At our February general meeting, we discussed the Homeless Bill of Rights. We received two emails about the topic. We believe they deserve a response. The emails and our response are below:

A CONCERNED CITIZEN

Hello, I am writing in response to the statement posted on your homepage about AB 5. I have lived [in the Haight-Ashbury] for [some] years and I am extremely concerned about the state of our neighborhood. I support efforts to help homeless people gain access to clean water, bathroom facilities, employment opportunities and rehab facilities. However, I feel that the homeless situation in the Haight is unique and different than homelessness in other parts of the city and that it is not appropriate for us to encourage it.

There are waves of homeless people that come through the neighborhood for brief periods of time who congregate in large, intimidating groups and party on the streets leaving behind unbearable amounts of trash, broken glass, urine, vomit, and feces. It's unsanitary. I constantly wake up to fresh feces right outside my front gate that appear overnight. I frequently wake up to screaming and shouting of obscenities in the middle of the night. I am afraid to walk past the groups of 15-20 people, mostly men, who congregate on my corner nearly every single evening.
In your statement, you say that the homeless people you spoke with want to be clean and safe, but all I see in the Haight is feces mashed into the streets, empty whip-its covering the ground below the benches in the Panhandle and trash literally right next to the garbage can. You say they want to be treated like human beings but then they harass people walking by them on the sidewalk. You say they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect but they are incredibly disrespectful towards our neighborhood.
I voted against sit/lie, I felt (and have since been proven correct) that it would be ineffective. I fully support finding creative and realistic solutions to end homelessness. However, I feel that the HANC should first and foremost support the permanent neighbors that endure such terrible abuses of our streets by people who leave after a few days of doing drugs and drinking. We need a bill that addresses both homeless needs and resident needs together. One that does not so vastly favor one population over the other. We need a balance. We need stronger support for the community that is trying to make the Haight a safe and inviting place to live. AB 5 only addresses the needs of one group of people and I believe it does so at the expense of the quality of life of another group of people and that is not just.

Thank you,

[Name Withheld]

REGARDING THE HOMELESS BILL OF RIGHTS

Greetings,

I have lived [in the Haight-Ashbury] since [some time].

I love and treasure this city and the tolerance that makes us a mecca for creativity, individuality, expression, and peaceful co-existence.

I did not move here expecting peace and quiet. I did expect to be part of an inclusive, diverse community built around mutual respect.

I live pay check to pay check, and a huge percentage of what remains after I pay the landlord goes to supporting local business—Haight Street Market, Booksmith, Amoeba. I am far from a force of gentrification.

I abhor the criminalization of the poor. I have real empathy and concern for our fellow citizens that end up on the street. And I detest a social system that throws these people under the bus under the veil of "personal responsibility" politics.

But I have also watched my little corner of the world experience profound change for the worse over the last few years at the hands of individuals who take advantage of our tolerance and are unwilling to co-exist as respectful citizens.

I would like to know, therefore, how the citizens behind the Homeless Bill of Rights intend to navigate the grey areas and realities about homelessness.

Will they acknowledge that a certain percentage of homeless are truly helpless and desperate, and that another significant percentage are more interested in mayhem and totally uninterested in being respectful citizens of this community.

Disempowering the SFPD and rendering them impotent to deal with this percentage of the homeless population through bills like this doesn't solve the problem of homelessness. It does, however, compromise the rights of business and residents like myself to live and operate peacefully without watching our neighborhood go to hell.

It compromises our ability to seek police help when the bad seeds among the homeless population trash our streets, wreak havoc, and create health and sanitary problems.

And if the police aren't permitted to help maintain a civil, clean Haight Street based on mutual respect, the Haight will lose the businesses and residents that support them. And at that point, where will the tax revenue for meaningful changes in the homeless support system come from?

Any policy or "Bill of Rights" that fails to address these realities is utopian fantasy.

I respectfully request that the HANC consider a path to meaningful change instead of platitudes and empty political gestures.

I applaud the efforts of HANC, it's concern for the poor, and its ethical bearing. But please—give me a real solution that acknowledges our rights as citizens so I can help.

Respectfully,

[Name Withheld]

Thank you for your emails. We do not condone trashing the neighborhood, whether it is done by homeless, housed neighbors, or tourists. The Homeless Bill of Rights does not give anyone the right to scream and shout obscenities in the middle of the night. It does not give anyone the right to drink or use illegal drugs on the street. It does not give anyone the right to harass people on the sidewalk. Many homeless people are as upset as you are when our neighborhood is mistreated. We have seen homeless individuals sweeping the sidewalk and picking up litter.

The Homeless Bill of Rights prohibits discrimination in employment, voting, housing and receipt of public services on account of homelessness. Homeless people suffer perhaps more discrimination and more stereotyping than any other group in San Francisco. Yet each is an individual, and each has his or her reason for being homeless. We invite you to speak with a homeless person. You may find that he or she is extremely intelligent, well read, and up on current events. The person may be having difficulties due to some major event and have no way or resources to return to his or her former life—because of being evicted, losing a job, foreclosure, or illness. The City’s social services are inadequate to deal with these problems, and all the nonprofits that provide services are starving for funds and staff to help everyone out. 

We do not agree that the Homeless Bill of Rights diminishes the quality of life for those who are not homeless. Do laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity diminish the quality of life for those not protected by those laws?

We have heard some remark that the homeless population creates a danger for women and children. The reality is that in many instances, extra eyes and ears on the street create a safer environment. Our Board members know of incidents where women were victims of crimes by housed people and were aided by homeless people. In one incident, a woman was a victim of sexual assault by a bar patron on Haight Street. She was aided by a homeless person who noticed what was going on. Another woman was robbed by a bar patron, and a homeless person on the street aided her and was able to recover one of the stolen items and return it to her. One of our Board members adds that she has never experienced a threat to her personal safety nor a robbery from a person who appeared to be homeless.

The Homeless Bill of Rights does not disempower the Police Department. But we believe that addressing homelessness primarily through the police is a misuse of City resources. The same funds spent citing the homeless for sitting and sleeping could be used more efficiently to provide shelter, drop-in centers with access to bathrooms and showers, and neighborhood cleanup. 

We encourage you to find out more about the Homeless Bill of Rights and to help create solutions for your neighborhood concerns.