Editor:

The recent article about the 1234 Great Highway senior housing project doesn’t accurately define the facility or its function. There will be at least 100 of the units set aside for formerly unhoused homeless people.

TNDC runs a similar facility at the Willie B. Kennedy (WBK) housing center in the Western Addition area. The elderly might be frail and they are mixing two populations of elderly people that have similar and yet distinctly different needs. When I toured the WBK housing center, I was told there weren’t any social workers on site in the evening or on weekends. This makes no sense! If you can’t have adequate staffing for these vulnerable people then maybe you shouldn’t build as large of a building. When someone gets hurt, and they will, the City will get sued for incompetence. The website for this project claims there will be seven social workers. That amounts to just over one person responsible for over 200 elderly people at any given time as there are 168 hours in a week.

I have attended over a dozen meetings on this and similar housing projects. Never in these meetings about 1234 Great Highway did they discuss the mixing of the two populations together, nor is it on the marketing materials they hand out at the meetings. My father is in his 90s. I would be very concerned if he were living in a poorly supervised facility where the receptionist is simply told to call 911 if there is an incident especially when the Sunset District doesn’t have enough officers and typically on-average there is only one patrol car on the streets at a time. The unhoused aren’t even vetted to make sure they get along with other people. I ask one of the leaders at TNDC on my visit, “Do you vet these people or do they come right off the streets where they have been in a traumatic situation? Do they transition from the street to a shelter to an SRO as a way to confirm they can get along with others? Are they required to get drug or mental health treatment if that is advised?” The answer was: That would be illegal based on the state’s “Housing First” mandate.  

I also ask, please tell me you at least separate these populations to reduce the likelihood of an incident by keeping the formerly unhoused on a specific floor. Nope, they are mixed in all together per the state’s funding mandates. This is yet another example of our government being idealistic versus being realistic and pragmatic and wanting what is best for every person who will be in this facility. Also, the Sunset currently has very little unhoused supportive services. If there were an incident, it could easily take close to an hour to get someone out to the beach area from downtown to assist if needed. Another example of the City implementing programs without thoroughly considering the consequences and for not being very open to community input. At the meetings, it was all about disseminating the information they want to release with very little desire to listen. 

Michael Nohr