When it launched quietly last summer, SF’s Street to Home program was supposed to take care of two homelessness problems at once.
It moves people living on the streets directly into homes, bypassing a long — and to some, controversial — referral process and waitlist. It also fills empty units funded by the city, lowering a vacancy rate that has drawn the ire of some city officials and advocates.
Nine months later the Street to Home program, first reported by The Frisc, has been moving six to eight people per month off the street and into homes and is thriving, according to the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH).
It also faces constraints that prevent it from expanding anytime soon. But officials say that’s okay; the lessons they’re learning will help speed up their broader placement of people, including those in shelters and other transitional housing, into the city’s portfolio of more than 9,000 units of supportive housing.
“The goal is not to make Street to Home a huge program but rather to use the lessons learned so that all people in the housing placement process can benefit from a more expedited process,” said Emily Cohen, HSH deputy director of communications and legislative affairs.
With thousands of people living on city streets, officials face legal, economic, and political pressure from many sides. Tenderloin businesses and residents are suing over street conditions, the legality of sidewalk “sweeps” has reached the U.S. Supreme Court, and the actual homeless population is likely higher than the 7,754 reported in 2022. (In that report, HSH acknowledged that as many as 20,000 people in SF could experience some form of homelessness per year, and for every person or family gaining a home, four become homeless.)
The city just conducted a new count; the tally is expected this summer.
There’s a certain group of folks that if you create any barriers at all, we have a harder time housing them.
chris block, housing and placement team manager at the department of homelessness and supportive housing
The program’s only housing provider, Delivering Innovation in Supportive Housing (DISH), says 58 people have moved into its permanent supportive housing — typically larger buildings such as the Minna Lee. Supportive housing comes with onsite services that can include healthcare, job training, food assistance, and more.
The steady trickle of move-ins is a tiny fraction of the thousands of people living on San Francisco’s streets, but it also has this promising number: One. That’s how many people have moved out so far, according to DISH director Lauren Hall. Cohen said she would expect Street to Home’s turnover rate to be higher than the systemwide rate, given that participants are moving in directly from the streets, but it’s roughly the same.
“I’m really heartened to hear that there isn’t more turnover on this,” said Jennifer Bolen, a legislative aide for Sup. Dean Preston, who called on HSH last year to cut its vacancy rate in half within 90 days; his board colleagues unanimously supported the nonbinding resolution. “It means people are being matched with units that are serving them that they would like to stay in.”
The program has accounted for more than a quarter of the roughly 200 vacant units HSH has filled since May 2023, according to the agency. Its vacancy rate has been a political flashpoint for years. In 2021, then-Sup. Matt Haney and others called for a hearing as the rate mushroomed to 10 percent.
Not all units classified as vacant are available. At last count, roughly 40 percent were offline for repairs and other reasons.
Last year, Preston floated his resolution three months after HSH had quietly begun the pilot program. The vacancy rate has since dropped to 7.1 percent, which HSH officials attribute not just to Street to Home but other initiatives as well, such as a dedicated housing placement team and funneling more cash into capital improvements in the housing stock.
A faster choice
Here’s how Street to Home works. HSH’s outreach team, which has closer connections with people on the streets, identifies those eligible for a move-in and willing to do so. With a limited number of buildings in the program, participants don’t have much choice about their units, unlike participants who enter the general referral process. “This has not been a significant issue so far,” an HSH spokesperson said via email. “We find most clients are very eager to take the housing offered to them.”
Once they see the place, the move-in typically takes around a week, according to Chris Block, who manages HSH’s housing and placement team. Onsite case managers then help the residents gather documentation within 90 days. “There’s a certain group of folks that if you create any barriers at all, we have a harder time housing them,” said Block.
Hall feels Street to Home has been successful and would like to take part until DISH’s supportive housing units are full. But she also acknowledges it can be “taxing” for her staff. As HSH’s Cohen noted, there are extra challenges related to participants coming in directly from the street. For example, residents must pay rent; until recently, they weren’t receiving help setting up accounts prior to move-in. But HSH is now sending a staff member on move-in days to help residents with no income sign up for needed benefits.
While the pace of move-ins will be a trickle relative to SF’s wider homeless population, Street to Home could provide some guidance for the housing referral system. The current system, known as coordinated entry, launched last decade. It was soon clear there were problems, which were exacerbated by pandemic emergency rules and chronic staff shortages. HSH’s top official promised an overhaul in 2021. “We were really struggling with the way referrals were happening before, so I don’t want to go back to the old system,” Hall said.
Asking the feds’ permission
If Street to Home “continues to thrive,” in HSH’s own words, the department should be able to apply a key lesson to its broader operations: Get people housed first, then deal with the red tape.
But that’s easier said than done. One limitation is the federal government, which funds about 16 percent of HSH’s supportive housing units. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires residents to go through a months-long vetting process before moving into those units.
HSH has asked for a waiver to place people in housing first, then produce documents within 60 or 90 days that prove identity, income, and disability. “If we had the waiver from HUD it would help make more units available for Street to Home and would expedite placements through the traditional placement process as well,” Cohen said. Until then, only locally funded units are eligible for an expedited process, whether it’s via Street to Home or coordinated entry.
Cohen said she hopes to have an answer from HUD “within the next few months.” HUD did not respond to questions from The Frisc.
But even with a waiver, HSH faces hurdles increasing the rate of move-ins for Street to Home. Cohen noted that the program is staff intensive, which limits its capacity, and it requires “eager participation” from other housing providers. HSH said it’s in talks with other providers, but none have yet signed up. Block expects Street to Home to continue housing people at a similar rate for the foreseeable future: “I think we’re committed to six to eight units a month.”
“This is teaching us all how to reduce barriers,” added Cohen. “It can demonstrate how quickly we can do things, and that needs to be part of the work ongoing.”
