Complaints of SF homelessness, drug use are back post-APEC
(KRON) — When world leaders were in town for APEC this month, residents took notice of how clean the area was during the event.
Nearly two weeks since then and complaints of homelessness and drug use are back. The area around Moscone Center was nearly impossible to get close to unless you were credentialed. That meant no unhoused people inside or even around the security fencing.
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Now that the event is over, things are going back to the way they were. Fencing and clean streets were common sites near Moscone Center during APEC.
Now that the fencing has been removed, city residents like Tyson Wrensch say tents are returning to the sidewalks.
“We’re starting to see it come back, but slowly,” Wrensch said. He lives in the Civic Center area of San Francisco and says once the world leaders left town, violence and open-air drug use came back to the areas surrounding Moscone.
“The problem is drugs so if we can take care of the people who are selling the drugs. If we can get rid of them, there’s our first start,” Wrensch said.
The Coalition on Homelessness works to provide resources and housing in the city. Executive Director Jennifer Friedenbach says a majority of unhoused people didn’t leave during APEC, they just moved to areas of the city.
Friedenbach says a real solution would be additional funds from the state and federal government to provide permanent housing and more shelter space.
“We’ve had some funds from the state, but they are all one time,” Friedenbach said. “We need ongoing funding and we certainly need the feds to kick in a lot deeper.”
A city supervisor running for mayor also made a proposal this week.
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Supervisor Ahsha Safai wants to expand the city’s Homeward Bound program that offers unhoused people bus tickets to get back to their hometowns and families.
Safai says the program used to help about 800 clients a year but recently dropped to less than 400 a year.
“The fact that this was one of the most successful programs for almost 15 years I think it’s a really important part of what we need to do to prioritize getting people off the streets of San Francisco,” Safai said.
KRON4 reached out to Mayor London Breed about the bus tickets offered through the Homeward Bound program.
Breed’s office says the pandemic contributed to lower participation in the program and that fewer families were willing to take in their unhoused family members during social distancing.
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