SF civil grand jury calls for homelessness reforms

The San Francisco civil grand jury handed the city’s new homelessness czar what amounts to a ringing endorsement for his key plans Tuesday when it called for more housing for street people, better routing into that housing from shelters and the creation of a system closely tracking homeless clients through aid agencies.

After studying the city’s homeless system from September 2015 to the end of May, the grand jury found that although low-income housing is crucial for preventing homelessness and helping the most able people move indoors, the most troubled, or chronically homeless, will need more supportive housing, which includes intensive counseling in the same building.

The panel recommended not only that the city create more supportive housing, but also that it expand the counseling-enriched Navigation Center shelter system and devise a single housing application system.

“Homelessness can be solved,” said grand jury member Jean Bogiages, a retired software engineer.

The grand jury found “no common intake database which contained basic identification information as well as health history, housing history and criminal history.”

If every city agency and nonprofit that deals with street people shares information, Kositsky and the grand jury said, counselors can avoid duplicating efforts.

[...] if a social worker knows why someone didn’t work out in a certain form of drug treatment or living situation, that worker can craft a better plan.

Counselors are a crucial part of the equation, he said, but sometimes the police might be more appropriate as the first contact if dangerous factors might be involved — such as heavy drug use in a tense environment.