A few days after a new city-approved tent encampment, known as a “safe sleeping village,” had opened at Everett Middle School, District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman visited the site and then took a walk around the block to see how the number of encampments had changed.
The Everett site is one of three city-approved camps for homeless people to set up tents, access showers and meals, and maintain social distancing. Members of the press are not allowed inside, but “Civic” spoke with Mandelman about his observations and his hopes for the site, which will be in operation for just six weeks.
We also spoke with several people at nearby encampments to see how well news of the site had gotten around. Though one man said he was happy with his place at the site and especially pleased to have access to a shower, many who remained on the street expressed distrust of the program. Mandleman, for his part, was hopeful the site will be well run and successful.
“If it offers us a place to get folks who otherwise would be on sidewalks and in other public spaces, and get them into a safer environment where they have access to services, where case managers can reach them, where we have a shot at trying to connect them with longer term solutions, that looks like success to me. Failure is, you know, a site that becomes a nuisance to the neighborhood, that is poorly run. That would be failure. So I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen. I think it’s going to be pretty well run.” — Rafael Mandelman
A segment from our radio show, “Civic.” Listen daily at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on 102.5 FM in San Francisco.
