by David Sjostedt : sfstandard – excerpt
The city’s “Shelter in Place” program—a Covid-era effort that transformed hotels into homeless shelters—ended in December, leaving a controversial legacy in its wake.
To many, the program was seen as a success for quickly housing thousands of people who would otherwise have slept on the streets or been at higher risk of catching Covid in crowded living conditions. But some say that a seeming lack of oversight led to poor outcomes for clients, damage inside of the hotels and turmoil in the surrounding neighborhoods.
The program temporarily housed over 3,700 people in two and a half years, according to the SF Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. The availability of the hotels increased the productivity of outreach efforts, according to Sam Dodge, the director of the Healthy Streets Operation Center. And medical outcomes among the program participants also improved, according to a study from UCSF…(more)
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