opinion
by angela alioto

Protecting the vulnerable

TO ME, the first step in dealing with homelessness is immediately dealing with the unsafe, unclean conditions in our city shelters.

That's why I've authored an innovative ordinance to protect the most vulnerable of San Francisco's vulnerable: homeless seniors, youths, families, and disabled individuals. The measure is headed for the Nov. 4 ballot. It has been endorsed by state senate president John Burton, Sup. Gerardo Sandoval, labor leaders Sal Rosselli, Josie Mooney, and Larry Mazzola, community leaders like Mary Ratcliff and Willie Ratcliff, and many other concerned San Franciscans. It is called the Protection of Homeless Seniors, Youth, Families, and Disabled Individuals Ordinance.

Simply put, the ordinance requires the city of San Francisco to provide seniors, families, youths, and the physically disabled homeless population with safe, sanitary housing facilities that are separate from the housing facilities provided to the general homeless population.

It's a common sense, get-the-job-done idea that guarantees respect and dignity for our most vulnerable citizens. It can be implemented immediately and to do so would cost virtually nothing. This plan was crafted with the help of medical professionals, advocates for seniors, and members of the San Francisco business community. Dr. Paul Quick, who works on the front lines of the homeless crisis as a physician in the city's Tom Waddell Clinic, helped fine-tune it.

He states, "preventative care begins with a safe, warm place to sleep. Warehousing seniors, the physically disabled, and families in with the general homeless population is not only morally wrong, it is also wrongheaded, and leads to real medical complications. When these medical complications get bad enough, people wind up in $1,000-a-night San Francisco General."

It is no accident that the first word of this proposed ordinance is "Protection." The city forces its oldest, its youngest, and its physically challenged into unsafe and unclean shelters along with sometimes sick, sometimes violent members of the general homeless population.

This ordinance will put a stop to this practice, and we won't have to raise taxes to do it. The Mayor's Office has estimated that San Francisco spends anywhere from $100 million to $200 million a year on homelessness – and this plan wouldn't change that amount. It would be a simple reallocation of shelter space and funds, so that seniors, youth, families, and the physically challenged are placed in shelters designed for their specific needs.

Another health care professional who helped with the plan is Central City Hospitality House harm-reduction coordinator Elana Galente. She states, "I have seen firsthand how our shameful shelter system tosses families out every morning and forces them to deal with a reservation and lottery system just to keep their families together under the same roof. Homeless seniors, women, children, and the disabled deserve protection from harm; this plan reallocates existing resources and improves a deplorable situation immediately."

Seniors, families, youths, and the physically disabled have special needs. They are currently warehoused in the same cattle car-, bunk bed-style sleeping arrangements as the general homeless population. We need to do better for them.

The bottom line is, passing this ordinance represents the first step in the total reorganization of the way we deal with homelessness and the eventual elimination of the shameful shelter system in favor of true housing and care.

Signatures are being gathered, volunteers are mobilizing, money is being raised, and a campaign focused on passing this critical initiative is being waged to protect the most vulnerable. I need your help and your vote. Without costing the city a penny more, your yes vote will protect our homeless grandparents, mothers with children, and the physically disabled. Together we can immediately start to clean up the nightmare of homelessness for our most vulnerable. With your help we can begin today.

Former supervisor Angela Alioto is a candidate for mayor.