San Francisco's Hope for Expanding Supportive Housing? Treasure Island

Oakland native De’andre Devereaux is no stranger to Treasure Island, a former military base along the Bay Bridge, halfway between Oakland and San Francisco. Up until about a year ago, he was unhoused, and the 55-year-old would spend afternoons on the quiet island panhandling for food and cash.

Devereaux now lives on the island, but his life couldn’t look more different. After choosing to enter treatment for a substance-use disorder last winter, he’s now living at a 70-bed sober, supportive living community that opened on Treasure Island in April.

“I’ve been in and out of rehabs since I was like 24 because I wasn’t ready to get my life together,” Devereaux told KQED at a holiday party for residents in the program in December. “I finally got tired and I haven’t looked back, and I’m happy for that because this changed my life.”

Residents can enter the step-down program after completing a separate rehabilitation program and live there between nine months and two years. They are also connected with recovery coaches who assist with job readiness and navigating public benefits and medications. Everyone in the program simultaneously participates in outpatient recovery services.

The program helped Devereaux line up a job as an in-home service provider for older people and those with disabilities — a job he said he loves.

“It feels good doing that, giving back,” he said as holiday music played and neighbors mingled at the facility on Gateview Avenue. The Department of Public Health and HealthRight 360 operates the community, a statewide health care nonprofit that provides substance-use treatment.

For most residents who spoke to KQED, having a safe place to call home and a supportive environment to help navigate the ups and downs of recovery has made the biggest difference in their journey with sobriety.

“The real thing is getting people off the streets and into a place where the fog can lift, you know? Because when you’re in a sober mind, and you finally do kick that drug, that’s a major thing,” said William Pecknold Jr., another resident. “I don’t know if everybody wants help, you know, but for those who do, this is where you can get it.”

As an ironworker, Pecknold has helped build the literal framework for prominent Bay Area structures like 131 Fremont Street in San Francisco. However, he struggled with alcohol addiction and later turned to methamphetamine when he was unhoused.

He got sober during a stay in prison, then quickly entered drug treatment programs after his release last December. The experience sent him down a new path, but, he said, everyone’s journey looks different.

“I don’t think it’s anyone else’s decision but the individual,” Pecknold said. “I just know one thing for a fact. This place saved my life. It really did.”

The residential step-down program is part of the city’s ongoing effort to increase the number of behavioral health care beds by 400, or 20% — a goal determined by the City’s Behavioral Health Bed Optimization Report released in 2020.

The site is part of a broader behavioral health program that collectively currently offers 128 beds across the island. The step-down facility is scheduled to be rebuilt by 2028 as part of a multistory building with health services and housing overseen by the Department of Public Health.

Still, the program is not running at full capacity yet due to a lack of trained staff. As of Thursday, 87 people were using the broader program’s 128 beds. At the Gateview site, in particular, it has just over half of the staff it needs and only 39 residents for its 70 beds so far, according to officials at HealthRight 360.

San Francisco is set to open three more projects across the city next year as part of the bed expansion. That includes a 30-bed care facility for people with mental health and substance-use issues, a 10-person mental health program for transitional-age youth, and a 16-bed urgent care facility.

But the city’s goal to add more beds is an ever-moving target. While more beds have been added, other behavioral health facilities and beds across the city’s network have shuttered as the overdose epidemic and housing crisis collide.

Residents in the step-down program are encouraged and supported to move out after a period of time. However, some housing and healthcare advocates argue that temporary programs can destabilize residents who have to move frequently from place to place. Many point to permanent supportive housing as the ultimate north star for making a dent in the housing and addiction crisis.

Eisen has been through residential treatment and said she views the issue as a “both-and,” arguing that there is a need for housing where people exiting drug detoxification or inpatient programs can build community, find work and secure longer-term housing.

“If we can develop permanent housing and affordable housing for people, that is the most important thing to do. But these services are unique. When people are just leaving intensive residential treatment, they’re less likely to be isolated here,” said Vitka Eisen, CEO of HealthRight 360. “Our hope is that they can build their support in the earliest part of their recovery journey and their journey post-treatment.”

Information on publicly available substance-use treatment in San Francisco and how to get care for yourself or a loved one can be found at findtreatment-sf.org.