Better tracking, response sought for new homeless agency
A new report bolsters the desire already expressed by nearly every homeless services leader in San Francisco: that the city should emphasize housing over shelters and create a tracking system for homeless people as they make their way through services.
The report by the city’s budget and legislative analyst, being released Monday, comes as the city’s new Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing is taking shape, with a $221 million budget, almost 200 workers and a new director, Jeff Kositsky, former executive director of Hamilton Family Services.
“With the restructuring of homeless programs under a single department, the city has an opportunity now to re-evaluate the effectiveness of existing programs and identify opportunities for stronger coordination of services,” the report states.
Currently, two policies have largely defined the city’s response to homelessness: its 2004-14 10-year plan, which formalized the shift to a “housing first” model, and the 2002 ballot proposition Care Not Cash, which reduced the amount of cash given to homeless adults and instead invested the money in shelters and other services.
Sam Dodge, deputy director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said the department is already on its way to implementing the recommendations included in the report.
While the city has a plan to create such a system, the report says the requests for proposals don’t sufficiently outline the technical details to ensure data integration among the various agencies.
Without a needs assessment that clearly documents where service weaknesses exist, city officials have a limited ability to understand the dynamic needs of the population and cannot ensure proper policy direction and funding for critical areas, including outreach and housing exits.
Compared with permanent supportive housing, which includes on-site case managers and counseling programs, rapid rehousing and rental assistance may be more cost-effective and better suited for these groups, the report finds.
The report speculates that many of the homeless adults who left permanent housing had undiagnosed or untreated medical or mental health conditions that impacted their ability to stabilize.