SF to vote on drug-free supportive housing plan for homeless backed by Supervisor Matt Dorsey

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A controversial proposal to prioritize drug-free supportive housing will be considered Tuesday when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors gets its chance to vote.

Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who introduced the measure, said, "There are a lot of people who live in permanent supportive housing who want a drug-free option; unfortunately, we don't provide that now, but legislation aims to change that."

The city currently has roughly 9,000 site-based permanent supportive housing units.

Permanent supportive housing is designed to get homeless people off the streets, but Supervisor Matt Dorsey says it's flawed.

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"One of the things we have seen about permanent supportive housing, largely in my view because of its drug-tolerant rules, is that 26% of all overdose fatalities citywide in San Francisco happen in permanent supportive housing" said Dorsey.

The supervisor's legislation would require the city to only fund new permanent supportive housing sites that prohibit the use of illicit drugs. Under the proposal, relapsing could lead to eviction.

"We believe the legislation, the way it's written will drive up street homelessnes" said Jennifer Friedenbach, the executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness.

Friedenbach says the proposed legislation is too restrictive.

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And advocates say there are reasons for that - including relapse being a part of recovery.

"People who already have a lot acuities and a lot of things that are keeping them from being able to exit homelessness, you want to remove those. Those are the national best practices: get people stabilized and then get them the support they need to thrive and succeed" Friedenbach said.

The proposal guarantees that no one will be evicted for a single relapse and says the city would work to place people in alternative housing or shelter if they are removed from a site.