This is the first article in a series of profiles featuring the Mayoral candidates.
Amy Farah Weiss is one of eight candidates running for mayor of San Francisco this June. Weiss is running as a Democratic Socialist and has made advocating for a “solution-oriented,” inter-agency approach to homelessness a key part of her platform.
Weiss previously ran for mayor in the 2015 election on a “1-2-3 to Replace Ed Lee“ ticket along with Francisco Herrera and Stuart Schuffman. Although Lee was reelected in a landslide, she finished in third place with 12% of first place votes. After that election, she took advantage of the momentum from her campaign to start the Saint Francis Homelessness Challenge (SFHC) in order to address the encampment crisis in a humane way.
Last year, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) set a goal in its Strategic Framework to entirely eliminate large encampments (five or more tents or structures) by July of 2019; as of the October 2017 announcement, 25 encampments fit this criteria. There are more than 75 encampments in San Francisco. Weiss has proposed a solution that she argues could aid HSH in achieving its goal.
One of Weiss’s concerns with the city’s current approach towards homelessness is that navigation centers are sending people back to the street. This problem is largely in part due to a service gap that leaves unhoused residents with nowhere else to go. In the 2017 San Francisco Homeless Point-in-Time Count, 3,134 unsheltered survey respondents reported sleeping outdoors. Over 1,000 people are waiting for a shelter bed in San Francisco on any given night. The City has only been able to build 300 supportive housing units each year.
Speaking to the Bay City Beacon, Weiss lamented the omission of this information from meetings, and stressed the need for a direction that favored “outcomes over egos.” While the City claims to find housing for 70% of Navigation Center participants, only 30% are placed in long-term housing, and the other 40% are sent somewhere else to live with family or friends through the Homeward Bound program. For the other 30%, 30-90 day time limits have resulted in hundreds of people who exit back to the street.
Weiss proposes to address the service gap through Safe Organized Spaces (SOS). Safe Organized Spaces are small “transitional villages” of the same transitional shelters SFHC supplied to Box City. In addition to transitional shelters, these “villages” would include bathrooms, handwashing stations, kitchens, gathering areas, and garbage removal services along with social support, security, and community input. Providing stability, safety, hygiene and social support is intended to prepare homeless people for the transition to permanent housing and personal autonomy.
In mid 2017, SFHC partnered with Impact Hub SF and launched the first transitional village pilot at 15th and Minna. There is currently one resident-in-transition and it includes a transitional shelter, portapotty, storage, and support. Weiss explained how SOS has attracted attention from Oregon, San Diego, San Jose, and Oakland to name a few, and wondered why her own city did not feel the same.
Weiss’s proposal is to transition 1,000 people into 20-50 transitional villages for approximately $9 million - roughly the same amount that the Department of Public Works spent in 2016-2017 on the 311 encampment response. The City spends nearly $30 million/year on encampments when waste removal and police requests are taken into account. Mayor Ed Lee had promised to house 1,000 homeless people during the winter prior to his untimely passing last December.
“I have the vision and immediate ability [to implement an intermediate housing plan],” Weiss said. “The only problem is the status quo.”
Although Weiss has not held elected office yet, she has experience advocating with those who do. Last December, members of the SOS Working Group met with Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) about AB 857, which authorizes area under freeways to be used for homeless services, and the possibility of using the area for transitional villages. Ting agreed to advocate for SOS on a State level with Caltrans if they did not agree to the proposal.
In addition to working one-on-one with encampment residents, her work with SFHC has also led her to work with neighbors as well as several City departments, such as the Department of Public Works and the Department of Public Health.
When asked how she felt about Mark Farrell becoming interim mayor, in light of his authorship of Proposition Q, Weiss still said that she pledged to work with him.
Sonja Trauss, housing activist and candidate for District 6 Supervisor, has joined in the call for Safe Organized Spaces. District 6, comprised of the Tenderloin and SoMa, has the highest concentration of homeless individuals. Trauss said that she reached out to Interim Mayor Mark Farrell immediately following his appointment to organize a meeting about SOS.
“He’s in a position to do something really bold,” Trauss explained.
Whether or not the interim Mayor acts on this proposal remains to be seen. In June, however, voters will be in the position to decide which one of the eight candidates is best equipped to proactively address homelessness in San Francisco.
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