Sponsored link
Friday, April 25, 2025

Sponsored link

News + PoliticsWhere will homeless people moved out of hotels go?

Where will homeless people moved out of hotels go?

Plus: A continuing progressive majority on the board, protections for small businesses -- and who in SF is going to DC? That's The Agenda for Nov. 8-16

-

With all but about 4,500 ballots counted, it appears that Connie Chan will be the next supervisor from D1. The race has gone back and forth, but as of Sunday night, Chan is up by 123 votes, and there are probably less than 500 votes still to count in that district.

Chan declared victory tonight:

I am honored and thankful for the support of District 1 voters tonight. When we started this campaign in January, we knew we would be the underdog but our grassroots support lifted us up every day. That enthusiasm and energy have made this victory possible

The result is a huge win for progressives, who pushed hard for Chan, and a big loss for Mayor London Breed, who pushed hard for Marjan Philhour.

The mayor doesn’t want to keep people in hotel rooms, but there’s no place else for them to go.

It’s also a loss for Big Real Estate and Big Tech, which spend hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking Chan and promoting Philhour.

The new board will have at least six, and on some issues as many as eight or even nine progressive votes.

Over the next few weeks, just in time for the cold weather and rain, the city is going to start kicking homeless people out of the hotels where they were sheltered during the COVID pandemic, which has by no means ended, even in San Francisco which is doing much better than other cities.

The problem, the Mayor’s Office says, is that the federal money that was paying for much of the cost is going to run out soon (although with President Biden and Vice President Harris, who is from San Francisco, there might be more in that fund in the future).

So where, exactly, is everyone going to go? There isn’t anywhere near enough supportive housing or decent affordable SRO housing for all the people who need it. There’s no way the city can safely send people to congregate shelters again. And the mayor doesn’t want to put people in sanctioned tent encampments.

Sponsored link

Help us save local journalism!

Every tax-deductible donation helps us grow to cover the issues that mean the most to our community. Become a 48 Hills Hero and support the only daily progressive news source in the Bay Area.

Most of the hotels where people are staying are not going have tourists again for a long time. The state has already given SF money to buy two hotels; the real answer ought to be buying the rest of them.

If every one of the 75 billionaires in San Francisco was willing to buy one hotel, then donate it to a nonprofit housing operator, we could house and awful lot of homeless people. I wonder if the mayor has even asked.

The Board of Supes will hold a special Committee of the Whole hearing Tuesday/10 to discuss the situation and review what the Mayor’s Office is planning. That will start sometime after 3pm.

The Land Use and Transportation Committee will consider Monday/9 legislation that would a moratorium on commercial evictions of small businesses during the COVID crisis. As with the residential eviction restrictions, the law wouldn’t forgive rent (the city has no right to do that) but would remove non-payment during COVID as grounds for commercial eviction.

That measure comes up at 1:30pm.

Of course, everyone in California politics is talking about who Gov. Gavin Newsom will appoint to the US Senate seat Kamala Harris is about to vacate, and there’s lots of talk about other state officials who might be angling for top jobs in the Biden Administration.

But I’m wondering about our own town – who in San Francisco politics is headed for a job in DC? Harris has lots of connections and friends here, and she’ll be needing a political staff and advance team and will have a lot of influence over Biden’s mid-level (if not cabinet-level) selections.

I see a lot of moving vans in the city’s future.

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit here. We also invite you to join the conversation on our FacebookTwitter, and Instagram

Tim Redmond
Tim Redmond
Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.
Sponsored link
Sponsored link

Featured

Playing a gig worker—and being one, too—in an increasingly chilly SF

Asia Kate Dillon stars in Elena Oxman's 'Outerlands,' which details navigating loss in a city that seems to be closing in.

Under the Stars: A hometown electronic hero’s swan song sees the light

Plus: FlyLo gives us the GREEBLES, Raf Reza's Bangladeshi dub, Steven Julien new jacks, 'Paris Blues' at 4 Star, more music news

SF Democrats oppose Airbnb tax cut—after some try to kill the resolution

A late-night move to defy labor and undermine tax justice narrowly fails

More by this author

SF Democrats oppose Airbnb tax cut—after some try to kill the resolution

A late-night move to defy labor and undermine tax justice narrowly fails

Budget battle begins as labor, CBOs push back against brutal Lurie cuts

Why does a city with 85 billionaires and big tech companies that want tax breaks have to settle for austerity?

Supes approve public notice for neighborhood zoning changes

Dorsey, Melgar, say the city should not 'alarm' people by telling them what's about to happen to their communities.
Sponsored link

You might also likeRELATED