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Another must-read article from @hknightsf points, again, at the complexity of the crisis in the Tenderloin and across our City. 1/ https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/heatherknight/article/Tenderloin-tents-are-now-rare-Open-air-drug-15544410.php#photo-19914241
To make a significant impact on homelessness in San Francisco we have to recognize the different needs of our unhoused populations - there is no single, simple solution. We must lead with compassion and curiosity. 2/
Yes, we have to address the underlying housing shortage that increases homelessness in coastal cities. But housing costs alone are not the entire story. 3/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_housing_shortage
Yes, we need to prevent evictions and homelessness in the first place by stabilizing tenants and stitching holes in our social safety net. But evictions alone are not the entire story. 4/ https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/08/31/governor-newsom-signs-statewide-covid-19-tenant-and-landlord-protection-legislation/
Yes, we need to commit to the enforcement of existing laws around drug dealing and open-air drug use while expanding access to treatment and recovery. But the rise of fentanyl is not the entire story. 5/ https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/More-than-one-person-a-day-died-in-SF-of-an-15529006.php
Yes, we need to address mental illnesses and strengthen our conservatorship laws while developing wraparound services for the most at-risk. But mental illness alone is not the entire story. 6/ https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/heatherknight/article/The-suspect-in-the-murder-of-an-elderly-SF-man-15298412.php
Yes, we need to increase government accountability and reallocate funding to programs that work, based on measurable outcomes. But bureaucratic waste is not the entire story. 7/ https://sfgov.org/scorecards/safety-net/homeless-population
Yes, we must address immediate needs during this pandemic, create Safe Parking & Sleeping Sites, and acquire more beds, shelters and housing units all along the continuum of need. But shelter alone is not the entire story. 8/ https://www.kqed.org/news/11771183/san-franciscos-first-safe-parking-lot-for-people-living-in-vehicles-takes-step-forward
Ultimately, what we need are leaders and representatives who will walk into this situation, eyes open, with the energy and passion needed to make change. Leaders who will pick up the phone and get services moving to the people who need them. 9/
After the UC Hastings lawsuit, we saw dramatic and rapid change in the Tenderloin - not because any of the causal factors of homelessness changed, but because the political will and legal case to make change was insurmountable. 10/
As I’ve said many times in this campaign, governance is not just politics. Even in this unprecedented pandemic, our representatives are often simply paralyzed by politics. Public service is about pushing the bureaucracy on behalf of your constituents. 11/
Here in the Richmond, we've seen neighbors tired of inaction, with very little agency beyond a phone and a rudimentary knowledge of how the city works, connecting our mentally ill and unhoused populations to services on their own. 12/
They tell me they feel like San Francisco politicians have wildly different priorities than addressing the misery we see every day in our neighborhoods. I think that is true in many cases. Priorities matter. An orientation toward high energy, hands-on public service matters. 13/
I'm running a campaign rooted in public service and ready to work. Join us at https://www.votemarjan.com/volunteer /end
