For a homeless or marginally housed person experiencing a psychiatric episode or struggling with substance abuse, there is now an intermediate place of care between the street and a hospital’s psychiatric emergency center. Hummingbird Place, a new shelter inside San Francisco General Hospital, offers counseling, hot meals, showers and overnight accommodations for people needing to regroup after a crisis. The...
Nearly two months after a new Navigation Center opened on 26th and South Van Ness streets, residents who were worried about a growing tent encampment nearby are reassured by the currently tentless streets. The Navigation Center at 26th Street and South Van Ness is one of four centers aimed at long-term help for homeless individuals. This one has 120 beds...
Listen Local is Mission Local’s biweekly radio program. We broadcast live online at BFF.fm every other Thursday morning from 9:30 to 10:00. While dozens of outlets have been covering homelessness extensively, you’re unlikely to find a take on the issue quite like what Stories Behind the Fog is doing. The project combines artistic photos with a narrative from the subject’s point of...
The long-awaited 120-bed Navigation Center at 1515 South Van Ness St. opened Thursday, clearing Shotwell Street of a homeless encampment and admitting ten clients. Some of the homeless residents had set up outside the center in anticipation of its planned opening on Monday, but that was delayed until today. At least one camper, however, was still undecided about the center....
Abdiel Avila, 58, sets up on Mission Street every morning. He spreads a blanket out beneath the shade of a tree near 17th Street and pulls out watches, chargers, shoes, backpacks, movies, bike seats, and whatever has come his way. Once, he even tried to sell a dog someone gave him. On a good day, he says, he can make...
A temporary Navigation Center uniquely serving the Mission’s homeless population is set to open its doors on Monday and will come with bolstered police patrols near its location at 26th Street and South Van Ness Avenue, as well as a private security guard on site. “We will have private security – and not make it a large police presence at...
A year of setbacks and opposition did not deter a trio of French nuns from following their calling from God – feeding those most in need. The nuns have campaigned for some ten months to move a soup kitchen into the ground floor commercial space of a condominium building at 1928 Mission St. between 15th and 16th streets, and on...
If you, like many other San Franciscans, are wondering how to help the homeless over the holidays, there are many ways – but here’s what people need, in their own words. Though it is closed until Tuesday for the holidays, donations can be dropped off as of 12/27 at the Mission Neighborhood Resource Center at 165 Capp St. Please note, however, that...
A homeless man was found dead Wednesday morning in a driveway near the intersection of 25th and Shotwell streets. Police have not yet confirmed his cause of death. The man was identified by the San Francisco Medical Examiner as 79-year-old Jose Campos, who neighbors say was homeless and could often be seen near the intersection. Police found Campos laying in...
A “buck wild” exterior didn’t stop neighbors on the streets from seeing Eddie “Tennessee” Tate as a helpful, industrious neighbor. Tate was one of two people killed in a shooting Sunday night on 16th and Shotwell streets. He was 51 years old. Tate had lived on the streets of the city for decades and was well known for his compassion...
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors commended the city’s Homeless Outreach Team for its work reaching out to and offering services to the homeless. Supervisor Malia Cohen initiated the commendation for “serving city’s homeless population and selfless deication to building bridges out of homelessness.” Accepting the commendation on behalf of the team, HOT director Jim Zelaya-Wagner addressed his team. “You work with...
For many of the Mission’s homeless and marginally housed women, Ladies’ Night at the Mission Neighborhood Resource Center are where it’s at. “It” being hot dinner, good company, conversation, and the occasional game. It’s a tradition that’s been upheld at the center for 14 years. These are fixtures of any evening gathering, but in this case ladies’ night also offers...
Mission Street’s Navigation Center, the city’s first, is lauded for being a low-barrier shelter, a place where street dwellers can come as they are and have all their needs met. For those determined to get off the streets, it can be the pathway to finally getting housing, but others may fall through the cracks as the center is also working...
This week, Mission Local is participating in a Bay-Area-wide push to cover homelessness. You may remember this project from a similar effort in June, in which we produced stories about where homeless people’s property goes, a couple displaced by a fire who lived in their car for months, and a homeless family. This week we have brought you responses to Proposition Q from those living on...
Residents in the northeastern Mission District are forming a community group to push local government toward ending homeless encampments in the area, while a pair of nuns displaced from the Tenderloin tries to gather support for a soup kitchen in the neighborhood that neighbors fear will only attract more homeless. The nuns are Marie Benedicte and Marie Valerie of the...
