By David Woo, HANC Board

In June we have celebrated both Pride month and Juneteenth. While participating in or celebrating these events, we must connect them to ongoing struggles.

Pride Month

Pride month seeks to honor the LGBTQ+ community and the struggles for justice within the queer community. While Pride Month has been folded into the corporate mainstream divorcing it from the radical roots of the queer liberation movement - with Bank of America and SFPD floats at the SF Pride Parade - some of the current struggles for the queer community are more visible when viewed along class lines. A disproportionate number of homeless residents in San Francisco identify as LGBTQ+ (27% versus 12% citywide), and that is especially true for homeless youth (46% of homeless youth identified as LGBTQ+)*. With a historical presence of homeless youth in the Haight, it’s important to remember that being pro-LGBTQ ultimately means supporting and fighting for the rights, well-being, and dignity of our houseless neighbors.

Juneteenth

Juneteenth commemorates the day on June 19th, 1865 when Union troops entered Galveston, Texas and announced that slavery had ended. It recently became a federal holiday. The historical and ongoing displacement of the Black community in San Francisco serves as a reminder of how the struggle for justice for the Black community is ongoing. For past and current administrations in San Francisco, the city is being built for new wealthy and disproportionately white populations. While San Francisco is only 5-6% (or less) African American, African American’s make up 37% of the homeless population in the city (and 24% of homeless youth).

______

*Data is from the 2019 SF Homeless Point in Time Count.

By Lisa Awbrey, HANC President

In the Spring of 2020, during an unprecedented chain of events relating to the COVID-19 shut down and Shelter In Place orders, bold action by San Francisco’s leaders and electeds, neighbors and residents was required. On April 14, 2020, the Board of Supervisors passed unanimous emergency legislation mandating (by an 11-0 vote) that by April 26, the city obtain 8,250 hotel rooms, with 7,000 earmarked for unhoused folks living on the streets and in congregate shelters. But the emergency legislation was never put into effect by the Mayor who quietly refused to fund it. 

On a national level, the CDC (along with global and local level UCSF physicians) continued to caution against the health dangers of congregate living settings (like indoor shelters). UCSF doctors also warned against moving too slowly in obtaining hotel rooms for the City’s most vulnerable: our unhoused people. Medical workers and first responders staged a street demonstration (dubbed a “die in”) in front of Mayor Breed’s home to underscore the crisis in an attempt to spur her to swift action. 

Read more ...

By Tes Welborn, HANC Board

Community members have been fighting UCSF's unilateral decision to break the Space Ceiling limits agreement  of a maximum of 3.55 million square feet, established in 1976 and written into state law.  The coalition, of which Calvin Welch and I are members, supports retaining the Space Ceiling and the 2014 Long Range Development Plan's smaller new hospital.

Read more ...

By Calvin Welch, HANC Board

In a surprise move, Mayor Breed ordered a halt to the community planning process being done by the non-profit developers the city selected for the 100 % affordable housing development at 730 Stanyan Street.

Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC) had conducted a pre-application meeting and a series of  community planning  meetings since June 2020, and were poised to hold their fifth and seemingly last meeting with the community which was to present the modifications to the design gathered from the community.

But Mayor Breed seems to have other plans for the site.  While no official announcement has yet been made to the community in over a month since the April 29 meeting was cancelled, the Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD) did respond to an Examiner op-ed drafted by the co-chairs of the Coalition for a Complete Community (CCC) which called upon the Mayor not to delay the development of the proposed 120 unit development (The op-ed piece can be found at: https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/city-should-stop-foot-dragging-on-critically-needed-affordable-housing-in-haight-ashbury/).   

Read more ...

By Christin Evans, HANC Board

“How do we make our community safer for all?” was the opening question for our panelists at HANC’s May meeting.  Police Commissioner John Hamasaki kicked off the discussion, “Last year, before George Floyd, the Police Commission adopted a resolution to transfer homeless related calls away from SFPD. That’s something we all should agree about because police should be reserved for serious criminal activity, danger [and] violence….  Across the country and San Francisco, for too long we’ve relied on the police to fill in all the gaps in social services, in mental health and substance abuse.  And that has been an abysmal failure putting a burden on police they don’t have the training for and the negative implications of that for the community.” 

Last year, the city launched a pilot initiative of Street Crisis Response teams (SCRTs). Each team includes a Fire Department paramedic, a behavioral health clinician, and a peer counselor. The SCRTs have primarily responded to 911 calls (rated Priority B or C) where a person is experiencing a mental health crisis.  The teams have already alleviated call volumes from police response.   Recently Mayor Breed announced an expansion of the concept and said she would propose in her 2021-22 budget that the city add Street Wellness Response teams (SWRTs) who would respond to priority B and C “wellness check” calls. 

Read more ...

The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD) has announced a delay in the community planning process for 730 Stanyan (see accompanying article, “Status Update on 730 Stanyan.”  It is now projected that the project won’t break ground until some time in 2023.  CAMP, the safe sleeping site, is scheduled to leave by June 30, 2021.

HANC is concerned that the soon-to-be vacant lot could remain a vacant lot for the next two years or more.  There is already a well-developed plan for an interim use for the site, which addresses needs of three target communities—families, transition-age youth, and seniors, and also provides for activities for the general neighborhood community.  This plan is the Community Proposal for Interim Use, developed by the Coalition for a Complete Community.  It can be downloaded at https://www.hanc-sf.org/the-voice-and-docs/730-Stanyan/Submitted-CCC-Interim-Use-Proposal/.

HANC will continue to advocate for this plan, and encourages you to download the plan, review it, and join us in supporting this interim use for the 730 Stanyan site.  We believe this will be the best use for the site while MOHCD, the development team, and the community continue to develop long-term plans for the site.

By David Woo, HANC Board

Joe Eskenazi with Mission Local joined the April meeting and discussed the ongoing and continually unfolding corruption scandals that have come to light in San Francisco. Eskanazi discussed how the corruption cases in San Francisco are likely broadening and expanding, though it is hard to know definitively.

Those currently cooperating with the investigation and to keep an eye on include Sandra Zuniga, who was working in the mayor’s office, and Walter Wong who worked as a permit expediter.

Read more ...

By Lisa Awbrey, HANC President

At HANC’s April meeting, paralegal and tenant counsellor Renee Curran gave updates on the state of tenant protections, evictions and strategies in the time of COVID-19. Current information is available at hrcsf.org. 

The current “ban on evictions” is not a ban at all, and without further action, will end on June 30, 2021. Previously, when HRCSF counseled tenants on the local rent moratorium, it was harrowing because the local eviction ban could only be extended on a monthly basis. People grew increasingly worried about unpaid rent piling up with the knowledge that the pandemic wouldn’t last just a few months. SB3038 changed that, giving more stability, but the tenants still had to pay 25% instead of no rent.

Read more ...