SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Shortly after it became clear that Daniel Lurie would become San Francisco’s next mayor, the Coalition on Homelessness issued a statement asking Lurie to take a new approach.
“We know that, you know, a punitive response doesn’t work. I mean, that’s, that’s just obvious to everybody,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, Executive Director of the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness. “It’s just pushing people from block to block. If they have nowhere to go, there’s no way for them to disappear. So we have to do the work in the system to build up the capacity to get people up and off the streets. And that is going to take, you know, a lot of work.”
Sweeps of homeless encampments have increased over the last several months, not just in San Francisco but elsewhere following a Supreme Court ruling. Friedenbach has different priorities for Lurie.
“We’d like to see on day one that the over 700 vacant units in supportive housing be filled,” said Friedenbach. “And we’ve got a lot of ideas on how to do that. And secondly, we’d like to see a halt to the illegal property destruction that’s occurring where people are losing their medications or losing their paperwork, they’re really being harmed by it. And it’s cruel.”
During the campaign, Lurie posted his plans for homelessness which, among other things, call for:
- building 1,500 shelter beds in 6 months in order to clear encampments and create path to services
- creating a total of 2,500 units of shelter, including “bridge housing” like tiny homes
- prioritizing cost-effective and dignified shelter, rather than expensive permanent housing
It remains to be seen if Lurie can turn his plans into action but the Coalition on Homelessness is optimistic due to Lurie’s work at Tipping Point, a non-profit charged with fighting poverty that he founded in 2005.
“Daniel Lurie, you know, has experience working on homeless issues so he’s not coming at this, you know, starting from zero,” said Friedenbach. “He already has a great deal of knowledge, and has also worked on solutions, and so you know that’s really where we all come together, regardless of where people are coming from.”
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Shortly after it became clear that Daniel Lurie would become San Francisco’s next mayor, the Coalition on Homelessness issued a statement asking Lurie to take a new approach. “We know that, you know, a punitive response doesn’t work. I mean, that’s, that’s just obvious to everybody,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, Executive Director […]
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