The Mission District homeless shelter that has been located inside the gymnasium of Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 School since 2018 is closing by the end of the school year, city officials said Thursday morning. The two dozen families staying there will be rehoused, the city said, and the shelter will be moved to Downtown High School in Potrero Hill.
The homeless families, who are almost all newcomer immigrants, will be put into either permanent housing or other city-contracted shelters, said Emily Cohen, the spokesperson for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. “That will be guaranteed. We never close a shelter in a way that turns people away.”
The Mission site will officially stop accepting new entrants on June 9, and families’ last day will be June 13, said Laura Valdez, the executive director at Mission Action, the shelter provider at Buena Vista Horace Mann and Downtown High School. The new Potrero Hill site, at 693 Vermont St., will open on July 1, leaving about a two-week gap between the two programs.
The shelter will be moved back to Buena Vista Horace Mann once its three-year construction project ends in the summer of 2028.
The closure is not a surprise: Families were told of the site’s move when renovations were announced last year, Valdez said.
“The plan is to maintain the existing program model and operational processes,” said Shireen McSpadden, the homeless department’s executive director, during a presentation in front of the Homelessness Oversight Commission on Thursday morning.
The new Downtown High School site, at Vermont and 19th streets, will offer 80 beds inside the school’s gymnasium and auditorium, serving up to 25 families, 20 more beds than the current capacity at Buena Vista Horace Mann. The new shelter, like the current one, will only host families with children enrolled at the San Francisco Unified School District.
Families will need to leave the school by 7 a.m. and return at 7 p.m. on school days, just as they must at Buena Vista Horace Mann. They are allowed to stay 24 hours a day on weekends and school holidays.
Valdez said the plan was to choose a new location close to Buena Vista Horace Mann, and Downtown High is the best option. “We were trying to stay as close to the Mission as possible,” Valdez said. “That was our priority”
Valdez said the new site at Downtown High has elevators for families with disabilities and a dining hall where they can sit for meals. Families will also have access to a spacious courtyard and garden, so children can play.
“It’s a wonderful site,” Valdez said. “It’s a beautiful school, and we’re very happy. It was like a very dignified space for our families to be able to stay.”
it is a slight walk uphill from 16th and the 22 Fillmore and 55 Dogpatch, but at least it’s something.