Will San Francisco put these families out on the street?

 

On Monday morning, Vilma Arias spoke in front of a Faith in Action's banner outside Flynn Elementary School on Precita Park. She and her working husband and her two children are about to be thrown out of the non-profit shelter where they've lived  -- because the city is seeking to manage its homelessness problem through a revolving wait list. You can live in shelter for 90 days -- then you are out until you can manage to either find housing in this expensive place or overcome the paperwork to get back on the list.

From the neighborhood newspaper, El Tecolote: 

For the past 10 months, the Honduran mother, her husband and their two young children have lived in a San Francisco family shelter, waiting for a rent subsidy that might help them afford a place of their own. Her husband, who works as a garbage collector, earns just enough to keep them afloat but not enough to pay the city’s sky-high rents.

... She is one of dozens of homeless parents facing evictions this month due to a controversial city policy that limits family shelter stays to 90 days.

... With 318 families on the shelter waitlist, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) says the policy is meant to “increase the flow of families” through the shelter system and connect them with long-term housing solutions faster.

Faith in Action took a delegation made up of these families to meet Mayor Daniel Lurie. Nothing came of that.

“[Lurie] told us not to worry,” said FIABA advocate Brenda Córdoba. “We thought that meant he would mobilize, maybe talk to access points about giving all families extensions… but now he’s saying he didn’t commit to anything.”

At first, she said, the meeting with the mayor felt like a breakthrough. But when families reconvened on Tuesday, many still had eviction notices set for the coming week.

... Vilma, who is currently in asylum proceedings, says she’s been struggling to get her shelter to understand her situation. She says she’s seen a disconnect with what the shelter tells her she can do and what she’s required to do to gain another extension. 

“They tell us that we can’t attend meetings because we were on our way out, so we get a warning,” Vilma said. “But then they ask us why we didn’t request a meeting and we get a warning.”

 

Alyssa Wolf, a social worker at Flynn, spoke about the struggles of San Francisco schools to serve children who are homeless. Schools in the Mission serve a revolving group of 60 to 80 such children every day. The teachers union, United Educators of San Francisco, endorsed the homeless families' demand for stability.

 

After the rally, two families facing eviction were given an extension but it's hard to see any genuine resolution unless the city somehow finds the cash to house these San Francisco residents in urgent need.