They’re all trying to clean up the Mission District’s streets. But who does what?

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Nearly every day, city workers huddle at a street corner in the Mission District, usually outside of the Gubbio Project at 15th Street and Julian Avenue.

It’s their meetup before going out for another day of dealing with the homelessness, addiction and mental-health crisis on the streets of the neighborhood.  

This “Swiss Army knife” team of teams has been working together for nearly a year now under the coordination of Santiago Lerma, former District 9 legislative aide and current Mission street team lead for the Department of Emergency Management. 

They represent three city departments and two contracted groups: The Department of Public Health, Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, the Department of Emergency Management, and city contractors Urban Alchemy and Ahsing Solutions.

Here’s Mission Local’s guide on how to identify the different members of the Mission’s street teams — who’s who, what they do and what they can help you with. 

Ahsing Solutions

What it is: Ahsing Solutions is a private firm that only hires people who were formerly incarcerated, drug users or homeless — which, it says, makes it particularly effective at building trust with people currently on the streets.

Ahsing Solutions signed a contract with the city in July 2025 to act as a “force multiplier” for the city’s existing efforts. 

What it does: Clean the streets, ensure safe passage for kids at Marshall Elementary at 15th and Capp streets, intervene and deescalate street conflicts, reverse overdoses, act as eyes and ears on the street.

They carry

walkie-talkies

Workers wear one or more

layers of the uniforms, including

a black t-shirt, a black zip-up

hoodle, and a white vest

Workers wear one

or more layers of the

uniforms, including

a black t-shirt, a black zip-up

hoodle, and a white vest

They carry

walkie-talkies

Department of Emergency Management

What it is: The city’s Department of Emergency Management (DEM) is the umbrella organization that all the city’s work on street conditions and homelessness fits under. In the Mission, that usually means Lerma, lead of the department’s Mission team. 

What Lerma does: Runs daily coordination meetings for the teams, directs outreach and enforcement efforts, acts as the central point person, ensuring teams work in sync rather than in silos, and responds to 311 calls related to homelessness. 

Staffers wear

tags displaying

first name initial

and full last name

Vest with logo of

the Department

of Emergency

Management

Staffers

wear tags

displaying

first name

initial and

full last

name

Vest with logo of the

Department of Emergency

Management

Department of Public Health

What it is: The public health department team consists of trained clinicians, medical providers, nurses, and nurse practitioners. 

What it does: Treats infections and give urgent wound care. Connects people to mental health and substance use disorder services. Follows up with people in need on the street to make sure they are taking their meds and stabilize their conditions.

Staffers wear blue zip-up

hoodies or dark grey jackets

with logos on the front and back

They drive around

in cars with a DPH

sticker on the door

Staffers wear blue zip-up hoodies or dark

grey jackets with logos on the front and back

They drive around in cars with

DPH logos on the door

Urban Alchemy / HEART

What it is: The Homeless Engagement Assistance Response Teams — also known by the acronym HEART — is a collaboration of the Department of Emergency Management and Urban Alchemy. 

The team is dispatched to non-urgent calls — disturbances, wellness checks, noise complaints, trespassing — received by the city’s 311 communications centers concerning people who may need shelter, substance abuse recovery, or mental health services.

What it does: HEART team members are CPR-, first aid-, and Narcan-certified. They handle 311 calls for things like blocked sidewalks and encampments.

If an individual is sleeping in the doorway or the sidewalk, HEART team will wake the person up, ask what they need, bring them to Gubbio Project if needed, and help them connect to city services. 

They wear

walkie-talkies

They drive in

cars with HEART

logo on the door

HEART and Urban

Alchemy logos on

black jackets

HEART and

Urban Alchemy

logos on

black jackets

They drive in

cars with HEART

logo on the door

They wear

walkie-talkies

Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing

What it is: This department employs outreach workers who assess unhoused people currently living outside, and then work to connect them to shelter, housing and other city services. 

What it does: Connect unhoused people to homeless shelters. Register them into the city’s homeless support system. Give unhoused people housing assessment, such as their history in the city and any behavioral health conditions.

It also ensures people are ready for shelters, including arranging transportation for them to get there, and helping them put their belongings in one of the city’s two storage facilities; one at 72 Sixth St. and the other at 680 Bryant St. 

Staffers drive around their zone

in cars with HOT logo on them

Staffers wear one or more layers of uniforms including

a black beanie, a green t-shirt, and a green jacket

Staffers wear one or more layers of uniforms

including a black beanie, a green t-shirt,

and a green jacket

Staffers drive around their zone

in cars with HOT logo on them