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Showing posts with label standards of care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label standards of care. Show all posts
Monday, June 9, 2008
Stay Informed and In Touch With SF Board of Supervisors Every Day !
Use the information and links on this clip to increase your awareness of how our Honorable Board of Supervisors conducts The People s Business.
Check out their backgrounds, points of view, legislation they have sponsored, how they vote and conduct Public Meetings, especially around this Budget Time....
You can watch video of past meetings including the hearings on the Shelter Standards of Care which can be viewed in its entirety on SFGOV-TV.
GIVE THEM YOUR FEEDBACK ON YOUR LIFE IN SAN FRANCISCO.
ATTEND MEETINGS TO SEE WITH YOUR OWN EYES WHAT YOUR CITY OFFICIALS ARE DOING AND SAYING.
SPEAK UP ! GET INFORMED ! FIGHT IGNORANCE !
STAND UP & PARTICIPATE IN YOUR COMMUNITY NOW!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Homeless Shelter Standards of Care Passed by San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 9 to 2 Vote Today !
Well, it's official. On a Vote taken today, at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Meeting in Chambers, the long awaited homeless shelter 'Minimum Standards of Care' has been passed into City Law, by a Vote of 9 Members in favor with 2 Members opposed.
Here is the Cover Text introducing the legislation which is touted as being one partial solution to insuring that anyone staying in a tax funded homeless shelter, in San Francisco, shall be treated with Dignity & Respect, as a matter of undeniable, enforceable law (the will of The People).
VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO THESE SF BOARD OF SUPERVISORS'
MEMBERS WHO SPONSORED THIS LEGISLATION
The Vote was 9 Board Members in favor (they 'get it') and 2 Board Members opposed ('don't get it') to this legislation. *Aaron Peskin is President of this Board.
We will post the details on the voting here as soon as we get them....
VERY SPECIAL 'WHAT'S UP WITH YOU' TO THESE SF BOARD OF SUPERVISORS' MEMBERS WHO OPPOSED THIS LEGISLATION
[ Details just arrived.... these 2 BOS Members (shown below) Voted AGAINST This Community Will Driven Legislation ... hopefully, they will become enlightened and join us next time... Or, have the courage to 'think independently' and 'do the right thing even if someone else is trying to tell them otherwise... ]
March 18, 2008 - 2PM - Public Meeting/Hearing
San Francisco City Hall - Board of Supervisors' Chambers
In addition to requiring 'Dignity & Respect' for all City shelter residents, as a matter of law; this new legislation also provides for many basic hygiene, safety and staff training requirements in what can only be described as a 'future cost prevention' investment in the human beings that live and work in our City's Shelters.
Our City's Shelter and Resource Centers serve approximately 1,500 San Francisco residents that are poor, elderly, disabled and veterans who do not have a safe place of their own, to call 'home', every day of the year.
A public, community 'work group' was tasked with the writing of this legislation more than nine months ago, by the City's Shelter Monitoring Committee (SMC) which inspects and reports on tax funded shelter conditions to the City & the People of San Francisco.
This 'Standards of Care', community work group was comprised of a ton of people from all walks of life, color of skin, economic status, religions and backgrounds.
Their 'common ground', as San Franciscans, is that they are all dedicated serving the needs of San Franciscan residents that are in great need of widespread community support to enable them to 'make it' to 'their next step'.
Whether that 'next step' be obtaining social services, applying for veterans' benefits, reconnecting with family and work contacts, job searches, vocational training, medical services, substance abuse program enrollment or whatever -- every shelter resident has the right to be able to have 8 hours of peaceful rest, clean drinking water, nutritious food, respectful and qualified staff, clean and sanitary living conditions, transportation and access to electricity for their cell phones and medical deivces.
That has NOT been happening at most of our shelters, for the past 15 years due to a lack of standards, lack of 'caring culture' and general lack of dilligent government and community oversight.
On the contrary, they have been notoriously neglectful and abusive which was a 'dirty little secret' in this City until our Civil Grand Jury and later our SMC started reporting to us, about the Real Conditions of our multi-million dollar shelter and housing systems (including SRO's which is another topic for a later date).
This 'very diverse' group of work group participants, met regularly and attended some 44 meetings over nine months.
This ongoing 'Standard of Care' Work Group is comprised of several SMC members including the current SMC Chairperson Quintin Mecke (a well known homeless, affordable housing & safety advocate who ran for Mayor of San Francisco last year); SMC Member James Lenard (an advocate, former local business owner, investigator and homeless shelter resident, who first moved to the Bay Area in 1978); and several other homeless shelter residents; staff; and directors from Dolores Shelters, Central City Hospitality House, Next Door, Episcopal Sanctuary, Episcopal Community Services and St. Vincent DePaul's MSC South Shelters; and community advocates such as Jennifer Friedenbach, Director of the SF Coalition on Homelessness and concerned City Staff from the Department of Public Health (Dr. Deborah Borne, Director of Tom Waddell Clinic) and numerous other individuals all came together 'as one' using a consensus model to hammer out this legislation.
The only persons missing from this community table (before) was direct and consistent representation from the Mayor's Office and the Human Services Agency which had oversight over these shelters, in the form of 'contract compliance'.
The residents' complaints were revealed in the Coalition on Homelessness' 'Shelter Shock Report' and the SMC's findings all concurred that 'compliance' to existing laws and contracts were virtually non-existent in most of our City's homeless shelters for many years.
Widespread abuse.
No accountability for bad conduct and the theft of food, supplies and donations. We're talking about tens of millions of dollars here, folks ... every year !
No transparency in the complaint process. No communication back to the residents about status of conditions, repairs, et cetera.
Noone working at these shelters really very often 'got fired' or were fined or had their contracts taken away, they all just kind of moved over to another shelter or onto another 'program' with a new name.
It was a 'dirty little secret' that included plaintiffs in court cases being 'bought off' with pretrial settlements which kept it hidden from the public eye. There was very little earnest and factual local news coverage (like from The Chronicle who only gives shallow information and regularly uses a sports writing 'columnist', named C.W. Nevius, who is not a journalist to report on shelter conditions. They use these biased articles to paint false little 'pretty picture' reports to cover up the true nature of these shelters which were horrendous).
One health official recently described our tax funded City shelters as dangerous 'petri dishes' which pose a great health risk to all San Franciscans.
Instead of our City Servants showing wisdom, courage and leadership, by spending a couple million dollars, up front, to 'prevent problems and reduce harm and risk' they prefer to keep spending hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency response and crisis services (such as overtime for police, fire and medical personnel) after the fact.
It's a gross reflection of how many people are making money by NOT doing the right thing. It's corruption that results in perpetuating harm, abuse, theft and encourages a system that causes us all great harm and loss, every year because they are making money while we all suffer. It's disgusting and violates the public trust, yet, for some reason, they are unwilling to change their evil and despicable ways, which is why 'the people' have decided to 'do right' with or without help from City Officials.
However, over all of these years, there have been reliable newspapers such as The Street Sheets (written by people experiencing homelessness and abuse) and the SF Bay Guardian (whose dedicated professional journalists recently went undercover to expose abuses and lack of contract enforcement -- just a couple weeks ago) and even the SF Weekly and others have a history of reporting these abuses, as they really are and were.
The homeless in San Francisco were so tired of not being believed and not being protected that they started their own SFHomeless Yahoo! Group and blogs (this blog you are reading now, is their brain child) in order to bring real stories and real photos of shelter conditions to the forefront of the minds of all San Franciscans, every day.
The goal was to bring reality of the widespread abuse, theft and waste of tax payer dollars and human lives onto every desktop, laptop and cell phone in San Francisco, to put an end to the lies, the profiteering and the cover-ups that have been going on for 15 years. They had no idea that the 'whole world' would be watching their web site and blogs.
They have done well considering the fact that not only do all kinds of local homeless and city and non-profit service provider staff visit the Yahoo! Group and Blog sites, but also individuals and groups from around the state and around the nation also vist to find out what's going on in San Francisco.
Including poverty law centers and homeless and housing service providers on the east coast and the northwest (Oregon, Washington).
Amazingly enough, there are also regular visitors from other countries that visit these sites to learn about how 'things are done' in San Francisco with respect to its poor, elderly, disabled and ill residents and see how tax dollars and community donations and resources are being used (or misused) by City Agencies and Non-Profit Service Providers.
Even a nationally recognized law school (from back East) Masters Program Student, has been visiting and using the SFHomeless Yahoo! Group site for a study in how the internet can empower even low income people to enable them to speak out and defend their human, civil and legal rights. Especially when government agencies and non-profit providers fail to 'do their duty' and cause harm to people that need real help, not systematic abuse and exploitation.
Over the past few years, homeless shelter residents have continuously complained about the lack of access to the most basic of things, such as being allowed to plug in a cell phone, to maintain contact with family and employers and the growth of mold in bathrooms and showers.
One shelter has had 'black water' leaking into their basement cafeteria for years; dripping right next to and sometimes on to the food and condiments being served to residents (whom are often already sick and elderly at risk persons that deserve much safer and better care).
Whenever it rains or the street cleaners go by or even during heavy fog, the condensation gathers from the sidewalk above and eventually drips down as bacteria laden black water into the main basement dining room.
Several times, the condiment table was directly under this 'black water drip' and this nasty water dropped into the bins of sugar, creme and coffee cups of the shelter residents. Many of them were so tired and hungry they did not even notice this.
Over the years shelter residents have complained about some of the shelters being used to manufacture and sell drugs; one shelter in circa 2001 purportedly was manufacturing methamphetamines in the shelter's industrial kitchen every night, while the shelter residents were asleep on the floors above.
Had that 'secret' tax payer funded 'meth lab' exploded, it could have harmed or killed several hundred homeless residents in the blink of an eye.
They reported daily verbal and physical abuse at some shelters, but supervisors, staff and even directors would accuse the homeless of 'being mentally ill', drug addicts, liars or whatever to hide the bad behavior of their own staff and supervisors themselves. Many of whom are family members because the shelters do not use hiring standards to screen out bad people and routinely hire relatives (nepotism).
Real nonsense because in the first place, most homeless people are already suffering a trauma, so they tend to 'not' want to be a whistleblower and are grateful to be off of the streets, at first. They have bigger things on their minds than to run around making up stories and risking themselves to be abused or denied services in retaliation for their 'whistleblowing'. That's just common sense to begin with.
Once people are abused by people that make a salary from our tax dollars, they get angry and start speaking out. To anyone that would listen.
But, many city employees are 'jaded' and 'biased' against the homeless, so noone was really listening to their complaints.... The have preconceived notions and tended to lump all 'homeless people' into one category or set of attributes which is jsut as ridiculous and ignorant as saying that all 'white people' or all 'black people' or 'asians' or 'christians' or 'muslims' are all 'the same'.
It takes a little work for any of us to make sure we see and treat people as 'individuals' instead of stereotyping them, but that is where we find reality, based on looking at every person, as a unique individual no matter what 'group' they happen to be in or part of.
It served no purpose and there is no need for them to lie, at all. They mostly want to be left alone and they'd just keep to themselves if it wasn't for the fact that the abuses and thefts are so widespread and became common enough for them to get very upset about it, every day !
We discovered that a lot of the people that accused the homeless of making up these reports were actually 'bad actors' and haters that were 'part of' the abuse, the drug dealing and the grand thefts. They lied to cover hide the truth from public view and scrutiny.
That's why so many 'street homeless' have refused to go into the shelter and housing systems here.
That is why they do not trust our City Agencies. They do not trust our 'church' affiliated and community based non-profits.
They is why they do not trust our Mayor or other politicians.
Had these shelters been operating with 'good care' and 'proper oversight' more homeless would not be homeless and suffering today.
And more 'street people' would be totally supportive and willing to go into shelters and housing systems because they can see 'good things' happening.
But, over the years, they all saw abuse, assaults, drug dealing and general chaos and violence that has been San Francisco's shelter, housing & homeless services environment which has cost us all, hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes and who knows how many lives have been lost, due to preventable and predictable causes.
Things like obese people being denied extra mats or larger beds because the metal edges cut off their circulation.
Lack of ventilation which can trigger respiratory illness and loss of breathing resulting in sudden death. Lack of ventilation which can also lead to advancement of TB and other air borne diseases that can also result in permanent disease or premature, preventable death.
The stress level of a person with high blood pressure being screamed at by unqualified, 'gangland' type shelter staff and not being allowed to sleep 8 hours can trigger a stroke or heart attack.
If you try to 'force' or 'yell at' mentally ill people to 'do what you want' that can trigger a violent, mental episode when it would be better to have qualified, trained and sensitive staff deal with them in ways that will de-escalate conflict and prevent harm. It's about 'caring' and about 'being qualified' and about 'being specially trained' to deal with people that 'are not like you are'.
Lack of proper nutrition and food portions (calories) can trigger malnutrition, fatigue, heat stroke and other ailments that are much more expensive to treat, as an emergency response (such as police/fire/medics working on overtime pay) when all that was needed was to fully fund adequate Standards of Care.
Spending the money, up front, as a totally affordable (at any invesment amount, whether it be $93 per person per year or $500 per person per year) human investment because it Saves Lives and Saves Tax Money by preventing problems before they happen....
They were served lousy food in very small portions. Oftentimes, their bread was stale and moldy while staff sat at their stations eating fresh chicken and ribs.
One cook was reported by several kitchen volunteers to have been putting ex-lax and other substances into the shelter resident's meals. And that cook was reportedly selling drugs, stealing food by the case and 'stressing out' the female residents... all at the same shelter !!
When they complained too much, some shelter staff would deny the residents coffee, sugar or refused to serve them seconds, even when they had lots of food to spare.
Food stocks were stolen on a regular basis and was being sold at three or four locations around the Tenderloin and out in the Filmore Neighborhoods (on the streets and resold to local stores and markets that resold the food to unsuspecting customers). Even some screwed up residents were part of organized rackets to steal food and 'sneak it out' in trash cans and back packs. We even suspected some staff were stealing food and preparing meals in shelter kitchens for their own catering businesses on the side. Again, this is grand theft of tax money and community donations.
The courageous shelter residents that 'stood up' and 'spoke out' were routinely 'denied services' and thrown out of shelters on trumped up charges.
Many shelters have no hiring standards or drug testing. They routinely hired friends, relatives and neighbors to maintain 'control' over shelter operations and the continuous theft of food and clothes that were purchased with tax dollars or donated to the shelters.
Instead of making sure the residents got good care, decent food, clothing and shelter, the supervisors and staff would 'take all the good stuff for themselves' and leave the scraps behind for the 'captive' shelter residents.
That has been the legacy and history of homeless shelters in San Francisco.
As we move forward, lets keep in mind that many of the people that stole and abused our people and resources are STILL EMPLOYED at some of these shelters; resource centers and even at our non-profit housing service provider organizations.
To stop this 'never ending cycle' we must completely change all of these systems.
We must develop shelter, homeless and housing staff hiring standards, drug testing and apply 'zero tolerance policies' for the theft and misuse of donations, clothing, food and resources; and stop the abuse of shelter residents.
Otherwise, nothing will change and we'll keep seeing the same homeless people being held 'captive' by these shelters and hanging out in the streets and parks and jails and hospitals; all costing us many times as much money in taxes, to accomplish very little.
Now is 'the time' for all 'Good & Honest San Franciscans' to come together, as 'one community, one voice, one free will' to change this entire corrupt system, from the ground up, to benefit all San Franciscans.
So, today is a historic day in the history of 'How San Francisco Treats It's Homeless Residents in 2008', with the passage of new homeless shelter 'Standards of Care'.
This is the beginning of an era where Our People are finally putting an end to the abuse, the lies and the coverups that have caused tens of thousands of people to suffer, alone and often in forced silence, during these past 15 years of these kinds of 'shelter operations'.
We have a lot more work to do. And yes, this legislation has been 'watered down' and reduced in cost down to about $93 per year, per person, but it is a big step, in the right direction.
Yes, our homeless residents are still 'captive' because one of the most important provisions, the bus tokens (or discounted Muni Passes which would have cost half as much as HSA stated in their bogus, misleading reports on this legislation) was ripped out, apparently to appease our Mayor Gavin Newsom and some Agency Directors and Department Heads who apparently do NOT want our homeless residents to be enabled to 'make it' to their required and necessary appointments on time using public transportation.
At least, that is what we believe because 'Trent Rohrer' (current Director of SF's Human Services Agency, aka HSA) stated in a public meeting last month, of the 10 Year Plan Council, that he did not make these stupid budget cut decisions, but it 'was his Department Heads' that made these decisions. Not himself (Trent Rohrer) and not The Mayor...'
They all seem to lie, so we really do not know which of them (Trent Rohrer, Mayor Gavin Newsom and some of their representatives and employees) which is a huge part of the problem.
They have not been meeting regularly with our Board of Supervisors. They have not been attending public meetings and work group sessions. They have chosen to remain 'out of the loop' and then they make unilateral decisions in a vaccuum that serves their interests or the interests of 'rich' special interest groups.
And when they finally discover, late in the day, that they screwed up again (because of their own lack of attention, attendance and good faith in 'our people' and the Board of Supervisors) and made decisions on budgets that cause harm and exponentially increase un-necessary future costs they seem to blame their department heads or staff which just causes even more disconnects inside agencies and makes them all untrustworthy in the eyes of the whole community. It's a viscious cycle that must come to an end.
But, even though there are still some public servants that 'have something against' our homeless residents and they 'refuse' to spend money to minimize their suffering and hardship (which will result in people staying longer than necessary in shelters and will result in more failures due to lack of independent access to transportation) we are confident that in time, change for the better will arrive.
They will either become enlightened and 'get a heart' and start meeting our people and our Board of Supervisors on a regular basis (in good faith and honesty) or they will be replaced by people that want to invest in humans so they can get out of this 'captive' shelter system that has enslaved too many of our good people.
So, we are hopeful that we can build on this movement and we hope that the shelters and homeless & housing service providers will 'step up' and take advantage of the fact that our community will support them. But only ass long as they live up to their agreement and promise to maintain dignity and respect for all San Franciscans regardless of their economic or health status, religion, sexual orientation, gender or the color of their skin or national origin.
As long as everyone plays by the rules and take 'good care' of our residents and stop stealing the money and the food, there will be no need for the enforcement provisions of this legislation to kick in.
But, let the efforts of the diverse San Franciscans that all came together, as one, on this legislation, serve as a warning to all of the individual thieves, haters, abusers and con artists that are still in our shelters, housing and homeless service provider organizations and on staff in our City Agencies and even our elected public officials, politicians, board & committee members.
We will not forget how and who has abused us for the past 15 years.
We are going to keep a very close watch over every thing you do; everything you say; and every step you make -- we will be right there to make sure that you either 'do right' by all San Franciscans.
Or, if you are unwilling to change your bad ways, we will escort you to the door and you are free to leave or become arrested, because we are no longer going to tolerate any more abuse of our people or the theft and waste of tax payer or donated money and resources.
THOSE OLD DAYS ARE GONE NOW WITH THE PASSAGE OF THESE NEW 'MINIMUM STANDARDS OF CARE', AS A MATTER OF LAW.
We'd like to again, give a Special Thanks to the Board of Supervisors that sponsored and voted in favor of this legislation and Special Thanks to all of the individuals and groups that worked together, in the San Franciscan way, to make this happen.
We hope that in time, all city officials, agencies and service providers will come to our well researched understanding that it's much cheaper and better for us to give our home-less residents all the tools, support and resources they need to 'move on' instead of trying to 'hold them captive' for the sake of power, profit or political gain.
We have so many more homeless people coming that we must all work together, as one community, to make sure all San Franciscans are treated with dignity and respect.
And with all resources being limited and scarce, we cannot afford to waste or steal or squander any more food, supplies or other resources.
We must all open our minds to the fact, that it is true, every time you see a poor, elderly or disabled person walking in the street --- be 'thankful' that you are not in their shoes today.
Remember, that due to any sudden, economic or natural disaster, you could be in their shoes tomorrow or next week. You may become a homeless shelter resident, resource center client or have to use other homeless and housing services, just to survive and make it to 'your next step'.
Treat others as you would like to be treated because that is what makes us all human.
Spending money on all the tools and resources our home-less residents need is money well spent because it is an investment.
It's so much cheaper to do exactly what so many other Cities have been doing for many years now. Oregon, Washington, Ohio, Florida and even some parts of Texas.
They know it's cheaper, in the first place, to give all people a safe place, a good meal, good role models and positive environments so they can be productive, than it is to not take good care of them and let them loose on the streets to be victimized, beaten down and criminalized which is very, very expensive.
Our City Officials keep telling us they 'cannot afford' to spend money on homeless services, mental health services and other proven preventive and cost saving systems, yet they'll submit a budget that includes some $200 Million dollars in 'regular' overtime for police, fire and medical personnel ???!??!
It's all backwards and they know it. We're not waiting for them to get the courage to reverse all of these prehistoric, self destructive budget calculation methods and self serving spending habits that are literally 'killing us' and wasting precious tax dollars on a few, while the masses suffer and are placed at great risk.
We will move ahead, as a 'united community' and use any legal, political or social tool neccessary to put the horse back in front of these carts.
And we are ready and able, by ourselves if need be, to do this.
Because as 'an informed and united community' we have all the records, surveys, documents and proof to show what's been wrong with all of these 'systems' for the past 15 years who has lied and been corrupted.
Now, we are determined to use that knowledge to 'build anew' the kinds of structures and processes we need to improve the quality of our lives exponentially.
But this time, we will do this to benefit and uplift 'the masses' instead of catering to the needs of a few (who are mostly the richest and most uncaring among us).
So, let's all stop being ignorant, greedy, insecure about our 'programs' and 'grants' and stupid. It's time for us to stop being selfish, little juvenile delinquents and start acting like humane, caring adults so we can put San Francisco back to its place as a world leader in humanity, justice and 'profitability in business', as it was before, and as it should be, again. To benefit us all, not just a few.
Let's stop being greedy, cold, 'controlling' and heartless towards our people. Let's stop putting more importance on our SUV's and 'our clothes' than we have been putting on our fellow human beings... that materialism crap has to go.
We must be about substance and honesty or we are really worth nothing at all.
Let's all 'get on the same page' and start 'doing right' by each other and by all San Franciscans and live together in peace and prosperity again, as one united community.
JOIN US. START BY ATTENDING PUBLIC MEETINGS. JOIN A LOCAL COMMITTEE OR BOARD. DO SOME VOLUNTEERING TO SEE WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON. TO SEE HOW YOUR TAX DOLLARS AND DONATIONS ARE BEING USED OR MISUSED.
DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. READ ALTERNATIVE MEDIA SOURCES. TALK TO HOMELESS PEOPLE. TALK TO OUR ELDERLY AND OUR POOR.
START OPENING YOUR MIND AND GET RID OF YOUR PRECONCEIVED IDEAS AND BIASES AGAINST 'OTHERS' THAT ARE REALLY JUST PEOPLE THAT NEED HELP WITHOUT BEING ABUSED OR RIPPED OFF OR HELD CAPTIVE.
| Recommendations of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee | |||
| Present: Supervisors Peskin, Ammiano, Maxwell | |||
| 14. | 071518 | [Standards of Care for City Shelters] | Supervisors Ammiano, Mirkarimi, Peskin, Daly, Maxwell |
The Vote was 9 Board Members in favor (they 'get it') and 2 Board Members opposed ('don't get it') to this legislation. *Aaron Peskin is President of this Board.
We will post the details on the voting here as soon as we get them....
VERY SPECIAL 'WHAT'S UP WITH YOU' TO THESE SF BOARD OF SUPERVISORS' MEMBERS WHO OPPOSED THIS LEGISLATION
[ Details just arrived.... these 2 BOS Members (shown below) Voted AGAINST This Community Will Driven Legislation ... hopefully, they will become enlightened and join us next time... Or, have the courage to 'think independently' and 'do the right thing even if someone else is trying to tell them otherwise... ]
March 18, 2008 - 2PM - Public Meeting/Hearing
San Francisco City Hall - Board of Supervisors' Chambers
In addition to requiring 'Dignity & Respect' for all City shelter residents, as a matter of law; this new legislation also provides for many basic hygiene, safety and staff training requirements in what can only be described as a 'future cost prevention' investment in the human beings that live and work in our City's Shelters.
Our City's Shelter and Resource Centers serve approximately 1,500 San Francisco residents that are poor, elderly, disabled and veterans who do not have a safe place of their own, to call 'home', every day of the year.
A public, community 'work group' was tasked with the writing of this legislation more than nine months ago, by the City's Shelter Monitoring Committee (SMC) which inspects and reports on tax funded shelter conditions to the City & the People of San Francisco.
This 'Standards of Care', community work group was comprised of a ton of people from all walks of life, color of skin, economic status, religions and backgrounds.
Their 'common ground', as San Franciscans, is that they are all dedicated serving the needs of San Franciscan residents that are in great need of widespread community support to enable them to 'make it' to 'their next step'.
Whether that 'next step' be obtaining social services, applying for veterans' benefits, reconnecting with family and work contacts, job searches, vocational training, medical services, substance abuse program enrollment or whatever -- every shelter resident has the right to be able to have 8 hours of peaceful rest, clean drinking water, nutritious food, respectful and qualified staff, clean and sanitary living conditions, transportation and access to electricity for their cell phones and medical deivces.
That has NOT been happening at most of our shelters, for the past 15 years due to a lack of standards, lack of 'caring culture' and general lack of dilligent government and community oversight.
On the contrary, they have been notoriously neglectful and abusive which was a 'dirty little secret' in this City until our Civil Grand Jury and later our SMC started reporting to us, about the Real Conditions of our multi-million dollar shelter and housing systems (including SRO's which is another topic for a later date).
This 'very diverse' group of work group participants, met regularly and attended some 44 meetings over nine months.
This ongoing 'Standard of Care' Work Group is comprised of several SMC members including the current SMC Chairperson Quintin Mecke (a well known homeless, affordable housing & safety advocate who ran for Mayor of San Francisco last year); SMC Member James Lenard (an advocate, former local business owner, investigator and homeless shelter resident, who first moved to the Bay Area in 1978); and several other homeless shelter residents; staff; and directors from Dolores Shelters, Central City Hospitality House, Next Door, Episcopal Sanctuary, Episcopal Community Services and St. Vincent DePaul's MSC South Shelters; and community advocates such as Jennifer Friedenbach, Director of the SF Coalition on Homelessness and concerned City Staff from the Department of Public Health (Dr. Deborah Borne, Director of Tom Waddell Clinic) and numerous other individuals all came together 'as one' using a consensus model to hammer out this legislation.
The only persons missing from this community table (before) was direct and consistent representation from the Mayor's Office and the Human Services Agency which had oversight over these shelters, in the form of 'contract compliance'.
The residents' complaints were revealed in the Coalition on Homelessness' 'Shelter Shock Report' and the SMC's findings all concurred that 'compliance' to existing laws and contracts were virtually non-existent in most of our City's homeless shelters for many years.
Widespread abuse.
No accountability for bad conduct and the theft of food, supplies and donations. We're talking about tens of millions of dollars here, folks ... every year !
No transparency in the complaint process. No communication back to the residents about status of conditions, repairs, et cetera.
Noone working at these shelters really very often 'got fired' or were fined or had their contracts taken away, they all just kind of moved over to another shelter or onto another 'program' with a new name.
It was a 'dirty little secret' that included plaintiffs in court cases being 'bought off' with pretrial settlements which kept it hidden from the public eye. There was very little earnest and factual local news coverage (like from The Chronicle who only gives shallow information and regularly uses a sports writing 'columnist', named C.W. Nevius, who is not a journalist to report on shelter conditions. They use these biased articles to paint false little 'pretty picture' reports to cover up the true nature of these shelters which were horrendous).
One health official recently described our tax funded City shelters as dangerous 'petri dishes' which pose a great health risk to all San Franciscans.
Instead of our City Servants showing wisdom, courage and leadership, by spending a couple million dollars, up front, to 'prevent problems and reduce harm and risk' they prefer to keep spending hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency response and crisis services (such as overtime for police, fire and medical personnel) after the fact.
It's a gross reflection of how many people are making money by NOT doing the right thing. It's corruption that results in perpetuating harm, abuse, theft and encourages a system that causes us all great harm and loss, every year because they are making money while we all suffer. It's disgusting and violates the public trust, yet, for some reason, they are unwilling to change their evil and despicable ways, which is why 'the people' have decided to 'do right' with or without help from City Officials.
However, over all of these years, there have been reliable newspapers such as The Street Sheets (written by people experiencing homelessness and abuse) and the SF Bay Guardian (whose dedicated professional journalists recently went undercover to expose abuses and lack of contract enforcement -- just a couple weeks ago) and even the SF Weekly and others have a history of reporting these abuses, as they really are and were.
The homeless in San Francisco were so tired of not being believed and not being protected that they started their own SFHomeless Yahoo! Group and blogs (this blog you are reading now, is their brain child) in order to bring real stories and real photos of shelter conditions to the forefront of the minds of all San Franciscans, every day.
The goal was to bring reality of the widespread abuse, theft and waste of tax payer dollars and human lives onto every desktop, laptop and cell phone in San Francisco, to put an end to the lies, the profiteering and the cover-ups that have been going on for 15 years. They had no idea that the 'whole world' would be watching their web site and blogs.
They have done well considering the fact that not only do all kinds of local homeless and city and non-profit service provider staff visit the Yahoo! Group and Blog sites, but also individuals and groups from around the state and around the nation also vist to find out what's going on in San Francisco.
Including poverty law centers and homeless and housing service providers on the east coast and the northwest (Oregon, Washington).
Amazingly enough, there are also regular visitors from other countries that visit these sites to learn about how 'things are done' in San Francisco with respect to its poor, elderly, disabled and ill residents and see how tax dollars and community donations and resources are being used (or misused) by City Agencies and Non-Profit Service Providers.
Even a nationally recognized law school (from back East) Masters Program Student, has been visiting and using the SFHomeless Yahoo! Group site for a study in how the internet can empower even low income people to enable them to speak out and defend their human, civil and legal rights. Especially when government agencies and non-profit providers fail to 'do their duty' and cause harm to people that need real help, not systematic abuse and exploitation.
Over the past few years, homeless shelter residents have continuously complained about the lack of access to the most basic of things, such as being allowed to plug in a cell phone, to maintain contact with family and employers and the growth of mold in bathrooms and showers.
One shelter has had 'black water' leaking into their basement cafeteria for years; dripping right next to and sometimes on to the food and condiments being served to residents (whom are often already sick and elderly at risk persons that deserve much safer and better care).
Whenever it rains or the street cleaners go by or even during heavy fog, the condensation gathers from the sidewalk above and eventually drips down as bacteria laden black water into the main basement dining room.
Several times, the condiment table was directly under this 'black water drip' and this nasty water dropped into the bins of sugar, creme and coffee cups of the shelter residents. Many of them were so tired and hungry they did not even notice this.
Over the years shelter residents have complained about some of the shelters being used to manufacture and sell drugs; one shelter in circa 2001 purportedly was manufacturing methamphetamines in the shelter's industrial kitchen every night, while the shelter residents were asleep on the floors above.
Had that 'secret' tax payer funded 'meth lab' exploded, it could have harmed or killed several hundred homeless residents in the blink of an eye.
They reported daily verbal and physical abuse at some shelters, but supervisors, staff and even directors would accuse the homeless of 'being mentally ill', drug addicts, liars or whatever to hide the bad behavior of their own staff and supervisors themselves. Many of whom are family members because the shelters do not use hiring standards to screen out bad people and routinely hire relatives (nepotism).
Real nonsense because in the first place, most homeless people are already suffering a trauma, so they tend to 'not' want to be a whistleblower and are grateful to be off of the streets, at first. They have bigger things on their minds than to run around making up stories and risking themselves to be abused or denied services in retaliation for their 'whistleblowing'. That's just common sense to begin with.
Once people are abused by people that make a salary from our tax dollars, they get angry and start speaking out. To anyone that would listen.
But, many city employees are 'jaded' and 'biased' against the homeless, so noone was really listening to their complaints.... The have preconceived notions and tended to lump all 'homeless people' into one category or set of attributes which is jsut as ridiculous and ignorant as saying that all 'white people' or all 'black people' or 'asians' or 'christians' or 'muslims' are all 'the same'.
It takes a little work for any of us to make sure we see and treat people as 'individuals' instead of stereotyping them, but that is where we find reality, based on looking at every person, as a unique individual no matter what 'group' they happen to be in or part of.
It served no purpose and there is no need for them to lie, at all. They mostly want to be left alone and they'd just keep to themselves if it wasn't for the fact that the abuses and thefts are so widespread and became common enough for them to get very upset about it, every day !
We discovered that a lot of the people that accused the homeless of making up these reports were actually 'bad actors' and haters that were 'part of' the abuse, the drug dealing and the grand thefts. They lied to cover hide the truth from public view and scrutiny.
That's why so many 'street homeless' have refused to go into the shelter and housing systems here.
That is why they do not trust our City Agencies. They do not trust our 'church' affiliated and community based non-profits.
They is why they do not trust our Mayor or other politicians.
Had these shelters been operating with 'good care' and 'proper oversight' more homeless would not be homeless and suffering today.
And more 'street people' would be totally supportive and willing to go into shelters and housing systems because they can see 'good things' happening.
But, over the years, they all saw abuse, assaults, drug dealing and general chaos and violence that has been San Francisco's shelter, housing & homeless services environment which has cost us all, hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes and who knows how many lives have been lost, due to preventable and predictable causes.
Things like obese people being denied extra mats or larger beds because the metal edges cut off their circulation.
Lack of ventilation which can trigger respiratory illness and loss of breathing resulting in sudden death. Lack of ventilation which can also lead to advancement of TB and other air borne diseases that can also result in permanent disease or premature, preventable death.
The stress level of a person with high blood pressure being screamed at by unqualified, 'gangland' type shelter staff and not being allowed to sleep 8 hours can trigger a stroke or heart attack.
If you try to 'force' or 'yell at' mentally ill people to 'do what you want' that can trigger a violent, mental episode when it would be better to have qualified, trained and sensitive staff deal with them in ways that will de-escalate conflict and prevent harm. It's about 'caring' and about 'being qualified' and about 'being specially trained' to deal with people that 'are not like you are'.
Lack of proper nutrition and food portions (calories) can trigger malnutrition, fatigue, heat stroke and other ailments that are much more expensive to treat, as an emergency response (such as police/fire/medics working on overtime pay) when all that was needed was to fully fund adequate Standards of Care.
Spending the money, up front, as a totally affordable (at any invesment amount, whether it be $93 per person per year or $500 per person per year) human investment because it Saves Lives and Saves Tax Money by preventing problems before they happen....
They were served lousy food in very small portions. Oftentimes, their bread was stale and moldy while staff sat at their stations eating fresh chicken and ribs.
One cook was reported by several kitchen volunteers to have been putting ex-lax and other substances into the shelter resident's meals. And that cook was reportedly selling drugs, stealing food by the case and 'stressing out' the female residents... all at the same shelter !!
When they complained too much, some shelter staff would deny the residents coffee, sugar or refused to serve them seconds, even when they had lots of food to spare.
Food stocks were stolen on a regular basis and was being sold at three or four locations around the Tenderloin and out in the Filmore Neighborhoods (on the streets and resold to local stores and markets that resold the food to unsuspecting customers). Even some screwed up residents were part of organized rackets to steal food and 'sneak it out' in trash cans and back packs. We even suspected some staff were stealing food and preparing meals in shelter kitchens for their own catering businesses on the side. Again, this is grand theft of tax money and community donations.
The courageous shelter residents that 'stood up' and 'spoke out' were routinely 'denied services' and thrown out of shelters on trumped up charges.
Many shelters have no hiring standards or drug testing. They routinely hired friends, relatives and neighbors to maintain 'control' over shelter operations and the continuous theft of food and clothes that were purchased with tax dollars or donated to the shelters.
Instead of making sure the residents got good care, decent food, clothing and shelter, the supervisors and staff would 'take all the good stuff for themselves' and leave the scraps behind for the 'captive' shelter residents.
That has been the legacy and history of homeless shelters in San Francisco.
As we move forward, lets keep in mind that many of the people that stole and abused our people and resources are STILL EMPLOYED at some of these shelters; resource centers and even at our non-profit housing service provider organizations.
To stop this 'never ending cycle' we must completely change all of these systems.
We must develop shelter, homeless and housing staff hiring standards, drug testing and apply 'zero tolerance policies' for the theft and misuse of donations, clothing, food and resources; and stop the abuse of shelter residents.
Otherwise, nothing will change and we'll keep seeing the same homeless people being held 'captive' by these shelters and hanging out in the streets and parks and jails and hospitals; all costing us many times as much money in taxes, to accomplish very little.
Now is 'the time' for all 'Good & Honest San Franciscans' to come together, as 'one community, one voice, one free will' to change this entire corrupt system, from the ground up, to benefit all San Franciscans.
So, today is a historic day in the history of 'How San Francisco Treats It's Homeless Residents in 2008', with the passage of new homeless shelter 'Standards of Care'.
This is the beginning of an era where Our People are finally putting an end to the abuse, the lies and the coverups that have caused tens of thousands of people to suffer, alone and often in forced silence, during these past 15 years of these kinds of 'shelter operations'.
We have a lot more work to do. And yes, this legislation has been 'watered down' and reduced in cost down to about $93 per year, per person, but it is a big step, in the right direction.
Yes, our homeless residents are still 'captive' because one of the most important provisions, the bus tokens (or discounted Muni Passes which would have cost half as much as HSA stated in their bogus, misleading reports on this legislation) was ripped out, apparently to appease our Mayor Gavin Newsom and some Agency Directors and Department Heads who apparently do NOT want our homeless residents to be enabled to 'make it' to their required and necessary appointments on time using public transportation.
At least, that is what we believe because 'Trent Rohrer' (current Director of SF's Human Services Agency, aka HSA) stated in a public meeting last month, of the 10 Year Plan Council, that he did not make these stupid budget cut decisions, but it 'was his Department Heads' that made these decisions. Not himself (Trent Rohrer) and not The Mayor...'
They all seem to lie, so we really do not know which of them (Trent Rohrer, Mayor Gavin Newsom and some of their representatives and employees) which is a huge part of the problem.
They have not been meeting regularly with our Board of Supervisors. They have not been attending public meetings and work group sessions. They have chosen to remain 'out of the loop' and then they make unilateral decisions in a vaccuum that serves their interests or the interests of 'rich' special interest groups.
And when they finally discover, late in the day, that they screwed up again (because of their own lack of attention, attendance and good faith in 'our people' and the Board of Supervisors) and made decisions on budgets that cause harm and exponentially increase un-necessary future costs they seem to blame their department heads or staff which just causes even more disconnects inside agencies and makes them all untrustworthy in the eyes of the whole community. It's a viscious cycle that must come to an end.
But, even though there are still some public servants that 'have something against' our homeless residents and they 'refuse' to spend money to minimize their suffering and hardship (which will result in people staying longer than necessary in shelters and will result in more failures due to lack of independent access to transportation) we are confident that in time, change for the better will arrive.
They will either become enlightened and 'get a heart' and start meeting our people and our Board of Supervisors on a regular basis (in good faith and honesty) or they will be replaced by people that want to invest in humans so they can get out of this 'captive' shelter system that has enslaved too many of our good people.
So, we are hopeful that we can build on this movement and we hope that the shelters and homeless & housing service providers will 'step up' and take advantage of the fact that our community will support them. But only ass long as they live up to their agreement and promise to maintain dignity and respect for all San Franciscans regardless of their economic or health status, religion, sexual orientation, gender or the color of their skin or national origin.
As long as everyone plays by the rules and take 'good care' of our residents and stop stealing the money and the food, there will be no need for the enforcement provisions of this legislation to kick in.
But, let the efforts of the diverse San Franciscans that all came together, as one, on this legislation, serve as a warning to all of the individual thieves, haters, abusers and con artists that are still in our shelters, housing and homeless service provider organizations and on staff in our City Agencies and even our elected public officials, politicians, board & committee members.
We will not forget how and who has abused us for the past 15 years.
We are going to keep a very close watch over every thing you do; everything you say; and every step you make -- we will be right there to make sure that you either 'do right' by all San Franciscans.
Or, if you are unwilling to change your bad ways, we will escort you to the door and you are free to leave or become arrested, because we are no longer going to tolerate any more abuse of our people or the theft and waste of tax payer or donated money and resources.
THOSE OLD DAYS ARE GONE NOW WITH THE PASSAGE OF THESE NEW 'MINIMUM STANDARDS OF CARE', AS A MATTER OF LAW.
We'd like to again, give a Special Thanks to the Board of Supervisors that sponsored and voted in favor of this legislation and Special Thanks to all of the individuals and groups that worked together, in the San Franciscan way, to make this happen.
We hope that in time, all city officials, agencies and service providers will come to our well researched understanding that it's much cheaper and better for us to give our home-less residents all the tools, support and resources they need to 'move on' instead of trying to 'hold them captive' for the sake of power, profit or political gain.
We have so many more homeless people coming that we must all work together, as one community, to make sure all San Franciscans are treated with dignity and respect.
And with all resources being limited and scarce, we cannot afford to waste or steal or squander any more food, supplies or other resources.
We must all open our minds to the fact, that it is true, every time you see a poor, elderly or disabled person walking in the street --- be 'thankful' that you are not in their shoes today.
Remember, that due to any sudden, economic or natural disaster, you could be in their shoes tomorrow or next week. You may become a homeless shelter resident, resource center client or have to use other homeless and housing services, just to survive and make it to 'your next step'.
Treat others as you would like to be treated because that is what makes us all human.
Spending money on all the tools and resources our home-less residents need is money well spent because it is an investment.
It's so much cheaper to do exactly what so many other Cities have been doing for many years now. Oregon, Washington, Ohio, Florida and even some parts of Texas.
They know it's cheaper, in the first place, to give all people a safe place, a good meal, good role models and positive environments so they can be productive, than it is to not take good care of them and let them loose on the streets to be victimized, beaten down and criminalized which is very, very expensive.
Our City Officials keep telling us they 'cannot afford' to spend money on homeless services, mental health services and other proven preventive and cost saving systems, yet they'll submit a budget that includes some $200 Million dollars in 'regular' overtime for police, fire and medical personnel ???!??!
It's all backwards and they know it. We're not waiting for them to get the courage to reverse all of these prehistoric, self destructive budget calculation methods and self serving spending habits that are literally 'killing us' and wasting precious tax dollars on a few, while the masses suffer and are placed at great risk.
We will move ahead, as a 'united community' and use any legal, political or social tool neccessary to put the horse back in front of these carts.
And we are ready and able, by ourselves if need be, to do this.
Because as 'an informed and united community' we have all the records, surveys, documents and proof to show what's been wrong with all of these 'systems' for the past 15 years who has lied and been corrupted.
Now, we are determined to use that knowledge to 'build anew' the kinds of structures and processes we need to improve the quality of our lives exponentially.
But this time, we will do this to benefit and uplift 'the masses' instead of catering to the needs of a few (who are mostly the richest and most uncaring among us).
So, let's all stop being ignorant, greedy, insecure about our 'programs' and 'grants' and stupid. It's time for us to stop being selfish, little juvenile delinquents and start acting like humane, caring adults so we can put San Francisco back to its place as a world leader in humanity, justice and 'profitability in business', as it was before, and as it should be, again. To benefit us all, not just a few.
Let's stop being greedy, cold, 'controlling' and heartless towards our people. Let's stop putting more importance on our SUV's and 'our clothes' than we have been putting on our fellow human beings... that materialism crap has to go.
We must be about substance and honesty or we are really worth nothing at all.
Let's all 'get on the same page' and start 'doing right' by each other and by all San Franciscans and live together in peace and prosperity again, as one united community.
JOIN US. START BY ATTENDING PUBLIC MEETINGS. JOIN A LOCAL COMMITTEE OR BOARD. DO SOME VOLUNTEERING TO SEE WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON. TO SEE HOW YOUR TAX DOLLARS AND DONATIONS ARE BEING USED OR MISUSED.
DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. READ ALTERNATIVE MEDIA SOURCES. TALK TO HOMELESS PEOPLE. TALK TO OUR ELDERLY AND OUR POOR.
START OPENING YOUR MIND AND GET RID OF YOUR PRECONCEIVED IDEAS AND BIASES AGAINST 'OTHERS' THAT ARE REALLY JUST PEOPLE THAT NEED HELP WITHOUT BEING ABUSED OR RIPPED OFF OR HELD CAPTIVE.
Friday, February 1, 2008
SF Homeless Shelter Model - Makes Respect, Dignity and Hygiene enforceable by law.
San Francisco, after 10 or 15 years of a somewhat abusive, violent and generally undesirable living conditions, our City's Shelter System is finally reversing years of suffering and lack of moral and incentives, the good shelter residents and staff are ready to pass the country's first City Shelter 'Minimumm Standards of Care'.
On February 20, 2008, There is a Noon Rally on the steps, in front of San Francisco City Hall and a Hearing before the SF Supervisor's Budget & Finance Committee, at 1 PM - In the Meeting Room 200.
PUBLIC IS INVITED TO SUPPORT THIS VALUABLE AND COST EFFECTIVE LEGISLATION.
Something that all sheleters should have been doing a long time ago, but lapses in consistent and 'escalating' enforcement of City Shelter Contracts by some City departments and staff (and shelter management themselves, at times for not being more proactive in setting standards.) every day shelter residents suffer harm, losses, lack of sleep and appropriate respect and dignity by our tax funded shelter managers and staff.
When homeless shelter residents and staff are overworked, stressed out, tired, undernourished (clients, not staff - they eat very well on food meant to the homeless in many SF Shelters), treated abusively, denied adequate services to 'get out' of being homeless, they all tend to fail and we have to 'recycle' them back into the same system, filled with non-compliance with all kinds of human rights, contracts, local and state health and safety codes and lack of well trained staff.
It's an expensive revolving door when we do not make standards into law, to insure that positive compliance is not optional, year after year, but required.
Protecting our homeless is necessary to defray all other costs to the community and it saves lives and resources.
And after the harm, losses and trauma of being denied basic services, to improve the quality of their lives , it becomes much more expensive to correct failures caused by the shelter facilities and personnel, than to have a universal set of standards, in place.
I surmise that in many case, due to unanticipated need, shelters were often 'thrown together' rapidly, without consideration of what happens when large
and small numbers of staff, work against the best interests of the residents they serve and the staff, become part of the violence, corruption and drug dealing that we supposed to be helping to protect all of our City's residents from, homeless or not.
[ re-posted with permission via email to The SFHomeless Yahoo! Group, San Francisco, California ]
Tags: San Francisco | Life | shelter | Strange | Toilet
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
San Francisco Winter Shelter Serves Leftovers, 36 hours old, to homeless residents at St. Mary's Cathedral ! HEALTH ALERT !
SF Homeless Yahoo! Group Presents -
Today's Street and Shelter Condition Update - Health Alert !
For Wednesday, December 26th, 2007 - San Francisco, California U.S.A.
Homeless Health Risk Alert ! December 26th, 2007 -
36 Hours Old Dinner Leftovers Served Unheated and Unrefrigerated for Today's Breakfast. Likely Bacteria Growth.
Well, it smelled a little funny, so we took a closer look.
We were shocked ! The food was room temperature to the touch and not refrigerated.
Theses MEALS appear to have been LEFTOVERS that were prepared/cooked at our dinner, at 6PM, DECEMBER 24th, 2007.
This Chart from another Basic Food Handling Course shows how fast particular types of bacteria grows at body temperature, in milk and broth type environments (gravy).
After being left out for let's say, only 2 hours at 'danger zone temperature' or at room or body temperature, 10,000 bacteria would have doubled every twenty minutes, in just 2 hours, they would double six times or 10,000 x 2, six times = 320,000 potential bacterium cells.
In 4 hours, they would have doubled six more times = 20,480,000 total potential bacteria cells present.
After 36 hours, potentially billions of bacterium would have been formed for every 10,000 initial bacteria cells on food.
Exact rate of growth depends on type of food. Starchy foods like potatos, yams and meat grow fast, according to the chart above.
THIS FOOD IS LIKELY TO CAUSE SICKNESS IF ANY BACTERIA WAS PRESENT DUE TO THE LENGTH OF TIME IT HAD BEEN SITTING OUT.
Today's Street and Shelter Condition Update - Health Alert !
For Wednesday, December 26th, 2007 - San Francisco, California U.S.A.
[ These are Preliminary Reports based on tips, leads, interviews, research and first hand knowledge and beliefs by Homeless Shelter; Resource Center; SRO's Staff, Residents, Clients, Observers; and various governmental, scholastic and community group reports.
After confirmation from more of your tips and first hand stories, these will become Registered Complaints and forwarded to applicable city, state, federal agencies and community groups for reference and action as needed. ]
Our last San Francisco Winter Shelter Report(s) provided a lot of information we received, mostly about unacceptable Supervisor Conduct and the lack of planning for Christmas Day Breakfast for the homeless guests of St. Mary's Cathederal, a San Francisco InterFaith Winter Shelter Program Site, operated or managed by ECS (Episcopal Community Services) run by a man named Antoine or Antwayn (could not get close enough to read the ID Tag).
It was apparently the City's and the Community's reasonable expectation that Good Meals would be served, as per the Official HSA Flyer which states, "Dinners and Breakfast Provided".
This appears to be a community standard and a reasonable expectation to have decent meals served to our homeless residents, every day, but especially at Christmas time when most of them are away from family and friends.
We take no pleasure in reporting what happened today, with respect to the meals that were served for Breakfast at this Winter Shelter Site at 1111 Gough Street.
Without exception, all of the Church Staff (or Visiting Church Staff) are reported as being very kind, caring and pleasant to all of their homeless guests, that they serve.
Unfortunately, some other ECS, Shelter or InterFaith Program Supervisors, Managers and Staff, for apparent lack of simple, basic training, social skills and lacking any sincere display of 'caring' have actually caused harm (to health and safety) and abuse of the Winter Shelter Guests, and to other ECS Staff and Volunteers, to wit:
NO BREAKFAST SERVED ON CHRISTMAS DAY - NOT EVEN MILK OR COFFEE
Yesterday, on Christmas Day, on the 25th, we did not get Breakfast at the InterFaith Winter Shelter operated by Episcopal Community Services.
We were told one thing, but a day later, we have now figured out that the staff did not even know how to make coffee, which is why we did not even get coffee on Christmas morning. No breakfast, no milk, no juice, no coffee.
On Christmas night, we did get a nice dinner. It was some awesome meat loaf, chicken soup, carrots with nice spices and the Visiting Church Staff sat right down next to us, to share this Christmas evening meal, with us, like a family.
The visiting Church Staff really showed that they cared about us, or at least respected us enough to treat us with dignity and respect.
It set a nice, peaceful tone for the evening having good church staff and some good ECS Staff for a change, like 'Fred', 'Rod' and that new guy Ken. Most all of them, on Christmas Night, were so much better and safer to have on site, than the night before which was shamefully, out of control, on the part of that ECS Supervisor or Manager (Antwayn or Antoine) of the entire Winter Shelter Program.
We're San Franciscans with class. If we have a problem with a co-worker, we talk to them in private, so that respect is maintained for that staff member, by clients and staff.
On Christmas Eve with the Winter Program Manager, it was just miserable because he caused conflicts with his own staff, the clients and a trusted and reasonable member of the Shelter Monitoring Committee and other homeless people that write fair reports to city agencies and community groups.
Anyway, this other ECS Supervisor or Staff guy named 'Rod', was there on the Day After Christmas, and he was so mellow and pleasant to everyone, but firm, which was a good thing for everyone.
Whenever he or the other Supervisor/Staff guy named 'Fred' are on duty, there is peace and a fair degree of mutual respect between staff and staff and clients and staff.
They are not perfect, but, they want harmony and no violence or shouting. They never seem to make the homeless feel 'controlled' and they do not talk down or disrepect us, as a rule or whatever, when watching over the homeless residents. Much better that night than the other rotten nights with the supposed Winter Shelter Program Manager.
Homeless Health Risk Alert ! December 26th, 2007 -
36 Hours Old Dinner Leftovers Served Unheated and Unrefrigerated for Today's Breakfast. Likely Bacteria Growth.
This morning, on the 26th of December, we woke up early. The young ECS Staff/Volunteer Monitor was a little 'harsh' and yelling a little when he said 'Get Up!!' but the night had gone well, so we all looked forward to a nice, wholesome breakfast.
We went to the kitchen area and got some very strong coffee and instead of the breakfast we thought was part of the tax money or donations that were part of the promise stated in the printed official flyers, we were served some sort of leftovers.
Well, it smelled a little funny, so we took a closer look.
We were shocked ! The food was room temperature to the touch and not refrigerated.
A Volunteer or Staff Member under ECS's direction, was serving us, these leftovers that were NOT cold or chilled and were NOT heated, in any way. It was room temperature all the way through.
Theses MEALS appear to have been LEFTOVERS that were prepared/cooked at our dinner, at 6PM, DECEMBER 24th, 2007.
That was about 36 HOURS BEFORE TODAY. LEFTOVERS, APPARENTLY SITTING OUT FOR ALMOST TWO DAYS WITHOUT REFRIGERATION OR AT LEAST FOR SEVERAL HOURS WHICH IS OUTSIDE THE FOOD SAFETY -SAFE ZONE-.
This Text Book Chart Excerpt Shows - Bacteria Growth on Most Foods starts out at about 10,000 cells.
Bacteria Cell Growth DOUBLES approximately - every 20 minutes.
This Chart from another Basic Food Handling Course shows how fast particular types of bacteria grows at body temperature, in milk and broth type environments (gravy).After being left out for let's say, only 2 hours at 'danger zone temperature' or at room or body temperature, 10,000 bacteria would have doubled every twenty minutes, in just 2 hours, they would double six times or 10,000 x 2, six times = 320,000 potential bacterium cells.
In 4 hours, they would have doubled six more times = 20,480,000 total potential bacteria cells present.
After 36 hours, potentially billions of bacterium would have been formed for every 10,000 initial bacteria cells on food.
Exact rate of growth depends on type of food. Starchy foods like potatos, yams and meat grow fast, according to the chart above.
THIS FOOD IS LIKELY TO CAUSE SICKNESS IF ANY BACTERIA WAS PRESENT DUE TO THE LENGTH OF TIME IT HAD BEEN SITTING OUT.
AT THE MINIMUM, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TIMES INITIAL GROWTH, AND AT THE WORST (2 DAYS OUT) BILLIONS OF POTENTIALLY HARMFUL BACTERIUM.
SHAME, SHAME, SHAME. Less expensive and safer just to hire the right people and cook the food safely without putting anyone at risk, especially homeless guests who are more likely to have impaired or depleted immune systems that may have even just came out of a hospital procedure, the streets, cold nights with other illnesses, flus and dehydration.
A food borne illness could easily cause preventable and predictable internal infections or loss of bodily fluids and could lead to serious illness or contribute to death, in the case of any major E.Coli or Salmonella Poisoning entering a weak immune system, such as has been documented in numerous cases around the world, with young children and the sick and elderly.
-- END OF INITIAL SUMMARY REPORT --
Thursday, December 20, 2007
SFHomeless Yahoo! Group gets noticed on SFist.. W@W !
We were pleasantly surprised when we saw other people chatting about the SFHomeless Yahoo! Group. We work hard to make real, positive daily differences helping homeless people & service providers living/working in the streets, shelters and resource centers in San Francisco. Cheers! To all the people that contribute...
read more digg story
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Special Report - Homeless Connect -PCH#19 - 12/05/2007
SFHomeless Yahoo! Group
SPECIAL REPORT ON - Homeless Connect aka - PCH #19 - Wednesday, December 5, 2007 - Bill Graham Auditorium across from San Francisco City HallMerry Christmas To Our Homeless & Poor Citizens of San Francisco !
SFHomeless Connect (started by Mr. Alex Tourk, yep! They don't mention this on the current sfconnect.org web site... instead they say '... was started under Mayor Newsom' ... why rob credit from one of the project's main creators. Who would not want to give him credit and recognition on the site for the program he practically fathered ? ) came back to life in our town again, with all kinds of goodies for the good town folk.
ANYWAY, We're only going to touch a few good and few bad issues because overall, we like the idea of this event and hope to see many more, perhaps more often.
Let's start out with the morning line.
Between sunrise and 8:30 am, it looked like there was no event !
Small groups would go to the doors, get their time-stamped color coded ticket and take off to 'do their' thing until it was their time to 'get in line'. No huge crowds like a couple past events. No heavy police presence, just lots and lots of volunteers. That was a good thing. Keep the crowds thin and there's lesschance of conflct. Orderly.WAITING AT THE HOMELESS DAY CARE CENTER . . . AS USUAL . .
A large number of Homeless Connectees congregated around the Main Public Library, aka'Our Homeless Day Care Center'. There was a great deal of tension in the air this mornging, though. Burning in most homeless person's mind is a great and urgent need to get the very thing it is, their MOST URGENT priority.
And can you guess what it is... that most homeless people want every night ?
Something they dream about and hope for every day....
And, what do most home-less people want ? That's right, YOU GOT IT !!
100 Homeless People Surveyed - said..... DING! 'SAFE AFFORDABLE HOUSING' !The one thing most desperately needed is - safe, affordable, permanent housing.
They see what looks like a ton of money and human effort going into a lot of really 'neat' services and programs that move us around from place to place, several
times in one year or more. And when all is said and done; when their day is finally over, they are reminnded that they will not get the 'thing' that they need the most. Safe Housing.
Being homeless in San Francisco means being torn apart every day in so many ways.
Most shelters are in or adjacent to The Tenderloin or Sixth Street (SoMa) with hordes of dealers chattering 'chiva, chiva, chiva' or 'O-C, O-C, I got what you need...) which is strressful to non-drug addicts and drug addicts in recovery.
Beat cops are starting to make more of a presence (just like they used to) but without constant coverage and long term committment, the homeless are easy marks and totally outnumbered by dealers on the streets and inside the shelters. Guaranteed to lower street homicide
rates.
Who's stupid idea was it to take away beat cops anyway ?!
ALL statistics show that beat cops increase community ties, provide more leads and tips on dangerous criminals and reduce actual street crime and violence (costs less, too... duh !).
M O R E B E A T C O P S = L E S S V I O L E N C E - AND -
LESS STREET CRIMES ( Einstein... ) (less shootings, stabbings, etc.)
Our Homeless Community's Love-Hate Affair With SF Homeless Connect
Some of them burning money into Bush's pocket on commutes or riding unreliable Metro, losing sleep and spirit every day. Muni workers, other local and state employees and all kinds of service and restaurant and security staff are either being stripped of their consumable income due to low wages and outrage rents or they are living far away adding to the daily commute that is choking our City.
Anyway, more on Homeless Connect, today.
- The Morning Line up . . . .
Instead of having a well regulated 'gated' entrance into the beginning of the barricaded walk way, all kinds of people holding different ticket times were crowded, arguing and stressing on the lack of order in the line.There were two care takers with wheelchair clients in the line that were on the cell trying to get their right to be ahead of the line, by the door. Not buried in a barricaded walk way (with no 'safety exit' gaps') with unevenly placed security staff.
If a fight had broken out (there were several face to face confrontations on the corner and in the line) the people in the wheel chair could not have quickly fled or gotten out of the way. They would have been slammed up onto the metal barricades or knocked over and possibly trampled.
REAL HARM REDUCTION - REGULATE THE ENTRANCE INTO THE LINE BY CHECKING EVERY TICKET.
Most clubs, events raves, and concerts control access when using tickets. Single file line and noone gets into 'roped off' lines without the right ticket for the right line or the right time. To expect very hungry, often desperate and 'not 100% together' people to follow orders without proper checks and oversight is pretty short sighted.There were several dozen people in line that had the wrong ticket times and when the police officer came by with his megaphone to 'shout' that noone should be in line that doesn't have, for example, the 10am to 1015am salmon ticket should not be in line. He did not check.
All the cheaters, haters and line cutters just 'laughed' and made fun of the cop with the megaphone because it was like 'for show'. Nothing changed and no 'order' in the line was restored by his dramatic, megaphonic presence.
Another risky, tough decision making moment for the homeless. Now, the 'good homeless' that had the right ticket and were pissed off at the line cutters that pushed their way past us, had to decide between 'sucking it up' or risk getting into a fight and pulled from the line (and making a new enemy) because of a lack of experienced, professional line security....No one regulated the entrance to the line to require that the only people that were able to get into line were the right color and time ticket. That simple common
sense practice would have eliminated the tension, the stress, the line cutting, the arguments and the sheer number of people in line, in half at least.
'They were in wheelchairs . . . what's so hard to figure out about that... where were the 'supervisors' that were supposed to cruise around to fix
problems caused by the volunteers ? Lack of training... heck ! Why do disabled in this town always end up getting disrespected ? '
Have you ever seen a elderly man with a limp or a back problem or tremors 'shuffle' up to get a plate of food (real slow) and then watch him spill his juice and his food all over his tray and onto the floor as he 'shuffles' and hobbles back to his seat, at the back of a lunch room ? We have. It's heart breaking and gut wrenching to
watch.
Onward. another dozen guys cut past another group in line because the people with later time stamped tickets were just standing in a column with a crowd of others alongside them and noone could tell where was the true 'end' of the line or why the line was not moving. It caused confusion and anxiety.
Everyone that had not stayed at one of the few shelters that has sufficient breakfasts, were very hungry.The ones that got the lousy breakfasts or had to walk a mile or so with heavy bags and backpacks were irritable due to lack of energy. So, another group of a dozen starts cutting in line and by the time we got near the doors, they got shut, and we got delayed again by the cheaters with no sense that the security was even aware of the tensions in the crowd.
FINALLY, MADE IT TO THE CLIENT ASSESSMENT PART OF THE SHOW . . .
Going through the client assessment lines were fast enough, and we got these really tasty chocolate energy bars and corporate green tea.But when one volunteer (who was sending people to the intake tables, where other
volunteers held colored cards up in the air, signalling they were ready for another client), told the other volunteer, that two clients need someone that speaks Spanish.
So, it looks like all the volunteers need just a little training on how to refer clients to 'other language' volunteers to help the client get what they need without mistakes or embarassment. Several people raved about the chiropractor. Once again, they said 'no housing, just information' which was kind of predicted but, you could still see the sense of 'housing hopelessness' in the eyes of the homeless and the volunteers who had to clarify that for the non-believers.
Shelter reservations (money for non-profits which is not a bad thing in and of itself, but the money would be better spent on 'real housing') were available at a wide array of fine and not so fine shelters.
A lot ofthe homeless looked really messed up like they NEEDED to get off the street TODAY and it was so sad to see that all too familiar look on their face that says, 'fuck it, I give up look' when they realized there were not going to be offered 'housing' at the 'housing information' tables, again....
GET YOUR GRUB ON !
IS THAT LUNCH ORDER FOR HERE, OR 'TO GO' .. . .
The lunch was good and one could choose between turkey or veggie sandwiches, some decent minestrone looking soup, brown rice pilaf kind of side dish, coffee, apple juice and killer chocolate chip cookies !!Later in the day, we saw a woman walk back a block away from the library to get her cookie she left on the landscaped concrete bank. And that's when we noticed the Moo Cow milk cartons (which we will get into a little bit later in this posting...).
So, the food was good, the only real bummer, so far, was the lack of eyeglass, DMV ID services ran out early, as usual. And they had some realy cute little 'Christmassy' things (gifts?) on one set of table. GAAP (General Assistance Advocay Project) was there helping with GA related problems (man they work hard and take a lot of crap from their clients at their offices on Golden Gate).Gavin Newsom even walked by us with only a couple of visible body guards and we did not even recognize him.
He had ditched the suit and only had nice dress shirt (causal) being trailed by the
ever slightly interesting Abdallah, the self proclaimed 'homeless advocate for
17 years..' or something like that.
Heard a rumor that he helped 'blow the whistle' on a number of issues around the homeless rights and corruption, but he went too far and was purported to have 'written up' a homeless client that had plugged in his cell phone ( a violation of Next Door's Policies to plug in a cell phone, except the floor monitors and front desk not only plug their cell phones in but at night, the monitors watch DVD's with sound eliminating head phones all night ).
Uh, Oooohhhh.... Damn it! Just when it was all going so well....
THE BIG SHELTER SYSTEM CRASH !!
Then came the crash . . . yes, ladies and gentleman.THE NUMBER ONE NEED OF MOST HOMELESS WAS EFFECITIVELY DENIED TO EVERYONE ! HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM...
All of the computers for entering in data (unless entered into software programs running on a laptop or desktop) were rendered useless. No Shelter Reservations were possible because Homeless Connect lost all network connectivity for several hours.
What do they call that in the corporate world ? ? When they do process and task planning ? ?? Aw, yes, the Mission Critical task apparently had no redundant (duplicate) back up system in place. The entire 'shelter reservation' system, the single most important 'thing' needed by almost all homeless clients was rendered unavailable.
No manual hard copies of 'vacant beds/mats' no cell phone 'call in' reservation system, zip, zero, ,nada for nadia (nothing for nobody). Most clients were told that it
could be a few minutes to a couple hours until the system was back online. A Lack of Connection For The Homeless. And a lack of communication.
What makes it so irritating to the homeless people we have discussed this with over the years, is that there are dozens of computer techs tand people in all kinds of professions, hat are homeless and they cannot get work until they have certain things in place, like safe, reliable, long term housing.
It is rare for anyone to get up out of the shelter system because there are a million
ways that shelter life will trip up and mess up your working life.
Lack of sleep, lack of bus tokens, lack of storage space for work gear, lack of
reliability of 'wake up' calls, no access to telephones, care no cash or change
for laundry, phone calls, cell phone bills, no access to plug in cell phones,
not allowed to use cell phones or alarm clocks to wake up with.
Working a decent job where you cannot be late and must look sharp and be sharp just becomes nearly impossible when staying in most shelters. That is another 'captive shelter' reality.
When your most basic, 'normal' needs are denied or delayed you cannot keep a decent job because you will be late, you will not be performing well and you will likely lose serveral jobs while homeless, which all end up somewhere on your record or becomeS part of your 'reputation'.It wears you down quick and leads to a whole bunch of social, emotional, financial and physical problems.
If you got the right amount of sleep, got enough to eat and did not have to wait in
lines for hours just to get a bed for a night, most able bodied homeless people
would 'go to work' every day (if there is steady work available) just like they
used to....
WHERE ARE THE GOOD SHEPARDS AT - THAT WATCH OVER OUR TAX FUNDED SHELTER SHEEP !
Now, we are down to a couple of the bummers of homeless connect, but first, we need to give everyone a little background for reference.
SMC INSPECTION AT TENDERLOIN HOUSING
- ARE ANY OF YOU STILL WAITING TO BE HEARD !
Earlier in the day, we were talking to some homeless people that had been at Tenderloin Housing Cllinic, the other day, with about 35 people that had waited around for the Shelter Monitoring Committee to arrive for a prescheduled inspection (as opposed to 'surprise' inspections that they make without notice to catch the mice at play) and were told that it looked like only one person showed up from the SMC and they only stayed about ten or 15 minutes.It looks like alot of people had a lot more to say and did not have near sufficient time
(like they did a week or so ago at TARC) to bring out all of their issues.
The observations and experiences of each and every homeless person is very important information and should be kept quiet or be left unheard. Every action taken to help the homeless community comes directly from the sharing of their experiences with the entire SF community.
THE NEEDS OF THE HOMELESS IS BEST EXPRESSED BY THE HOMELESS.
YOU ARE THE ONES THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE. HOMELESS SHELTER RESIDENTS AND HOMELESS SERVICE CLIENTS NEED TO BE SMART TO MAKE ALL OF THEIR VOICES HEARD . . . ORGANIZE AND USE SIMPLE PETITIONS !
One thing that works for cure the 'lack of time' problem is what has been done at several shelters, with great success. Residents would hold their own private
meetings away from shelter staff and 'write up' all of their grievances from 20
or 30 residents at a time, in Petition format and everyone would sign off on
that, that were affected by the same issues.
Projects, work groups and activities that are going on with the Shelter Monitoring Committee's 'Shelter Standards of Care' legislation that is now winding its way down a treacherous path through unchartered waters around City Hall and various agencies and committees that all homeless people need to be aware of and be kept informed about.
We walked all around and saw lots of non-profits and city agencies, but there was no table at homeless connect, set up by the Shelter Monitoring Committee.
However, not all was lost. Several Members of the Shelter Monitoring were spotted, in attendance. We got to hear two committee members(one volunteer, one client) that were discussing these various homeless related issues (man, some of these members never seem to stop 'doing something' to help all of our homeless residents. We really appreciate the work that they have doneand expect a lot more from them, as time marches on.We did not mean to eavesdrop, but they were standing next to each other talking about this so we took notes...
Apparently, the only paid staff member that reports to the SMC is a woman that we have seen in action named Bernice Casey. She does the work of like 3 people and she usually does set up a booth at Homeless Connect.She is on maternity leave [ bless her and her baby(ies) ] and so that is why noone was here at the event. I guess for lack of planning or resources or organization or whatever, the SMC members themselves did not cover this slot.
The very people who are going to be most affected or dis-affected (we'll see how and who is going to really enforce the standards and laws that have NOT been for like ten years or more, now). ANOTHER MISSED OPPORTUNITY !! One of those two SMC Members stepped up in the conversation and offered to 'be there' for the next PCH, so, we'll see if he keeps his word on that. We all know the SMC has it rough with their star (and only) staffer out, but why didn't the SMC Members or the Chairperson make plans for coverage.... ???
THE GRAND FINALE !
THIS WAY TO THE EXIT PLEASE. WATCH YOUR STEP !
HEALTH ALERT !DO NOT DRINK THE CHOCOLATE OR WHITE MILK IN THE CARTONS... THEY ARE OUTDATED AND NASTY !!
And you had better 'watch your milk', too. Even though the exit line volunteers gave us a pretty good selection of drinks (except the weird Kellogg Special K20 Water with ZERO vitamins), fruit (yummy oranges), little mini cereal packets,
and KILLER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES !!, we had to take exception to something that kind of made us sick. We are grateful but we'd like to see more
nutrition. More nutrition. More nutrition....
No. Really. We got sick off two items that we were given that was a 'preventable' thing if someone had stopped for a moment and read a label. We were given Crystal Brand White and Chocolate Milk (in cartons) that was out of the 'use by' date for almost a week.
We saw angry homeless people throw their milks down onto the sidewalk, in front of the library, as they choked and puked on the sour, back dated milk. Lumpy, lumpy chocolate milk and sickly sweet and sour white milk.
Hopefully, we will never see this again... And, of course, we checked out cartons that were left on top of trash cans, all around City Hall and the Tenderloin.
The only milk we found that had a 'good' date was one that was very cold and had been stamped differently - because it likely came from a local store.
Every other carton we came across from PCH#19 all had bad dates....
Got Housing ? No, but we got Milk !
-- END OF REPORT --
Thanks to Tina, Elisha, Bob, Tyrone and Jonathan for the great info ! Keep your eyes open.... allways...
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