He Lived in SF Drug-Free Housing for Years. A Relapse Put Him Back on the Streets

Kull Murray felt like the pieces were finally falling into place.

After more than three years of living sober at Delancey Street Foundation, a residential drug rehabilitation program in San Francisco, he had lined up a job and reconnected with family. His future dimmed on a trip home one night in early March.

Just one drink would be fine, he thought.

“I ended up drinking at least a 12 pack. And then, the next thing I know, I’m at a park with people I’m familiar with and I’m smoking meth,” Murray, a Central Valley native, said. “It happened so quickly.”

The slip cost Murray his bed at Delancey Street, where drug use is prohibited.

“When I came back the next morning, they called me in to drug test me. I definitely failed, so I just walked out ‘cause I knew what they were gonna do,” Murray, 41, said. “I was about to graduate. And I’ve been trying to rack my brain, why I made this decision. It was a very unfortunate one. Now I’m stuck on the streets in San Francisco.”

Murray’s experience comes as San Francisco supervisors push for more low-income housing options that require sobriety in response to the city’s drug crisis.

Advocates say it’s a much-needed component of the city’s public housing inventory for people in recovery or low-income residents seeking a drug-free environment.

“I’ve been running transitional housing right down the street for the last 10 years. When they discharge, I gotta look and scramble for them to go to a place that’s safe,” Richard Beal, director of recovery services at Tenderloin Housing Clinic, said at a recent town hall about the city’s response to drug use and homelessness in the Tenderloin neighborhood. “We need drug-free housing. We need to complete the bridge.”

Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who oversees the South of Market neighborhood, is leading the charge.

“Virtually 100%, or close to it, of permanent supportive housing right now has a drug-tolerant policy that people can’t be evicted for the use of illicit drugs,” Dorsey told KQED. “There are people that I hear from who are in recovery and in permanent supportive housing who are asking for drug-free options.”

Unhoused for the first time, Murray slept outside the first two nights. On the third day of homelessness, he visited a triage center on Sixth Street, where he heard he might find help.

“I’m hoping that this place will get me a bed in a shelter, if that’s what happens here. I don’t even really know. I just know they have food, and I haven’t eaten in a couple days; that definitely drew me in,” Murray said, sitting on the facility’s picnic bench one recent morning. “I just don’t want to sleep outside.”

A social worker found a shelter bed for Murray, where he’s since been sleeping as he applies to jobs and navigates the city’s web of social services. He said he hasn’t used drugs since the relapse, but every day is difficult trying to maintain sobriety while facing the harsh realities of homelessness.

“What’s creeping into my head and giving me anxiety now is having a uniform or the clothing that I’ll need for a job and the ability to maintain my hygiene,” Murray said on a phone call a few days into his shelter stay. “I’ve taken showers here, but I’m literally putting on the same clothes that I have.

“It starts wearing on you, like, the hopelessness.”

In 2004, under President George W. Bush, the federal government adopted a “housing first” model requiring permanent supportive housing providers to accept residents regardless of drug use, credit history or criminal background. The idea is backed by studies showing that having a place to live increases a person’s likelihood of stabilizing their health and income.

Recognizing that some people in recovery prefer abstinence housing, in 2022, the Department of Housing and Urban Development modified its policy to include drug-free programs.

California adopted its housing-first policy in 2016, and state law still prohibits tax dollars from funding drug-free housing. That could soon change. Assemblymember Matt Haney, who represents San Francisco, has proposed legislation to allow state housing-first dollars to go towards residential programs where up to 25% of units are drug-free.

If passed, it would also “prohibit eviction on the basis of relapse,” according to the bill’s text. “If a tenant is no longer interested in living in a supportive-recovery residence or is at risk of eviction,” then they should receive “assistance in accessing housing operated with harm-reduction principles that is also permanent housing.”

Directives from the Trump administration are already filtering down to the local level. HUD officials said they “will not enforce” grant agreements with the City of San Francisco “to the extent that they require the project to use a housing first program model,” according to a memo obtained by Kaiser Health News.

Efforts to expand drug-free housing in San Francisco have percolated for years, and a shift toward the center among the city’s political leadership has accelerated efforts. The city is on track to open its first drug-free housing facility at the Civic Center Motor Inn this summer.

The state and federal changes could boost momentum around legislation that Dorsey plans to reintroduce to grow the city’s abstinence housing stock. His plan would restrict funding for subsidized housing for homeless adults unless a portion of the units are drug-free.

Dorsey, who identifies as a recovering drug addict, said that a relapse in drug-free housing would not immediately trigger an eviction. Ideally, a person who relapses would be referred to other treatment options in a different setting to keep them connected to care and protect other residents hoping to avoid drug use, he said.

“If someone were to have a return to use, the policy would actually require that we place people into a more appropriate level of care,” as opposed to being placed on the street, Dorsey said.

He acknowledged that the city lacks adequate alternatives, and situations like Murray’s aren’t uncommon. “We have to make sure we have treatment on demand and expand our recovery options,” Dorsey said.

Addiction experts who agree that drug-free housing can support recovery goals have raised concerns over the heightened emphasis on abstinence. Relapse is a regular experience for many substance use disorders.

“People who are working towards abstinence have a right to be in a space where there’s no drug use. But we are first obligated to see how we can work with them, if we can figure out what support they need,” said Vitka Eisen, who leads one of the city’s largest drug treatment providers, HealthRIGHT360. “Returning to old ways that didn’t work is not the answer.”

If someone has a relapse in HealthRIGHT360’s residential drug treatment programs, Eisen said they are typically evaluated for alternative care, including withdrawal management, medication-assisted treatment, counseling or other services.

An abstinence-based transitional housing program at the Drake Hotel takes similar approaches to relapses, using discharge as a last resort only if someone has been violent or shown other disruptive behavior, according to Beal of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic.

“The goal is to keep people connected to care. That’s the most important thing, to the degree to which we can turn a single slip from a deepening crisis for the individual,” Eisen said. “The worst outcome is when people are disconnected.”

Living away from drug use helped Murray stick to his sobriety. He’s desperate to find a place to live, but he isn’t looking to move back to Delancy Street, which has residents commit to a two-year stay.

“It’s not even really an option,” Murray said. “I’m 41 years old. I have kids that I’m desperately trying to get to, and I’ve been there already for three years. I just can’t justify in my head being away from them for another two years.”

He’s now hoping for a subsidized housing unit.

“I made a mistake, there’s no denying that. But to have three years of sobriety and getting under my feet then to just be cast out like garbage, it’s pretty tough,” Murray said.

Between job applications, Murray mostly keeps busy watching YouTube videos about astronomy, history and cute animals. “I spend a lot of time trying to watch positive stuff like educational videos because if I just sit alone and I’m not occupying my mind, it’s pretty depressing,” he said.

At the shelter, he said he sees many people with mental illnesses and substance use disorders who need supportive housing.

“I’m in the same situation they are in, but my situation is not hopeless. I can figure this out and get my shit together,” Murray said. “Some of these other folks, it’s not their fault and they’re really, really struggling.”