independent
4,353
nonprofit
in depth
ISSUE 23, FALL 2017
Unsheltered people in S.F.
1,827
Empty residential hotel rooms that could house the homeless
$1.00
SFPUBLICPRESS.ORG
Dozens of residential hotels have rooms to spare, but city cannot force owners to rent
NO VACANCY FOR THE HOMELESS of Building Inspection reveal that, as of early September, 1,827 very night, thousands of San residential rooms were known Franciscans have no place to to be sitting vacant in the city’s sleep. And yet, every night 404 privately owned single-room hundreds — possibly thouoccupancy hotels. That is around sands — of single-room occupancy 14 percent of the 13,190 residenhotel units are left empty. tial rooms available for rental in SOLVING According to the latest count, private SRO hotels — around one HOMELESSNESS out of every seven. And yet this 4,353 people were living unsheltered in our city. Among them, number is undoubtedly on the 1,020 were between 18 and 24 years old. low side: Sixty hotels shirked their annual If, by some alchemy, the city could beam usage reports, offering incomplete data or them into these empty rooms, the entire none at all. There are some 1,903 resipopulation of homeless youths and a decent dential rooms in these delinquent hotels number of older adults could be indoors by alone. And, logically, establishments either nightfall. opting to spurn the city or unable to handle The hang-up in this plan, of course, is that the city cannot exactly tell people VACANT ROOMS continued on Page 8 where to sleep — and it also cannot unilaterally place people into privately owned hotel rooms. Believe it or not, homeless issues are complex. Housing issues are complex. And alchemy, it turns out, does not work. Why are the rooms empty? There is no one reason. Certainly, some are in no condition to be rented out. Some hotel owners are choosy when taking on what will be a rent-controlled tenant. It could take an owner months to evict the tenant if he or she stops paying rent. And, notably, others are holding rooms empty, perhaps for years, driving up the value of a building that may eventually be transformed into a high-rent, shared-living space for the city’s transcendent new residents. That puts a crimp in the city’s plans to lease out these rooms to the needy. Over the past 20 years, San Francisco has underwritten the price of thousands of formerly homeless residents’ rooms in private hotels run by nonprofits. But now it is a seller’s market. Hotel owners can charge upward of $2,000 for rooms in hotels formerly occupied by the down and out. Other owners are holding those rooms empty, perhaps in search of an even bigger payout down the The city classifies the derelict, 156-room road when they sell their buildings. Chronicle Hotel as vacant. Statistics compiled by the Department Photo by Sharon Wickham // Public Press By Joe Eskenazi // Public Press
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Results-Based Investment Motivates Private Capital to Help House Neediest By Rishika Dugyala // Public Press
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or homelessness efforts in San Francisco and across the country, Nima Krodel is convinced that “business as usual” is not doing much to decrease the number of people on the streets. Krodel, vice president of the Nonprofit Finance Fund, argues that traditional contracts between governments and service providers have focused too much on shortterm activities — hours of case management conducted, individuals served or housing units being rented. Often lost in the standard benchmarks is the desired permanent outcome: that someone is stably housed and healthy. “It’s the difference between a measure of an activity versus a change in someone’s life,” she said. “‘Outcome’ goes beyond ‘Here’s a bed’ to ‘Let’s not make someone
homeless anymore.’” To that end, local and state governments are increasingly experimenting with what are called social impact bonds, a novel “pay for success” model of financing services through private capital. Investors are repaid, with a small profit, only if a project proves successful. Since their debut seven years ago, these bonds have generated $200 million in the United States and 14 other countries toward programs to reduce homelessness and related social problems. San Francisco could tap into this new funding source to permanently house homeless families, as well as help low-income mothers and at-risk youth, after the city upgrades and unifies its computer systems. Santa Clara County, however, is already experimenting with leveraging private investment to house 150 to 200 people who are among the county’s most costly and chronically homeless individuals.
Empty rooms in privately owned residential hotels could house more than 40 percent of San Francisco’s unsheltered homeless population. But city leaders are struggling to overcome legal and economic impediments to accessing those spaces in an overheated real estate market. Sources: San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing; Department of Building Inspection. Graphic by Reid Brown // Public Press
PAY FOR SUCCESS continued on Page 5
A homeless man relocates his box house to Berry Street. Photo by Judith Calson // Public Press
MORE COVERAGE INSIDE MASTER LEASING: Ways to
increase the number of SRO hotel rooms for residents. | 7
CEO TAX: S.F. supervisors looking at chief executives’ pay to help fund social services. | 5
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MORE INFOGRAPHICS INSIDE: All known empty rooms, and the locations of the top vacant hotels. | 6-7
HOUSING YOUTHS:
POVERTY MOVES TO SUBURBS:
OTHER NEWS | EDUCATION:
WHOLE PERSON CARE: Health
ON WHEELS: Five Keys brings
BRAINSTORMING: Ideas for
SHORT TAKES: Highlights from our
Host Home program shows potential. | 4
Contra Costa County wrestles with rising homelessness. | 9
‘WET HOUSES’:
care money used for housing. | 9
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Santa Clara County tries social impact bonds
Chronic alcoholics have a safe place to live. | 3
FOLLOW US @SFPUBLICPRESS · PARTNERS IN THIS ISSUE:
solving homelessness. | 12
State budget includes $5 million for bilingual teachers. | 11 classroom to neighborhoods. | 11 nonprofit news partners. | 10