by River Beck
On December 4, a diverse coalition of housing advocates in San Francisco succeeded in toppling a series of obstacles facing a 42-unit housing project for transitional-age youth in the city’s South of Market neighborhood. The permanent supportive housing (PSH) project, which will support LGBTQ+ young adults, is a critical step towards solutions desperately needed to avoid chronic homelessness.
The intergenerational and multi-racial bloc of residents, youth service providers, scientists, researchers, educators, and housing advocates defended the 1174 Folsom Street project, which the Board of Supervisors already approved in July 2023. The project was delayed by opposition from affluent neighbors, but thanks to the supporters’ community organizing, the project may move forward.
Advocates waited up to six hours at the board’s Budget and Finance Committee to make two-minute public comments. The panel passed the resolution on a 2–0 vote. The full board adopted it six days later.
The hearing on the project was delayed from November 20 to December 4 after District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, along with the project’s neighbors, voiced their disapproval.
Those neighbors pushed Dorsey to delay over concerns of illegal drug use. However, the lease for 1174 Folsom already prohibits using illegal drugs, yet the opposition sought to institute this policy anyway.
As a result, frontline, majority trans and other queer young adults were denied housing for weeks during wintry weather, while encampment sweeps brought arrests and trauma to unsheltered residents .
In a swipe at the Coalition on Homelessness, which supported the project’s opening, Dorsey posted a leaked email on X (formerly Twitter) on November 25, decrying harm reduction as “drug fundamentalism.”
Coalition executive director Jennifer Friedenbach delivered powerful testimony to the committee. “This building sat empty for a year and a half,” she told the panel. “It was delayed twice over language in the lease which was a political statement and the kids are stuck outside subject to exploitation, violence and sleeplessness.”
A chorus of project supporters joined Friedenbach at the December 4 meeting. Karin Adams, director of programs at Homeless Youth Alliance, echoed these sentiments.
“On any night 1,200 youth are experiencing homelessness in San Francisco,” Adams told the panel, adding that 50% of homeless adults in San Francisco had their first episode of homelessness before the age of 25. “This is a matter of life and death. A six-year research study of youth experiencing homelessness in San Francisco showed young people without a safe place have a mortality rate that is more than 10 times higher” than those with shelter.
San Francisco’s struggle with homelessness is often discussed in public spheres and in the media,, but what is less often discussed—particulary by politicians and “not in my backyard” types—is evidence-based public health best practices. Data shows a clear connection: Youth homelessness creates adult homelessness if competent support is not available. Young people forced to navigate developmental years without stable housing are at greater risk of experiencing the trauma that causes long-term homelessness as adults, which perpetuates a vicious cycle.
Several service providers said “let’s do better next time” at public comment. In contrast with 1174 Folsom supporters, there were few in opposition at the meeting.
