Cribs Not Concrete

Photos: Leon Kunstenaar

(SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 11) — Today the Coalition on Homelessness, its allied organizations and unhoused families joined together at Hamilton Families shelter at noon for a rally and march. The rally centered the voices of families experiencing homelessness and their demands for housing justice. The rally was followed by a march to city hall to deliver a letter of demands to the mayor and will allow families to address Mayor Lurie directly with their solutions to ending homelessness.

Mayor Lurie did not deign to appear before the unhoused and their advocates but instead delegated his assistant Kunal Modi to the meeting. He was very courteous, expressed much sympathy as he heard the tearful stories of women and small children being shunted between the street and homeless shelters containing addicts and the mentally ill. He frequently expressed gratitude to the homeless and their supporters for "taking the time" to appear as if they were there to do the Mayor a favor. He promised to bring their plight before the Mayor.

Family Homelessness has doubled in the city. The Coalition on Homelessness and its allies want to ensure that families move out of shelter and into housing and not onto the streets. The city’s response in December of 2024, which removed roughly a third of the 500 families from the shelter waitlist for living in hotels or doubling up, only exacerbated the problem. According to Jennifer Friedenbach, Executive Director of the Coalition on Homelessness “The impact of homelessness on children lasts a lifetime. Our great city has the know-how and the resources to protect our children by providing housing first and stability forever.” The community’s demands are clear:

End families' homelessness within a year, start with providing permanent housing solutions immediately by adding 125 five year subsidies to the 125 being released in March and adding 50 flex pool subsidies to increase flow in the family shelter system.

This will move most families off the waitlist, and move most families out of shelter into housing.

Restore the shelter waitlist so that families currently living in hotels or doubled up can access shelter.

Provide a transparent process for families seeking shelter stay extensions, ensuring clear communication, due process and adequate support.

Ramiro Ajpop, a resident facing eviction from Compass Family Shelter alongside his family said, “We hope that in the next meeting we will be more lucky. We are asking the city and the new mayor to approve 175 subsidies, 125 new five year subsidies and 50 permanent subsidies.”

Cribs not Concrete Rally Rally and March for Housing First, Stability Forever Speakers List

Master of Ceremonies Jacquilynne Evans Yessica Hernandez, Coalition on Homelessness

1. Archbishop Franzo King, Church of John Coltrain, African Orthodox Church
2. Veronica Aguilar and Ramiro ijop, Compass Shelter Resident
3. Helen Merlo and Aldo Lopez, Hamilton Family Shelter Residents
4. Eseta Sosene, Homeless Prenatal Community Health Worker
5. Kristi Korobi and Maricela Anaya Homeless Prenatal Community Health Workers
6. Jamie Lang, Homeless Prenatal Program
7. Tina Collins, Code Tenderloin
8. Andrea Bulnes, Faith in Action, Oasis family shelter resident
9. Edith Castaneda, SRO Families United

Closing of Rally 12:30 pm March to Mayors Office inside City Hall, Led by Maritza

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COALITION ON HOMELESSNESS
Mayor of San Francisco
Dr. Carlton Goodlett Place, Room 200
San Francisco, CA 94102

Dear Mayor Daniel Lurie,

Thank you so much for the work you have done with the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to make accommodations for undocumented families and ensuring families who have no other choice but to remain in shelter, are able to do so by getting extensions. We would love to see your office bring it to the next level and take the steps necessary to end family homelessness.

Homelessness among families in SF has doubled over the past two years. Homelessness has a significant negative impact on children, whether they are living in vehicles, the streets, shelter, in hotels or sofa bed surfing. This impact includes developmental delays, educational delays, trauma, witnessing of violence, adverse childhood events, increased risk of dropping out and experiencing homelessness as an adult.

San Francisco can solve this issue - if the city puts in a serious effort it could even be done within one year.

The city’s response in December removed roughly a third of the 500 families from the shelter waitlist for living in hotels or doubling up. Families in hotels and doubled up have similar educational and developmental risks as those who are unsheltered. In our experience the families who desperately need shelter are the ones seeking it, and just the request for shelter should indicate a serious need.

Families facing homelessness need adequate support and pathways to permanent housing. The safety and well being of children and families must be our top priority. As our new mayor, your leadership is critical in addressing this urgent crisis. We would love to partner with you to map out exactly what it would take to end family homelessness in San Francisco over the next year and implement that plan, including ensuring access to public housing and Section 8, expanding rental subsidy programs, adding operating subsidies to affordable housing buildings, restoring problem solving prevention dollars and so forth. In the meantime, here are the steps we would like you take immediately to address the emergency:

1. Provide permanent housing solutions by adding 125 five year subsidies to the 125 being released in March and adding 50 flex pool subsidies to increase flow in the family shelter system. This will move most families off the waitlist, and move most families out of shelter into housing. Combined with a healthy expansion of family shelter in your 1,500 new bed plan, this will stabilize most SF homeless families.

2. Restore the waitlist in order to ensure families in hotels and families living doubled up are able to access shelter.

3. Employ a transparent process for families seeking shelter stay extensions, that lays out exactly what qualifies families for extensions and how, including making sure that families due process rights in the shelter grievance procedure are respected, by allowing families to appeal denials of extensions.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We urge that the city act with compassion and urgency to the growing homelessness crisis among families.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Friedenbach Executive Director

See all high resolution photos here.