New Program Takes Rare Approach of Treating Homeless People Like Human Beings—And It Works [View all]

[Liberal_in_LA]

Last edited Sun Sep 6, 2015, 03:23 PM - Edit history (1)

At the Navigation Center, people can claim their own space and come and go as they please; the center is also dog friendly. Photo courtesy of KALW Crosscurrents - See more at: http://sfpublicpress.org/news-notes/2015-04/the-navigation-center-a-look-at-san-franciscos-radical-attempt-to-end-homelessnes#sthash.WioQWGGr.dpuf


New Program Takes Rare Approach of Treating Homeless People Like Human Beings—And It Works
A new program moves homeless encampments into a safe, clean space with food, laundry, showers and case workers who care.
By Emily Wilson / AlterNet September 2, 2015

Alan Nethe, who spent 15 years on the street, answers succinctly when asked what he likes about the new Navigation Center in San Francisco’s Mission District.

“Everything,” he says. “What’s not great about it? You’ve got food, laundry, showers, and everybody in here cares about the program and how it runs.”

It’s not just the kitchen, community room, laundry, and showers that make the center unique. Here, in the site of a former high school, city officials are trying something that hasn’t been done anywhere else: moving in whole homeless encampments. That means couples or communities that have formed can stay together. By providing a place to store their belongings, an area for their pets and no curfew so people can come and go, they are removing barriers that keep people out of shelters, says Bevan Dufty, the head of Mayor Ed Lee’s Housing Opportunity, Partnerships and Engagement or HOPE team.


It seems to be working. The controller’s office works with the center to keep track of what happens with the clients and where they go, and the majority of those who leave go on to housing. Jennifer Friedenbach, director of the Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco, says she was concerned that law enforcement would use the center as a reason to harass homeless people remaining on the street, but that hasn’t happened. (Although San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has recently gotten flack for a crackdown on the homeless ahead of the Super Bowl.)
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/new-program-takes-rare-approach-treating-homeless-people-human-beings-and-it-works