Street outreach meeting 9/13/23
Where are there "permanent" homeless camp located in SF?
1. Tenderloin
Fluid camp situation with people sleeping on the sidewalks and in tents
Folks are not hunkered down, and they move often, even if they have tents
The City of SF "Sweeps" (meaning they clear out encampments) are monthly in front of YWAM, and along Ellis Street, across the street from Glide Memorial Church
YWAM is Youth with a Mission and it is a Christian-based community center and church
If people are displaced, then it is very hard to follow up/provide or offer continuous services
"Peace Keepers" who are trusted, stable leaders in the community work with WYAM staff/volunteers to make the sweeps less traumatizing
They help people consolidate property and temporarily move before the city comes to clean the sidewalks and roads
City and DPW sweeps happen more frequently during election years, or before special events
In SF, the places unhoused people go to run errands daily is more consistent then where they are sleeping
Boeddeker Park Camp, has roughly 15-20 people living there
2. Bay View
RV encampments mostly and some conventional camps with tents and DIY wooden structures
The City of San Francisco spent $500,000 to buy 29 RVs for unhoused people in this area during Covid
People are near Mother Brown’s and Underwood off the main roads, in industrial areas vs near residential areas
If anyone sets up a tent near apartments or homes, they get swept quickly
Homeless outreach team is only 20% successful at connecting unhoused people with services
3. San Francisco State University surrounding area
Lakeshore and Stonestown neighborhoods
Numerous RVs, Trailers and people living in their cars
It would be interesting to find out if any people living in vehicles here are students
4. Haight Street and Golden Gate Park
Youth With a Mission is located on Ellis Street in the Tenderloin
Staff at YWAM doing outreach work are encouraged to take the same walking route each day
If you are in the same places at the same time of day, then you can start to see the same people
Pop up church- encourages community to come to an outdoor service with chairs on the street, live or loud music, free hot chocolate, and free cookies
Many unhoused folks make their first connections to the outreach volunteers/staff at these events
“Person of Peace” has been named to coordinate shared goals with the outreach team and the unhoused community
Desire to get connected into housing changes depending on the seasons
One of the "Persons of Peace" helped WYAM connect 20 people in to housing/services because they had relationships built already
5. State Land
In other cities in the Bay area, most of the camps are located on State/Caltrans land
The majority of this land is under freeway overpasses
Camps used to exist here, but 5 years ago The City of San Francisco cracked down
The city/state cleared everyone out of there and put fences up
They have since been diligent about sweeping anyone they see there
6. UN Plaza
Area downtown near Civic Center Bart, The Public Library, City Hall, The Asian Art museum and the
UN Plaza where the UN Plaza Fountain is located
Another political, and historic epicenter
The fountain was roped off when many unhoused people started living/congregating here
In 2023 the entire area was cleared since it was a known open-drug market
People simply moved their market/congregation area a few blocks East
This area is very active in the evenings and doesn't solely included unhoused people
People travel from all over the Bay Area to come "party" with friends here
History of why SF's homelessness population grew drastically in the 80's
Diane Fienstiene was mayor in the 1980's and her policies exacerbated homelessness
She didn't take it seriously and always referred to SF's homelessness crisis as a "temporary problem"
She refused to invest in permanent solutions
"San Francisco spent tens of millions each year preventing unhoused welfare and SSI recipients from exiting homelessness" -Randy Shaw
She protected landlords vs tenants
She opposed rent control and vacancy control for open units
She blocked the building of apartments
She converted SROs that people could afford into temporary, 3 day shelters
These SROS became major drug markets
Martin vs Boise
2018 ruling that set the precedent that if there are no shelter/transitional housing beds available, people should not be forced to leave encampments
Decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in response to a 2009 lawsuit by six unhoused plaintiffs against the city of Boise, Idaho regarding the city's anti-camping ordinance
This decision was based on the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment
You cannot punish someone due to their housing status
Anti-discrimination protections for unhoused people are continuously being pursued but not confirmed yet
Protected groups in unhoused communities: disabled, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+, immigrants and more
Ruling only currently protects States in the "9th District" of the US: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington
Despite this protections, cities often sweep people anyway, especially if fires, violent crime, and large scale drug deals take place and are documented within camps and or resident/business owners file complaints
Often Police or Department of Public Works employees will offer congregate (mass bunk bed or cot style 24 hour/short term shelter) to unhoused people, and if they refuse, they label them as "service resistant" and use this to justify camp closures
People often don’t want to go into congregate shelters due to theft, assault and the other chaos that often occurs there
How does YWAM do their outreach?
Youth With a Mission is located on Ellis Street in the Tenderloin
Staff at YWAM doing outreach work are encouraged to take the same walking route each day
If you are in the same places at the same time of day, then you can start to see the same people
Pop up church- encourages community to come to an outdoor service with chairs on the street, live or loud music, free hot chocolate, and free cookies
Many unhoused folks make their first connections to the outreach volunteers/staff at these events
“Person of Peace” has been named to coordinate shared goals with the outreach team and the unhoused community
Desire to get connected into housing changes depending on the seasons
One of the "Persons of Peace" helped WYAM connect 20 people in to housing/services because they had relationships built already
How many people is good for an Outreach Group?
Kent from YWAM shared 1-3 Outreach Workers with 1 designated "Group Captain"
Group captain is a dedicated person trusted by the group to make decisions that effect the group, like which way to turn on a road, etc.
Outreach Details
2 hours with pre-brief, outreach, and de-brief
Pre-brief: mentally prepare, and establish routes
Outreach: Walk as a group on established route, give items to people, build relationships and offer service connecting to people who are interested
Help people- connect them to housing options, and our future service app (it was suggested that a web enabled website would be valuable for people who don't have enough space on their phone for more apps)
Get in the system- reach out, document who was there, and follow up
Debrief- touch on what has happened (very important to retain people for coming back) if someone had a challenging time, its good to hear the positive experiences from others
People will join for Outreach at least once a month and the 1st Outreach schedule is Thursday, November 2nd from 3pm-5pm
A YWAM Outreach mantra is "Love everyone that we meet, and build relationships with People of Peace"
Tasks
Compile training materials for outreach workers
Create role description for "Captain" and "Outreach Worker"
Have a good list of resources for people: hygiene, food, affordable housing waitlists etc.
Have something to offer people: muffins, socks, deodorant, toothbrushes etc.
Choose 1-2 blocks and prepare ahead of time
Build an example profile of folks so we can be prepared on what types of notes need to be taken
Ex: “Chatted with Red Panda. This is his situation. He wants 'A' he doesn’t want 'C'”
Take notes during the debrief afterwards
Do NOT talk about things on the street, even if they are positive-wait for the debrief
We want people to have notes, because the plan is to share with connected orgs
Gather Supplies and resources that we need to have for the 1st Outreach Nov 2nd
Collectively decide whether the 1st cohort will want to pass out Fentanyl testing strips and or
Narcan
The test strips take 5 minutes to load, it was advised that we stand there with them, because this can possibly save their life
Start working on a form to simplify the note taking process
Train Outreach Workers and have ongoing ethical conversations
Decide whether the team would want to be Mandated Reporters of abuse, and or safety risks
Build a new Notion to be a document we can all share
Longer Term Goals
Start to track things internallyOne point of the outreach is to make the referral into transitional housing
APP
Currently there are Resource limitations- you can give things out, but can’t tell who all is using it due to lack of metric recording
Make sure that the design is relevant to the population
Need to focus on User Narrative