Nearly every day, city workers huddle at a street corner in the Mission District, usually outside of the Gubbio Project at 15th Street and Julian Avenue. It’s their meetup before going out for another day of dealing with the homelessness, addiction and mental health crisis on the streets of the neighborhood.
This “Swiss Army knife” team of teams has been working together for nearly a year now, under the coordination of Santiago Lerma, former District 9 legislative aide, current Mission street team lead for the Department of Emergency Management.
They represent three city departments and two contracted groups: the Department of Public Health, Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, the Department of Emergency Management, and city contractors Urban Alchemy and Ahsing Solutions.
Here’s Mission Local’s guide on how to identify the different members of the Mission’s street teams — who’s who, what they do, and what they can help you with.
Ahsing Solutions
Who they are: Ahsing Solutions is a private firm that only hires people who were formerly incarcerated, drug users or homeless — which, they say, makes them particularly effective at building trust with people currently on the streets. Ahsing Solutions signed a contract with the city in July to act as a “force multiplier” for the city’s existing efforts.
What they do: Clean the streets, ensure safe passage for kids at Marshall Elementary at 15th and Capp streets, intervene and deescalate street conflicts, reverse overdoses, act as eyes and ears on the street.
They carry
walkie-talkies
Workers wear one or more
layers of the uniforms, including
a black t-shirt, a black zip-up
hoodle, and a white vest
Workers wear one
or more layers of the
uniforms, including
a black t-shirt, a black zip-up
hoodle, and a white vest
They carry
walkie-talkies
Department of Emergency Management
Who are they: The city’s Department of Emergency Management (DEM) is the umbrella organization that all the city’s work on street conditions and homelessness fits under. In the Mission, that usually means Lerma, lead of the department’s Mission team.
What Lerma does: Runs daily coordination meetings for the teams, directs outreach and enforcement efforts, acts as the central point person, ensuring teams work in sync rather than in silos, and responds to 311 calls related to homelessness.
Staffers wear
tags displaying
first name initial
and full last name
Vest with logo of
the Department
of Emergency
Management
Staffers
wear tags
displaying
first name
initial and
full last
name
Vest with logo of the
Department of Emergency
Management
Department of Public Health
Who are they: The public health department team consists of trained clinicians, medical providers, nurses, and nurse practitioners.
What they do: Treat infections and give urgent wound care. Connect people to mental health and substance use disorder services. Follow up with people in need on the street to make sure they are taking their meds and stabilize their conditions.
Staffers wear blue zip-up
hoodies or dark grey jackets
with logos on the front and back
They drive around
in cars with a DPH
sticker on the door
Staffers wear blue zip-up hoodies or dark
grey jackets with logos on the front and back
They drive around in cars with
DPH logos on the door
Urban Alchemy / HEART
Who are they: The Homeless Engagement Assistance Response Teams — also known by the acronym HEART — is a collaboration of the Department of Emergency Management and Urban Alchemy.
The team is dispatched to non-urgent calls — disturbances, wellness checks, noise complaints, trespassing — received by the city’s 311 communications centers concerning people who may need shelter, substance abuse recovery, or mental health services.
What they do: HEART team members are CPR, First Aid, and Narcan certified. They handle 311 calls for things like blocked sidewalks and encampments. If an individual is sleeping in the doorway or the sidewalk, HEART team will wake the person up, ask what they need, bring them to Gubbio Project if needed, and help them connect to city services.
They drive in
cars with HEART
logo on the door
HEART and Urban
Alchemy logos on
black jackets
HEART and
Urban Alchemy
logos on
black jackets
They drive in
cars with HEART
logo on the door
Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing
Who are they: These are outreach workers who assess unhoused people currently living outside, and then work to connect them to shelter, housing and other city services.
What they do: Connect unhoused people to homeless shelters. Register them into the city’s homeless support system. Give unhoused people housing assessment, such as their history in the city and any behavioral health conditions. Ensure people are ready for shelters, including arranging transportation for them to get to shelters and helping them put their belongings in one of the city’s two storage facilities — one at 72 6th St. and the other at 680 Bryant St.
Staffers drive around their zone
in cars with HOT logo on them
Staffers wear one or more layers of uniforms including
a black beanie, a green t-shirt, and a green jacket
Staffers wear one or more layers of uniforms
including a black beanie, a green t-shirt,
and a green jacket
Staffers drive around their zone
in cars with HOT logo on them