San Francisco ‘Safe Sleeping Villages’: Socially Distanced Tents for Homeless People

Safe Sleeping Village

Rectangles designed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus by encouraging social distancing line a city-sanctioned homeless encampment at San Francisco's Civic Center on Thursday, May 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)


Even without the pandemic, San Francisco was suffering from a homelessness crisis. The last point-in-time count of homeless people in the city was in January 2019. At that time, there were 5,180 people experiencing homelessness. This refers to the unsheltered figures, whereby people are sleeping on the streets and are not living in homeless shelters or any other kind of establishment.

Compare this to New York, the most populated city in the country. Incredibly in the Big Apple the rates of homelessness are lower. While New York also struggles to reduce the numbers of homeless people, the figure was still lower at 3,588 homeless people in 2019.

But like in many other cities around the world, the effects of COVID-19 have been catastrophic for homeless communities in San Francisco. The problems that many homeless people face on a day-to-day basis are worsening.

While social distancing measures have been put into place, isolating can be near impossible for homeless people.

In April, 92 residents at the MSC Shelter contracted coronavirus. This is San Francisco’s largest and most extensive homeless shelter. The outbreak is the biggest in any single shelter in the United States.

And those living on the streets face a catch-22 situation. Self-isolate, or risk illness or fines from authorities.

To cope with the crisis, sanctioned outdoor tents have been set up to “house” San Francisco’s homeless people. But is this form of emergency accommodation enough to ensure the city’s most vulnerable are safe? Especially in these unprecedented times?

“It’s almost like we’re giving ourselves permission that it’s OK that people will sleep outside, and once we’ve given ourselves that permission, it’s very difficult to get the initiative together to do otherwise,” said Nan Roman, president and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Let’s learn more about these new outdoor encampments, and what we can expect from them.

‘Safe Sleeping Villages’

San Francisco has established sanctioned outdoor encampment areas featuring dozens of spaced out tents for the city’s homeless to live in during the COVID-19 pandemic. These tents were erected this May in a parking lot that sits between the city’s art museum and library. It’s just mere steps away from the iconic San Francisco City Hall.

Named the “Safe Sleeping Villages”, the tents are a response to the growing number of “shanty towns” expanding in San Francisco due to coronavirus.

While the new sites also offer housing in tents, the sites are safer, cleaner, and more supportive of homeless people than if they were to sleep elsewhere on the streets.

In the Safe Sleeping Villages, homeless people can live in tents within a designated spot. These spots are monitored 24 hours a day. However, this is primarily to implement social distancing within the white lines around each tent.

Washrooms, hand-washing taps, showers, and meals are also provided for homeless people.

The latest site is in Stanyan and Haight streets found east of the Golden Gate Park. The spot is the second site to open since the pandemic began. The first opened near City Hall earlier on in the month.

A Homelessness Crisis in San Francisco

The new Safe Sleeping Villages were introduced due to a growing issue of homelessness heightened by the coronavirus pandemic.

San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood is an area where many homeless people gather. Here it’s fair to say that adhering to social distancing requirements is quite a challenge.

Tents and blankets fill the small sidewalks, flowing onto the nearby buildings. The makeshift homes and overflowing carts make it almost impossible for pedestrians to move past. That’s especially within six feet of space.

It’s not how anyone should have to live, especially during a global health pandemic.

The Tenderloin has become a place where homeless people have gravitated to over the years. For many, there’s nowhere else for them to go. The neighborhood has long been a sanctuary for homeless people. Many suffering from addiction and mental illness congregate in the spot located in the heart of the city. But thanks to COVID-19 – and the city’s new policies that surround it – the neighborhood’s 35 blocks have become overwhelmed.

Many homeless people living in shelters went back to the streets as overcrowded facilities had to follow social distancing measures. While San Francisco’s homeless set up tents on their own accord to deal with the circumstances throughout the city, in the Tenderloin, the number of tents rose by 285%.

Hotel Rooms Are Left Empty

While the new monitored Safe Sleeping Villages are somewhat of an improvement from the messy living conditions in the Tenderloin, it comes as the sad news that many hotel rooms leased for homeless people in the city remain empty.

“So while in normal times I would say that we should focus on bringing people inside and not sanctioning tent encampments, we frankly do not have many other options right now,” tweeted San Fran Mayor London Breed. “Having places with resources serving people in the neighborhood is better than unsanctioned encampments.” Breed continued. The tweet has now been deleted.

However, the statement hasn’t done much to calm homeless advocates, who highlight the thousands of hotel rooms that remain empty around the city.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that this is here,” Brian Edwards, an advocate with the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness, said to Vice News. “But when I said I wanted to sanction encampments this year, I wasn’t thinking in the middle of a f–king pandemic when people should be in hotel rooms.”

San Francisco’s board of supervisors requested the city offer 7,000 hotel rooms for homeless people by the end of April. However, Mayor London Breed said this was unrealistic.

Breed said “the logistical challenges of this are immense”, which is why the temporary Safe Sleeping Villages are required.

Despite the disappointingly slow movement, it seems like some action is being taken.

On May 19, Breed tweeted: “Last week we opened a 130-room hotel for homeless San Franciscans. The first 20 people moved in on Friday and the remaining rooms are being filled this week by people living on the street. This week we’re opening another 120-room hotel, also for people living on the street. We now have 2,242 hotel rooms under contract for San Francisco’s vulnerable homeless residents, with more people moving in every day.”

Dean Preston, San Francisco District 5 supervisor, stated that it’s his mission to make the city offer more hotel rooms for homeless people during COVID-19. “These hotels are the obvious solution during the crisis of COVID-19,” he said. “The goal is to move the project faster and get folks into a safer setting.”

The Safe Sleeping Villages were only established to be a temporary solution until more appropriate housing is implemented. But can we really trust that every homeless person in San Francisco will be moved into safer, cleaner, and more comfortable housing in a good time? And what happens when the pandemic is over?


Ellie Swain

Ellie Swain

        

Ellie is a freelance writer who grew up in London. She is passionate about ending homelessness and writes for various publications, non-profits, and marketing agencies to produce content. In her spare time, Ellie loves travelling to new places, exploring her city of London, and listening to live music.

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