SF makes yet another attempt to solve chronic homelessness. Will it work this time?
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- There have been so many attempts in San Francisco to address the issue of chronic homelessness that we have lost track. It's a struggle to help those homeless people who don't want help.
To tell this woman's story is to know her -- we don't, not for a lack of trying.
She lives in a bus shelter. All of our questions went unanswered.
Lyanne Melendez: "Have you ever accepted help from the city? Has the city ever helped you or offered you help?"
Her name, not given. Age, unknown.
The reason for living under these conditions is anyone's guess.
She is what the city calls chronically homeless, that is, she repeatedly refuses shelter and services.
Mark Mazza is with the Department of Emergency Management. He knows this crisis well.
MORE: SF claims homeless individuals decline shelter 60% of the time but some say that's inaccurate
"It could be raising rent, it could be drug use, it could be mental illness," outlined Mazza.
It's a description that has become part of San Francisco's vernacular for the past 35 years.
In July 1990, then mayor Art Agnos enforced the laws to keep the homeless from sleeping in public spaces.
By November 2002, admittedly, chronic homelessness was now costing the city an enormous amount of money and resources.
Now, let's take a step back, to 2004 when newly-elected San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom introduced the city's "Plan to Abolish Chronic Homelessness."
The council comprised of the best and the brightest met 85 times to come up with a plan that would end chronic homelessness in 10 years.
At the center of this plan was the concept of permanent supportive housing, meaning housing that includes treatment and care for those who are struggling with any kind of addiction and mental health issue.
VIDEO: Unhoused impact: Does SF lack support for people in serious mental health crises?
Former city Supervisor Angela Alioto was the chairperson of that council.
Melendez: "Things were working well."
Alioto: "Yes."
Melendez: "What happened then?
"Ah, Mayor Lee became mayor, very good friend, wonderful guy, wonderful guy, but we had 10 to 15 buildings in the pipeline for permanent supportive housing and the minute the mayor made agreements with tech, they came into town in 2012, we lost all of those apartments. We lost all of those buildings," explained Alioto.
Which brings us to 2025, a time when the problem seems unsolvable as we witnessed with that homeless woman living in the bus shelter. We told you about her earlier.
At times a foul smell turns some Muni passengers away.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency told us, "This sounds like more of a broader city problem, than one the SFMTA has the resources or authority to manage."
Next stop: The district's supervisor.
Melendez: "What can the city do to help someone in that situation because she's somewhat coherent, but she's not causing any trouble that they could take her away?
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman: "Yeah, she's not a danger to herself or others seemingly. I would say and most of my constituents feel she should be treated like someone who is gravely disabled and be cared for whether she knows that she needs care or not. That is not a view held by everyone in the bureaucracy, it's not a view held with everyone in the judiciary."
And so she continues to live in these conditions because she has the right to refuse any kind of help, whether she knows what that means or not.
The street teams often say that it may take them several attempts to gain a person's trust.
Friday was the third time we tried to engage with the woman at the bus stop and she seemed to, somewhat, open up to us.
Deborah Bouck: "Hi there, I'm with HSH, I just wanted to check in on you. This is my friend Lyanne Melendez. Are you ok?
Woman: "I'm OK."
Bouck: "There's emergency shelter so we can get in somewhere if you want to get out of the rain. You think you may be open to that?
Woman: "I'll be OK."
And for the first time, she told us her name.
Melendez: "My name is Lyanne."
Woman: "Rowe."
Melendez: "Rowe? OK nice meeting you Rowe."
But perhaps a bigger issue is that the city doesn't always have enough spaces to take care of people in her position.
"If we are going to assert ourselves and say we're going to act as a parent for this person who cannot take care of herself, then we have to have a place to her and she's probably pretty expensive," said Mandelman.
Right now, the city has 140 psychiatric locked beds presumably all in use. The city says it needs at least 100 more rooms like this at any given time.
Mayor Daniel Lurie is no stranger to the problem of chronic homelessness. In 2017, as CEO of the nonprofit Tipping Point, he vowed to raise $100 million to cut chronic homelessness in half over five years. While some progress was made, there was a unexpected rise in the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness, then COVID hit and the number exploded.
Now as mayor, Lurie has a lot more power over the city.
MORE: There are 2 operations working to clear SF homeless encampments. Here's the difference
"This is a complicated issue but here's my commitment. We're going to get people off the streets and into the help they need and we're going to do everything in our power to get people into shelter," promised Lurie.
Lurie has proposed adding 1,500 more emergency shelter beds.
The question now, is how will those shelter beds help someone like Rowe?
"When people are inside they are better able to stabilize, they are in a less of a crisis situation. Our staff can locate them and it is easier to connect people to care," said Dara Papo, director of Whole Person Integrated Care for the Department of Public Health.
Newsom's plan as mayor did not, in his words, abolish chronic homelessness in San Francisco, but as governor he was successful at passing proposition 1, that will help cities and counties build more housing, acquire more treatment beds and focus on getting homeless people into treatment statewide.
Will Newsom succeed where others have failed?
