A homeless man in San Francisco (photo by Kevin Wong).

Hey San Francisco,

Last week was hard, with all that’s going on in Ukraine. I hope you’re hanging in there, but if you could use a little boost, check out these tips on self-care from Broke-Ass Stuart’s Dee Dee Thompson. The only one I’d add to her list: reach out to friends for help and a listening ear when you need them.

On both Thursday and Saturday, hundreds gathered across the city to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Also over the weekend, both City Hall and the Salesforce Tower donned blue and yellow displays.

If you’re looking for a place to start in helping Ukraine, ABC7 published this list of charities that are on the ground or otherwise providing support.

Ok, now let’s get on to the rest of last week’s news…

Housing for the homeless sits vacant

On Thursday, the San Francisco Public Press, in conjunction with ProPublica, reported that 888 units of permanent supportive housing currently sit vacant in San Francisco.

Vacancies of such units, which offer homeless residents a place to live at a highly discounted rate, spiked during the pandemic, reporter Nuala Bishari found.

• In October 2020, there were 544 vacant units of permanent supportive housing.
• By October 2021, the number had almost doubled to 1,064.

“While units sat vacant, people living outdoors were waiting to get indoors,” Bishari writes.

• Currently, there are over 1,600 people on the waitlist for permanent supportive housing.
• And, Bishari reports that at least 400 people have waited over a year for placement, despite the vacancies.

So, why is this the case?

• One reason is that the city is prioritizing permanent supportive housing for people in its shelter-in-place hotel program. But, it’s having a hard time getting those people to move out of the hotels because the rooms are free and often provide better accommodations.
• There are several other problems, including issues with the homeless department’s tracking software, maintenance issues in the empty units, a shortage of case managers, and more.

The full story is worth a read here.

Strategy shift in the TL

SFPD officers will now accompany outreach workers in the Tenderloin who are trying to get those doing drugs on the sidewalks into the city’s new UN Plaza “linkage center,” which offers addiction treatment, housing resources, and more, the Chronicle reported on Thursday.

The announcement of this new approach came shortly after an unarmed Urban Alchemy worker was shot for trying to stop a drug deal in the Tenderloin.

Previously, the mayor’s office said that police would not be involved in initial outreach efforts after some city supervisors, District Attorney Chesa Boudin, and others pushed back against the prospect of arresting people for their drug use.

Mary Ellen Carroll, the head of the Department of Emergency Management, told the Chronicle that arrests would be a last resort option, but confirmed the city’s shift in strategy.

“The choice to stay on the street and continue with those behaviors, that’s not one of the choices anymore,” Carroll said.

Still, whether a person would face jail time or criminal charges for using drugs or refusing to move from sidewalks is an open question, and would take “cooperation from judges…and the District Attorney’s Office,” the Chronicle writes.

Here’s what else happened last week…

• 🍎 On Thursday, Mayor Breed said she’s begun interviewing candidates to replace the three recalled school board members. “This is probably the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make,” Breed said. (SF Standard)
• 😔 An encampment fire in Glen Park early Wednesday morning left one person dead and three others critically injured. On Twitter, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the area, said: “It is deeply wrong and infuriating that a City as wealthy as ours…still fails to provide the bare minimum of safe shelter for those willing to take it.” (SFist)
• 🗳️ The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) voted 20-2 on Wednesday to oppose the recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin. As 48hills notes, Suzy Loftus and Nancy Tung, who both ran against Boudin in 2019, were the only two votes in support of the recall. Senator Dianne Feinstein, state Senator Scott Wiener, and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman did not vote. (48hills)
• 🎆 On Tuesday night around 7:45 pm, a group of 10 to 15 cars stopped traffic on the Bay Bridge to…set off fireworks. Watch a video of they rogue firework display here. (SFist)
• 🏆 The Warriors’ Steph Curry took home MVP honors from this weekend’s NBA All-Star game after scoring 50 points and a record 16 3-pointers. “Once I kind of knew I was feeling it, I kind of knew I wanted to ride that wave,” Curry said. (Chronicle)
• 🕯 Closed since March 2020, the lighthouse on the Marin Headlands (officially known as the Point Bonita Lighthouse) reopened last Sunday. (KPIX)
• 📉 Back in 2017, the Union Square building that once housed the Disney store sold for $27.5 million. This week, the SF Business Times reported that in December, that same building (located at 39 Stockton Street) sold for $11 million. (SF Business Times)

That’s all for this week, see you next week for another update on all things SF. And remember, if you want quick, local news bits like this delivered right to you each weekday, click here to sign up for The SF Minute. It’s free!

– Natalie