somebody turned the irony spigot on!
This from the SF Homeless Yahoo email group
(some answers follow this)
We have received reports that homeless people applying for housing through Tenderloin Housing Clinic are being denied applications for housing and are being told ‘You must go to a shelter for three months, first, and get a referral from them, BEFORE we will allow you to apply for housing…”
One man that told us this is a disaled person who HAS SSI Benefits coming in and all he needs is a safe place to ‘be’. He has been abused at the shelters and he is outraged because he will surely be taken advantage of in a shelter. He HAS sufficient income that is reliable, so we cannot understand what the motive or authority is for THC to REQUIRE people, especially disabled to have to go to a shelter (also tax funded) first.
He is also upset because he does not want to take up a bed at a shelter when there are others that HAVE NO INCOME that need those beds more than him. And he does not understand why THC makes this a requirement…. smells fishy !!
As far as we understand, this looks like even though THC is being funded by tax payer dollars from local, state or federal sources are REFUSING SERVICES to people otherwise eligible and are being re-directed to stay in a shelter first.
We think this is wrong and it may be illegal. We need legal experts to help us with this.
We also need ANYONE who has applied to THC or any other tax funded housing program to step up and tell us about their experiences so we can verify this.
IF this is true, it looks like there is a pipeline which routinely sends people through shelters that should be going directly into housing and onto housing lists, especially if they are elderly, disabled or are already on SSI or some form on monthly income.
We also need someone to check out the laws and policies on this. If this happens every day, we are talking about hundreds of people every month that are being sent to shelters that should be in housing or placed on housing lists right away.
Thank you.
SFHomeless Volunteer Moderators
First, lets hear from Randy Shaw, director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic on this very subject, during an interview last year on Quake radio Randy Shaw mp3
Next here is an extract from San Francisco Homeless Service Providers Network (PDF)
On a side note, see the Seneca Hotel box, where it even says the employed are allowed to move in here. But I’ve never seen one move in in the entire 8 years THC has been here. Furthemore, Randy Shaw himself says a ‘case manager’ needs to refer the person, so where do working people get a ‘case manager’?
There’s also an average of 20 percent vacancy rate at the Seneca. On any given day, there’s at least 10 empty rooms, usually much more
