SF Homeless Agency Walks Back More Restrictive Policy on Family Shelter Stays

San Francisco will make it easier for families to remain in its temporary shelters for longer this fall, according to a Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing memo sent to the Board of Supervisors this month.

Beginning Oct. 1, the department will allow people in its temporary family shelter system to apply for an unlimited number of 90-day extensions, so long as they meet eligibility requirements.

The policy shift comes after months of pushback against a reinstated rule, implemented in December, that requires families to apply for 30-day extensions after their initial 90-day stay in one of the temporary shelters.

“In response to listening sessions with families using the shelter system, analysis of shelter outcomes data, and input from our service providers, HSH is moving forward with making the following changes to the Family Shelter Length of Stay policy,” the July 8 memo from HSH’s Executive Director Shireen McSpadden reads.

Currently, families enrolled in either of the department’s temporary family housing programs — which offer 14-day emergency and 90-day temporary shelter placements — are eligible for 30-day extensions, as long as they continue to engage with case managers and search for more stable housing. The shelter itself can approve the first three-monthlong stints itself, but additional extensions require HSH’s approval.

Among the leading critics of the limited-extensions policy, which was suspended during the pandemic, was Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who said eviction warnings sent to families at the end of their 90-day housing placement “caused undue harm and stress.”

In April, Fielder proposed legislation that would allow families to receive extensions to remain in shelters for up to a year as they search for permanent accommodations.

“[The new policy] was designed to protect children who were at risk of being sent back out to the street under the previous policy,” she said in a statement provided Wednesday.

When she put forward the legislation, cosponsored by Supervisors Shamann Walton, Chyanne Chen, Myrna Melgar and Connie Chan, Fielder told the San Francisco Chronicle that Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office had refused to direct HSH to rescind the December policy when she asked.

Now, the department appears to be bending to the supervisors’ requests.

The changes HSH plans to make will make extensions longer. Shelter providers will be allowed to authorize a first 90-day extension themselves, while HSH will need to grant further extensions.

Christin Evans, the vice chair of San Francisco’s Homelessness Oversight Commission, said the new policy will help prevent families who are seeking more permanent housing from slipping back into unsheltered homelessness. She said there are hundreds of families vying for a limited number of support services, including rapid re-housing vouchers and supportive housing placements.

“There are very long waitlists for people to get those resources,” she told KQED. “It’s really concerning that they know that there’s these limited resources and they’re essentially giving people very limited time in the shelter and knowing that this will result in people reentering homelessness, unsheltered homelessness.”

HSH said the updated policy reflects conversations with service providers and families as well as an analysis of shelter outcome data, which revealed that the gap threatened to let families in the supportive housing system backslide.

“This updated policy leads with compassion for those in shelter trying to provide for their families while helping them access permanent housing opportunities,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a statement. “And it will help encourage flow in our system, opening up much-needed space for families on the street right now.

“When government isn’t afraid to try things and listen to feedback, we can craft thoughtful, effective policies, and that’s what we’ve done here,” he said.

KQED’s Sydney Johnson contributed to this report.