In partnership with the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, the City has provided funding to Episcopal Community Services (ECS) to lease and operate the Post Hotel as Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH), which provides long-term affordable housing with on-site social services to people exiting chronic homelessness. Currently, more than 10,000 people live in the City’s PSH.

These new units are part of Breed’s historic Homelessness Recovery Plan, announced in July 2020, to support investments in housing and shelter that will help the City create more resources for homeless residents and create 10,000 placements to support homeless residents.

As part of that plan, the City has implemented or is implementing the following:

• 1,500 new adult PSH units, including two new Homekey projects and new flex pool subsidies,
• 3,000 additional adult PSH placements,
• 225 Rapid Rehousing and medium-term housing subsidies for adults & transitional age youth,
• Launching new problem-solving resources to support one-time and short-term financial assistance to address immediate needs and help individuals quickly exit from homelessness
• Opening of two new Navigation Centers at 1925 Evans and 888 Post with a post-COVID capacity of 275 beds,
• Re-opening 1,000 shelter beds (timing dependent on public health guidelines).

In addition to these investments, the mayor recently announced that the City will leverage over $1 billion to advance and significantly expand the work started through the Mayor’s Homelessness Recovery Plan over the next two years, including adding another 4,000 housing placements.

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“We know we need more housing if we are going to make a difference addressing homelessness,” said Breed. We moved thousands of unsheltered people into emergency housing throughout the pandemic, and we must build on that progress to expand our homelessness response. Permanent supportive housing at places like the Post Hotel are essential to providing long-term solutions to our City’s most vulnerable communities.”

“The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is proud to partner with the City and County of San Francisco by providing approximately $2 million in operating subsidy for the Post Hotel,” said HUD’s Deputy Regional Administrator Wayne Sauseda. “We applaud Mayor London Breed and San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing for continuing to invest in permanent housing solutions to prevent and end homelessness.”

“This partnership and investment with HUD demonstrate that permanent supportive housing is a critical solution to ending chronic homelessness,” said Shireen McSpadden, director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. “I’m excited that the Post Hotel adds new units to the city’s Homelessness Response System, while providing stabilization and a new and hopeful pathway for people exiting homelessness.”

The Post Hotel was previously an 89-unit Single Room Occupancy building. Eligibility for PSH units is determined by the City’s Coordinated Entry prioritization process, which is founded on equity and removes barriers to housing. The Post Hotel is funded by a $1,968,750 grant per year in HUD Continuum of Care (CoC) dollars. The City will also utilize $300,837 in local funding for start-up costs and ongoing operations.

“Permanent Supportive Housing remains a proven solution to resolving chronic homelessness for the most vulnerable neighbors experiencing homelessness,” said Episcopal Community Services Executive Director Beth Stokes. “The Post Hotel represents yet another example of Mayor Breed’s commitment to addressing our homelessness crisis through direct investments in housing with services and we are grateful for her continued leadership on this critical issue.”

Every night, the City provides shelter and housing to over 14,000 homeless and formerly homeless people across the community. In September and October 2020, the City applied for, and was awarded a combined $78 million from the State to purchase two hotel properties through Project Homekey. This funding allowed the City to purchase the Granada Hotel and the Hotel Diva, adding approximately 362 units of Permanent Supportive Housing, as part of Mayor Breed’s Homelessness Recovery Plan.

This report is from the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Communication.

Isabelle Price

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