by Christina A. Macintosh : missionlocal – excerpt
A community meeting to discuss street conditions around the safe-sleeping site at 1515 South Van Ness Ave. devolved into accusations of defensiveness and prejudice. After perhaps 40 minutes, the three representatives of Dolores Street Community Services, the nonprofit running the site, walked out of the meeting.
The contentious nine-person meeting to discuss a 40-person sleep site encapsulated the difficulties of trying to fix a city-scale problem in a one-block radius.
Several city departments signed an agreement last week that promised the area more resources towards encampment resolution and outreach, but the fact remains that no city department can force people camped in the area to take services or leave the area. As of the meeting, there were two encampments on the site’s block, the same two from when Mission Local visited on Feb. 6…
Neighbors are also upset about the removal of unruly residents from the safe-sleeping site, leaving them on the street in the area.
“If people put themselves, others, or staff in danger, it would be negligent not to exit them,” said Laura Valdéz, executive director of Dolores Street Community Services…
“We can’t transfer a violent person from one shelter to another,” said Emily Cohen, director of communications for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. So that means they end up on the streets and often remain in the area.…(more)
It is negligent to exit dangerous people onto the street. If the “professional supportive service staff” can’t handle them how do they expect the public to deal with them? What is the city paying these people to do? Sounds like there is something wrong with the program and it may help to send some supervisors and judges into the affordable housing projects they created to see how well they function or don’t.