San Francisco to prioritize relocation over shelter for unhoused people

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- In San Francisco, the new approach from the mayor to tackle homelessness is to offer to send them back to where they came from.

ABC7 News reporter Luz Pena spoke to the team behind this program about the process and what will change moving forward.

The relocation assistance program has been around for 20 years in San Francisco, but it's had different iterations throughout the years.

The latest one launched in 2023 with the name "Journey home" and since then, it has contributed to the city's overall operations leading to the relocation of close to 300 homeless individuals since January of this year.

"This is our van that we transport clients from encampments to whatever their destination is," said Cheryl Fields, transport supervisor for HSH.

A bus ticket out of San Francisco before shelter or housing - that's the new directive city workers are mandated to follow as encampment resolutions - or sweeps - continue.

MORE: SF Mayor London Breed directs city staff to offer homeless bus tickets before housing

Fields works with the city's homelessness and supportive housing department. Her job is to transport homeless individuals to shelters, housing options or Greyhound stations if they have a family member outside of the city.

Luz Pena: "How often are you driving people to Greyhound?"
Cheryl Fields: "It varies, week to week. Sometimes we may do two to three in a week."

This week, San Francisco's Mayor London Breed made an executive directive to offer a ticket out of the city instead of shelter if the individuals are from outside the city.

MORE: SF begins ticketing RVs on public street; resident says city offered plane ticket to leave

This comes after a latest survey of homeless individuals showed that 40% of people on the streets are not from San Francisco.

The Mayoral Executive Directive also requires first responders, including police officers, firefighters, and paramedics to provide handouts with information on the city's relocation services.

"Really saying to the individual, look, it's going to be really hard to get a shelter bed in the city, it's going to be even harder to get a housing unit, but since you are from somewhere else, we can provide you transportation back home and hopefully to a support network that is in the individual's hometown," said Trent Rhorer, executive director with the San Francisco Human Services Agency.

Relocation assistance programs have been around for decades. Rhorer says it has proven it's effectiveness.

"With an intervention that costs nearly less than $300 versus shelter beds that cost $15,000 a year. We are ending someone's homelessness by reconnecting them with their families," said Rhorer.

MORE: SF homeless encampment sweeps continue: Here's what happened with one unhoused man

Earlier this year, Supervisor Ahsha Safaí authored legislation to expand the city's program.

"Two-thirds of 13,000 people never came back to San Francisco. I think there are a lot of people that are down and out that come here. They are looking for support, maybe they are looking for an environment that is a little bit more lenient," said Supervisor Safaí.

Fields says her team doesn't just drop off people and leave. She says they stay with them.

"We usually have very deep, engaging conversations with people and find out what their plans are for when they do get home. So, that is why it's important for us to stay with them until they actually get on the bus. Just in case they get overwhelmed," said Fields.

The city says their teams verified that there will be someone to receive the person they are sending out of the city.

Even though the mayor made the announcement on Thursday, Rhorer said it will take time to train the street teams with this new focus.