Petition to allow homeless people to access shelter directly

I just signed a worthwhile petition on Change.org http://change.org/ relating to the government-created homeless situation in San Francisco, and encourage others to do likewise:

Petition · Bring Back Easy Self Sign Up for Shelter! · Change.org https://www.change.org/p/bring-back-easy-self-sign-up-for-shelter

It currently has 305 signatures, and they are trying to get to 500.

Incredibly, with the onset of Covid, the city government apparently made it HARDER for people on the streets to get off the streets and into shelters. This petition is trying to restore an easier path for homeless people to get into shelters on their own initiative, instead of relying on the bureaucracy to find and help them. With all the hundreds of millions of stolen tax dollars being wasted on programs and services to supposedly benefit the homeless, it is truly outrageous and criminal how the system is being mismanaged and people denied access to the most basic assistance.

Here is the text of the petition:

···
Bring Back Easy Self Sign Up for Shelter!

Currently, thousands of individuals living outdoors on the streets of San Francisco have no self-directed pathway into the shelter system, and instead rely on a centrally-controlled message based system that is inaccessible to those who desperately need a place to rest their tired bodies. 

The 311 shelter reservation system that existed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic was established in 2014 under Mayor’s Office of Homelessness Director Bevan Dufty. The system was designed based on extensive input from shelter seekers and users, and a broad consensus process was carried out with technical assistance from 311 management. Unhoused people had great agency and buy-in to the approach as it accommodated individual needs, allowed for consumer choice, and was simple to access, allowing interface both by phone and at drop-in centers. 

Before the system was in place, unhoused people spent approximately nine hours on average trying to access shelter and had to travel to multiple access points to improve their chances of securing shelter. The 311 system also addressed the long-standing shelter vacancy issue — which always occurs when the City restricts access to beds to particular entities such as the Homeless Outreach Team (HOT). Before the pandemic, thousands of people accessed shelter through this system each year. Currently, the City’s single adult congregate shelter system is operating at less than 70 percent occupancy.

The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (DHSH) has stated they want to bring back a system, but have offered no implementation dates in the foreseeable future. The City’s stated justification for this delay has been “technical issues,” as well as COVID-19 precautions, but these barriers can and should be urgently resolved in order to bring much needed equity to the shelter referral system. 


Some of the comments left by signers are a great indictment of the system. I posted one as well, and you can too when you register and sign (Change.org <http://change.org/> doesn’t make it super easy to find how to do it though).

I’ve long thought the libertarian movement needs a petition site that would serve as a clearinghouse for pro-freedom petitions. If anyone has any leads on someone with the expertise to create such a site, please let me know. I think it would be an excellent project toward which to put some of our resources.

Love & Liberty,

((( starchild )))