Interim Solutions to Address San Francisco's Encampment and Shelter Shortage Crisis

Complete SFHC's 5 question petition/survey to show your support!

San Francisco is experiencing an encampment and shelter shortage crisis:

Over 8,000 311 cases opened regarding illegal encampments in 2017 (view up-to-date 311 case data)
Over 1,000 people on the 311 90-Day Shelter Waitlist and insufficient number of Navigation Center beds
No current programming to improve health, safety, community-access conditions, and pathways to transition at encampments prior to DHSH encampment resolution and DPW/SFPD "sweeps"

The Saint Francis Homelessness Challenge is a community-based nonprofit organization fiscally sponsored by Intersection for the Arts. SFHC organizes with encampment residents, neighbors, volunteers, & City services to:

Assess and address health, safety, and community access conditions at existing encampments
Develop, pilot, and administer secure and organized interim shelter opportunities to support the health, safety, and transition of encampment residents

SFHC has been piloting and refining the following proposals since January 2016 and recently presented them to local government officials in March/April 2017. Help SFHC implement our proposals by showing your support below and including your name and zip code (e-mail is optional, but required for follow-up).

Question Title

* 1. SFHC's "Safe Park" Program for Transitional Sleep & Storage RV Shelters

Saint Francis Homelessness Challenge is seeking a parking space on church/private property in SF to pilot our first “Safe Park” hosting program with an attractive 5x8x10' transitional sleep & storage RV shelter. Help us identify potential hosts below!

As the nonprofit administrator of the Safe Park pilot program, SFHC provides resident screening, site-specific lease, guidelines & agreements, additional insurance, locking portapotty with attractive cover and bi-weekly servicing, and ongoing resident/host/community-integration support. Guest residents will be accountable for scheduled check-ins and 10 hours of neighborhood-beneficial service each week. Site host may terminate the program at any time during the pilot with 48-hour notice. Safe park programs are currently being piloted throughout California via existing or new local ordinances. San Francisco’s Planning Code and Police Code do not currently prohibit or regulate Safe Park programs on privately-owned property.

SFHC will have a demo unit of our transitional sleep & storage RV shelter available to showcase by mid-May 2017. Help us identify safe parking for our demo unit below!

I am a San Francisco resident who supports the piloting of SFHC's Safe Park Program for Transitional RV Shelters in San Francisco.

My church/organization/business is interested in learning more about becoming a host for SFHC's Safe Park Pilot Program for Transitional RV Shelters

I will personally ask local churches/organizations/businesses if they are interested in learning more about hosting SFHC's Safe Park Pilot Program for Transitional RV Shelters

I have a parking space to park the 5x8x10' demo unit for one or more nights in May or June. Note: No residents will be living in the unit while it is parked at your site.

I am interested in serving as a Neighborhood Support Volunteer if a Safe Park Program is piloted in my neighborhood

I am an artist that can help paint/decorate the RV shelter units

I am a graphic designer that can help create marketing materials

I am a carpenter/contractor/have basic building skills and would like to volunteer to build additional RV shelters

I am interested in improving upon the current transitional sleep & storage shelter model in order to (1) Increase safety features, (2) Reduce the cost, (3) Increase ease of assembly, and/or (4) Increase sustainability of materials. SFHC will provide $500-$1000 Innovation Awards to designers/builders who we select to prototype their shelter designs.

I would like to donate to SFHC (and/or fundraise) in support of this pilot project

I currently live in an encampment and/or 90-day shelter in San Francisco and would like to apply to participate in this program as a guest resident.

Share additional info here (e.g. Name and location of church/organization/business, Dates for hosting demo unit, artist website, etc).

Question Title

* 2. SFHC's Proposal for an Encampment Livability Task Force

SFHC has been piloting on-site organizing efforts with encampment residents, volunteers, and City services in support of health, safety, community-access and transition since January 2016. SFHC has proposed the establishment of an encampment livability task force throughout the duration of San Francisco's shelter shortage crisis that includes a representative of the following departments and stakeholder groups: DPW, DHSH, DPH, SFPD, An advocacy organization (SFHC/CoH), A Current/Former Encampment Resident, and Local Business Owner.

Task force members:
(1) Further develop the Encampment Livability Index (building upon SFHC’s initial draft); (2) Develop an initial roll-out strategy using DPW Encampment data/311/SFHC data; (3) Make on-site encampment visits to organize with encampment residents and community members in support of: (a) A weekly trash pick up guideline & schedule; (b) A monthly deep clean schedule; (c) Developing reasonable agreements to address community access issues (if applicable); and (d) Identifying encampment residents who are willing to help organize in support of trash pick-up, cleaning, and/or portapotty maintenance and are interested in transitional shelter opportunities; and (4) Develop guidelines for placement and responsibilities of a portapotty (If specific benchmarks are met by encampment residents).

I am a San Francisco resident who supports SFHC's proposal for an Encampment Livability Index & Task Force

I am interested in supporting resident organizing, trash disposal, cleaning schedules, and/or portapotty monitoring as an on-site encampment volunteer

I am a computer programmer that can support the further development of monitoring and tracking tools for encampment livability

Question Title

* 3. If you indicated support for SFHC's proposals, please include your Name and Zip Code below.

First Name

Last Name

Zip Code

Additional Comments (Optional)

Question Title

* 4. Contact info (optional, but required for follow-up)

E-mail address

Phone Number

Question Title

* 5. Additional questions/concerns/comments

Thank you for taking the time to learn about and support SFHC's proposals to address San Francisco's encampment and shelter shortage crisis. Learn more at SaintFrancisChallenge.org

Do what's necessary. Do what's possible. Innovate for the greater good.