By Denise Sullivan :sfexaminer – excerpt
In a city divided, predictably there’s division in the Tenderloin
Sometime in the early hours of Christmas Eve, as the Tenderloin emergency plan was still being debated on sf.gov/tv, for reasons beyond my understanding, I couldn’t tear myself away from the very un-Christmasy livestream.
Listening as San Franciscans expressed themselves during the public comment portion of the Board of Supervisors meeting, the fright, hurt and anger were palpable, even through virtual space. The divisiveness got to me. And ever since, I’ve been thinking of the San Franciscans on the street for whom heightened emotional states are part of everyday life, as they struggle to stay alive through another season of rain, cold and the pandemic surge.
“Everyone in the TL will tell you resources are desperately needed,” said Kelley Cutler, human rights organizer with the Coalition on Homelessness when I spoke to her a few weeks later by phone. “People are in need of help. We’re all on the same page about that.”
Predictably, the problems have not instantaneously resolved since Mayor Breed announced the Tenderloin emergency order and division remains among residents and service providers about how to care for people with dignity.
In 2018, the United Nations reported the treatment of San Franciscans living in informal settlements like tent encampments was in violation of its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states people have a right to life, housing, health, water and sanitation services. Four years later, the most casual observer can see the pandemic has worsened conditions for people on the streets.
But there was a moment in 2020 when things improved for unhoused folks and their neighbors.
“In 2020, when we got an influx of hotel rooms, we were not having to convince people to take them,” said Cutler. “But there’s a narrative in The City that there is shelter resistance.”…
Denise Sullivan is an author, cultural worker and editor of “Your Golden Sun Still Shines: San Francisco Personal Histories & Small Fictions.” More at www.denisesullivan.com and @4DeniseSullivan...(more)