receive their benefits in their new county of residence.
Civil and Human Rights
The human and civil rights of all people must be respected, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability or economic status. People forced to live on the streets and in shelters should not face additional discrimination as a result.
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Always separate the criminal justice system from service providers and the provision of benefits.
Take affirmative steps to end hate crimes directed against homeless and very poor people.
Prohibit all private taxation "benefit zones," like BIDs, that privatize public spaces and act to further criminalize homelessness.
Safeguards the privacy rights of homeless people.
Embrace equal access to public spaces for homeless and non homeless people, including the elimination of architectural barriers to people being in such public places.
Ban all laws, and enforcement of laws that in practice target homeless people for their status of being homeless.
Implement a comprehensive independent grievance process for the entire service treatment network.
Provide twenty four hour notice before removing homeless people's unattended property, and stop the confiscation of any property that is attended.
All programs must comply with applicable local, state and federal disability rights laws protecting the rights of persons with disabilities and insuring access to government benefits and services.
Policies and procedures of programs that provide shelter, housing and treatment services to families shall not require that families separate as a condition of obtaining these resources.
Where The Funding Will Come From
Attach a "new construction tax" on both private and commercial development to fund permanent housing for homeless or very low income people. This money can then be put in the Housing Trust Fund.
Create a 1% wage tax on people earning over $30,000 who work in but live outside of San Francisco to be used for housing and programs serving homeless people.
Set-aside 10%? of the hotel tax funds for the creation of permanent solutions to homelessness.
Conclusion
In a City which is rapidly losing affordable housing, the above steps should be viewed as comprehensive, if minimal, steps toward proactively addressing homelessness. So long as public discourse on the problem of homelessness remains mired in "Quality of Life" rhetoric, and is not explicitly linked to the lack of affordable housing, subsidized health care, economic equity, and civil rights for the City's indigent residents, the problem will continue to grow.
Although the vision we present will not be a simple one to bring to fruition, it is an essential one. It is has been said that so long as one person is hungry, none can eat in peace. It is in the spirit of this truth that we must not accept that people are sleeping on the streets in San Francisco. With hard work, we can end homelessness once and for all.
We urge all people concerned about the future of San Francisco to earnestly evaluate this Plan. And then to Act upon it..
Derechos Civiles y Humanos
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Los derechos civiles y humanos de todas personas deben ser respetados, independientemente de su raza, genero, orientaciÛn sexual, edad, incapacidad, o estado economico. Las personas no deben ser perjudicados por estar forzados a vivir en la calle y en los refugios.
Separe siempre el sistema judicial criniminal de los que proveen servicios y los provisiones de beneficios.
Tome pasos afirmativos a parar crimines de odio dirigidos a las personas desamparadas y de muy bajos ingresos.
Prohibe todo tipo de "zonas de beneficios" con impuestos privados, como BIDs que privatiza espacios publicos y convierte desamparidad a ser una delincuencia.
Asegure y protege los derechos de privacidad de las personas desamparadas.
Deje que personas desamparadas y no-desamparadas tengan el mismo aceso a espacios publicos.
Prohibe todas las leyes y la implementaciÛn de leyes que perjudican a personas desamparadas simplemente por su estado de desamparidad.
Implemente un proceso independiente de queja para toda la red de servicios de tratamiento.
Espere 24 horas antes de quitar propiedad abandonada, y pare completamente la confiscaciÛn de toda propiedad de la cual alguien se est· ocupada.
Todos programas deben cumplir con leyes locales, estadales y federales que protegen los derechos de personas incapacitadas y asegurando su aceso a beneficios y servicios gubermentales.
Politicas y procedimientos de los programas que proveen refugio, viviendas y tratamiento a familias no deben requerir que familias esten divididas para poder obtener recursos.
De Donde Va Venir los Fondos
Agregue un "Impuesto a la nueva construcciÛn" al desarrollo privado y comercial para financiar viviendas permanentes para personas desamparadas y de bajos ingresos. Este dinero se puede ubicar en el Fondo para Vivienda.
Cree un impuesto de 1% al salario de las personas que ganan m·s de $30,000, y trabajan en San Francisco pero viven afuera de la ciudad.
Asigne 10% de los fondos que vienen de los impuestos de hoteles para la creaciÛn de soluciones permanentes a la desamparidad.
ConclusiÛn
En una ciudad que muy rapidamente est· perdiendo viviendas asequibles, los pasos escritos aquÌ deben ser considerados amplios, por lo minimo, para enfrentar desamparidad en una manera positiva. Mientras que el discurso publico sobre el problema de desamparidad se quede en la retÛrica de "Calidad de Vida," y no se relaciona a la falta de viviendas adequibles, de servicio de salud subvencionado, de equidad economica y de derechos civiles para los residentes pobres de esta ciudad, el problema continuira creciendo.
Aunque sabemos que nuestra visiÛn no ser· facÌl a realizar es fundamental. Se ha dicho que cuando solo una persona tiene hambre, nadie puede comer en paz. Es en el espiritu de esta verdad que nosotros no debemos aceptar que personas duermen en las calles de San Francisco. Con mucho trabajo, podemos acabar con la desamparidad.
Estamos pidiendo que todas las personas preocupadas por el futuro de San Francisco evaluen seriamente este plan, y luego actuar en lo que propone.
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