Dear neighbor, 

I would like to further elaborate on my comments in the Chronicle article (linked below) regarding a proposed tiny cabins site in the Mission.
 
In the six and a half years I have been Supervisor, I have not only welcomed homeless services into the Mission, I have personally created the conditions and fundraised to bring in vital services. I am proud that District 9 takes more than its fair share of solutions to the social problems of our time. I want to continue leading on this issue, but the Mission needs and deserves corresponding attention and care. 

I, and many of the constituents throughout our district, are immensely proud of all that’s been accomplished over these past years. I fundraised and worked to open two navigation centers in District 9, which connected hundreds of people experiencing homelessness to services and housing. I supported and helped create Hummingbird, and now we have two additional navigation centers specifically for individuals experiencing mental illness. I helped create Jazzie’s Place, a shelter specifically for LGBTQ residents experiencing homelessness. I also championed bringing countless supportive housing sites into the Mission, including one specifically for homeless youth. 

In order to get all of these incredible services into our district, I have had to stand up against neighbors opposing these services. Every time, I have looked them in the eye and said, "this service will improve the chaotic street conditions that exist in the neighborhood." Every time, my staff and I have worked daily with City departments to keep that promise and neighbors began to see how they could live in social harmony with these services in their neighborhoods. 

In last year’s budget cycle, I won funding to open a tiny cabin site at 1979 Mission – the empty City owned site abutting the 16th Street Bart Station and Marshall Elementary School. I have met with Marshall parents and led several tours of the City’s one existing tiny cabin site with families that were worried about opening the site next to the Elementary School.

I held a community meeting about the project where the neighborhood rose up in opposition to the project and not one Marshall parent spoke out in favor. I tried to explain to the families that opening a site that provides dignity to people suffering without housing is a much better lesson for our children than the squalor and misery they pass daily on the streets on their way to school. The parents and neighbors remained skeptical. The families, majority Latino immigrant families, have been so negatively impacted by the worsening street conditions in the Mission that they have lost faith in the City’s ability to improve them. And for the first time since becoming a Supervisor, I couldn’t look them in the eye and say “I promise, this tiny home community will improve the street conditions around your school.”

I have heard from those who use the services, those who live, work, and spend their time in our neighborhoods, and as I have seen with my own eyes, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and partner departments are no longer keeping their promise to the Mission. I have been asking the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to improve conditions around the safe sleeping site at 1515 South Van Ness and the Navigation Center on Division and South Van Ness for years to no avail. I gave the Department a test – “show us you can keep the area around 1515 South Van Ness clear for a few weeks so my constituents know the City has the collective capability to address conditions when they arise directly in front of a homeless serving center.” They failed that test.

The City is clearly capable of using its myriad of tools to keep conditions perfect in front of temporary housing serving the homeless in rich neighborhoods. The Embarcadero Street Navigation Center has kept its promise. That center has greatly improved neighborhood conditions – the outside area is pristine, night and day from centers in the Mission. It is time for the Mission to get that same attention.

I am ready and willing to advocate to open the tiny cabin site at 1979 Mission when I can look my constituents in the eye and truthfully and confidently say, the site will make the area healthier and safer than ever before.

SF Chronicle’s article about tiny cabins