San Francisco is surreptitiously placing homeless people in luxury hotels by designating them as emergency front-line workers, a term that the broader community understands to mean doctors, nurses, and similar professionals.
The Department of Emergency Management has attempted to spin the secrecy by claiming, "Disclosure of the names of hotels where people are being sheltered could jeopardize the privacy and safety of the vulnerable people whom the City has placed there if the public and the press become aware of the circumstances of their placement and could increase the risk that they will be subject to discrimination or harassment on the basis of their health status or status as an unsheltered person."
The Department of Public Health manages the controversial free alcohol, cigarette, and cannabis program for homeless people placed in the hotels.
In the end, the wildly expensive hotel plan is unlikely to help most homeless individuals achieve self-sufficient lives and won't elevate the city's most destitute districts.
Since the plan to shift people from tents and doorways to hotels began in May, the blighted neighborhoods have shown no sign of improvement.
That's not surprising, since change is not likely until the city disallows tents completely, abandons its hands-off drug-dealing and usage policies, and commits to treating people with addiction issues and mental illness-not giving them hotel rooms where they can overdose, whether alone or with others whom they bring into the property.
Eventually, at least some of these properties will revert to being real hotels again, and homeless guests will check out.
The Department of Emergency Management has attempted to spin the secrecy by claiming, "Disclosure of the names of hotels where people are being sheltered could jeopardize the privacy and safety of the vulnerable people whom the City has placed there if the public and the press become aware of the circumstances of their placement and could increase the risk that they will be subject to discrimination or harassment on the basis of their health status or status as an unsheltered person."
The Department of Public Health manages the controversial free alcohol, cigarette, and cannabis program for homeless people placed in the hotels.
In the end, the wildly expensive hotel plan is unlikely to help most homeless individuals achieve self-sufficient lives and won't elevate the city's most destitute districts.
Since the plan to shift people from tents and doorways to hotels began in May, the blighted neighborhoods have shown no sign of improvement.
That's not surprising, since change is not likely until the city disallows tents completely, abandons its hands-off drug-dealing and usage policies, and commits to treating people with addiction issues and mental illness-not giving them hotel rooms where they can overdose, whether alone or with others whom they bring into the property.
Eventually, at least some of these properties will revert to being real hotels again, and homeless guests will check out.
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