Envisioning a Better Neighborhood

When taking Muni’s 38-Geary bus to downtown, it becomes increasingly clear the changes occurring around homelessness due to the recent injunction by U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu.

Like most everyone traveling on Geary these days, I’ve started noticing the tents on the median, extending beyond the previous tent encampments that have dotted the City.

While the legal process plays out, I want to discuss how we can take this opportunity to think about how the west side of the City can be a change leader and embrace solutions on homelessness.

Growing up in SF, I have seen the evolution of various attempts to “solve” homelessness with varying degrees of success (or failure depending on your perspective). Care not Cash and Homeward Bound have been followed up more recently with the Street Crisis Response Teams (SCRT) and the Compassionate Alternative Response Team (CART). Despite the best efforts of many, the homelessness population has grown not just in San Francisco but throughout the Bay Area and the rest of the state.

While we have seen plenty of ink spilled here critical of potential responses and misconceptions, a challenge like homelessness is a complex problem that doesn’t have a simple, elegant nor easy solution. Dragging this issue to the courts shows how contentious the matter has become rather than bringing stakeholders to work together. Too often we look at statistics like the Point in Time Survey or the cost of Permanent Supportive Housing as an abstraction of the problem. As if the unhoused were only a number or an encampment or a specific drug or mental health problem.

The real challenge I see is developing a better sense of empathy toward the people who have ended up in these situations. Just like how there are many pathways to homelessness, there needs to be many pathways back up the ladder. Instead of a “fix it” approach where some just want the problem to be removed from sight or contained to certain areas, a mitigation approach should be adopted that isn’t focused on the immediate outcomes but on stepped results.

While housing would appear to be the end goal, the outcome we should focus on is reintegration into society. As we see with people living out of RVs and cars along Lake Merced and in Candlestick Point, shelter is merely one aspect of the deeper issues surrounding homelessness. Even if we were to magically create housing for everyone, would we end up with an issue akin to the Japanese Hikikomori or modern-day hermits who are housed but live in isolation?

As the old adage goes, if you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. Fortunately, the City has numerous options ranging from direct programs to nonprofits where you can volunteer or donate to various causes that have also been covered in detail. But as a problem with many facets, there needs to be many facets to the solution, or the problem will continue to remain. While the west side is fortunate to have a variety of service providers, like Self-Help for the Elderly, On Lok, etc., we are currently devoid of a Navigation Center.

A Navigation Center is, per SF DPW’s website, “a successful program designed to shelter San Francisco’s highly vulnerable and long-term homeless residents who are often fearful of accessing traditional shelter and services. Navigation Centers provide these otherwise unsheltered San Franciscans room and board while case managers work to connect them to income, public benefits, health services, shelter and housing. Navigation Centers are different from traditional shelters in that they have few barriers to entry and intensive case management. Unlike traditional shelters, people with partners, pets and possessions are welcome at Navigation Centers. The purpose of a Navigation Center is to offer a respite from life on the street and to support people in changing their lives by making lasting social service and housing connections.”

When these were proposed for their current locations, they were vehemently opposed by their neighbors due to beliefs that it would attract more homelessness as a form of induced demand. But after their implementation, I have yet to encounter anyone that has a bad thing to say about the Navigation Center once it has been established. With two high-profile locations by the Embarcadero and Fifth and Bryant streets in SOMA, while not eliminating or solving homelessness, they are mitigating the severity of homelessness in their vicinity.

Ultimately, even if we build more affordable housing and we tackle the more visible aspects of homelessness, we still need to create a bridge of social networks and support. Many of us can currently rely on family and friends, but those on the edges fall off because of that part of the social safety net. This is the lesson I’ve seen from observing non-profits like Project Homeless Connect, Welcome Home Project and the recently formed Miracle Messages: If we keep understanding each other at the human level and get back to connecting and supporting each other we can find us all in a better place.

Brian Quan is a Richmond District native, co-leader of Grow the Richmond, president of the Chinese American Democratic Club, member of the Park Presidio-Sunset Lions Club and participant in monthly Refuse Refuse S.F. street clean-ups.