On this edition of Your Call, we’re discussing what it will take to ensure basic safety in downtown San Francisco while treating the unhoused community with dignity and respect. <\/p>\n
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s administration has ordered The Hospitality House to close its Sixth Street Self-Help Center by December 31 and relocate staff back to their office in the Tenderloin.<\/p>\n
Each year, around 4200 residents<\/a> utilize the center, almost half of whom are in urgent need of housing, job opportunities, or treatment resources. Hospitality House has served SOMA residents for nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n This comes after months of advocacy from local business and neighborhood organizations<\/a> \u2013 including the SoMa Business Association and the SOMA West Neighborhood Association \u2013 who have long argued that the concentration of service organizations around Sixth Street \u2013 including the Hospitality House Self-Help Center \u2013 have created a \u201ccontainment zone\u201d for the homelessness crisis and opioid epidemic<\/a> in San Francisco.<\/p>\n Yesterday, residents, advocates, and community leaders gathered outside the Sixth Street Self-Help Center to make their opposition to the closure known and call on Mayor Lurie and the city of San Francisco to reconsider the closure.<\/p>\n Guests:<\/p>\n Chelsea Kurnick<\/a>, summer fellow at KALW<\/p>\n Joe Wilson<\/a>, executive director of Hospitality House<\/a><\/p>\n Cherie Davis<\/a>, program manager for Hospitality House<\/a>\u2019s Sixth Street Self-Help Center<\/p>\n Henry Karnilowicz<\/a>, president of the SoMa Business Association<\/p>\n Resources:<\/p>\n Mission Local: S.F. wants to \u2018revitalize\u2019 SoMA\u2019s 6th St. corridor. It\u2019s starting by closing a drop-in center.<\/a><\/p>\n The Frisc: Tough Love vs. Drop-In: A SoMa Center Must Close As SF\u2019s Sober Version Opens Nearby<\/a><\/p>\n Hospitality House: SUPPORT Hospitality House\u2019s Sixth Street Self-Help Center<\/a><\/p>\n Mission Local: S.F. hopes to expand RESET center if pilot proves successful, says mayor\u2019s chief of public safety<\/a><\/p>\n KQED: Fewer People Are Sleeping on San Francisco Streets. But Family Homelessness Is Up<\/a><\/p>\n