San Francisco officials push for drug-free housing in reversal of 'drug-permissive' policies: Report
Lawmakers in San Francisco announced plans Monday to introduce legislation that would allow unrestricted state funds to go towards drug-free housing, according to a recent report.
The bill — led by San Francisco supervisors Matt Dorsey and Rafael Mandelman — would be a reversal of previous years of drug-tolerant policy including a 2016 law in California, Housing First, that prohibited state funding for "sober housing," instead requiring support for "drug-permissive" housing.
"It’s not enough to get folks indoors and keep them alive until they die of overdose," Mandelman said at a news conference Monday, KQED reported. "The point is to get them indoors so we can support them in living long and full and productive lives."
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"San Francisco needs different kinds of supportive housing for the diverse range of people who are homeless, including recovery-oriented housing for people with addictions," Stanford psychology professor Keith Humphreys said Monday. "Research shows that recovery housing helps residents cease substance use, find a job and stay out of jail."
State Assemblymember Matt Haney, who represents San Francisco, also indicated support for state funding to be directed towards sober and recovery housing.
"With the deadly, devastating impact of fentanyl, our goal must always be to help people get off of and away from deadly illegal drugs," Haney said in a press release from April.
"We have to support people who are ready to take the next step in that journey of recovery, as part of a drug-free residential recovery community, and make sure those opportunities are available," he said.
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Anti-drug and recovery experts, including Joshua Brathwaite, also signaled support for sober housing measures.
"I’ve been sober for 16 months, but I can’t find any available drug-free housing that can give me the programming and support I need to continue being sober," Brathwaite said in Haney's April press release."I’m in danger of relapsing and falling back into a cycle I fought so hard to get out of."
"Homelessness and drug use have combined into a Category 5 public health tragedy" President & CEO of the Bay Area Council, Jim Wunderman, said. "Recovery Housing projects are currently prohibited by state law from receiving state support. The result is that homeless Californians suffering from addiction but who are ready for recovery are forced to choose between life on the streets and housing where drug use is commonplace. That’s not right."
San Francisco and other major cities in California have faced increasing pressure from voters to crack down on drug-related crime.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, has pushed for law enforcement to take a more "aggressive" approach and arrest users and dealers around the city after backlash from the public over rising crime.
Because of this plan, police have arrested 1,300 suspected drug users and more than 1,000 suspected dealers in the last year. However, a tiny fraction of these detainees have actually sought out substance abuse treatment on their own following their arrests.
Mayor Breed's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News' Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.