Legislation approved Tuesday by San Francisco's Board of Supervisors would allow for the city and the San Francisco Unified School District to create safe sleeping sites for homeless people in tents.
The sites would be located in vacant parking lots among other sites, as well as at least one school district property.
"In the Castro and many other neighborhoods in San Francisco, tent encampments are growing, with encampment residents largely unable to achieve adequate social distancing or access hygiene and sanitation, creating a public health hazard to encampment occupants and neighbors," Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who authored the resolution, said in a statement.
"In order to protect all of us during the COVID-19 crisis we need to embrace new and different strategies to provide safer alternatives to unsheltered people for whom we do not currently have an apartment, a hotel room or a shelter bed available," he said.
In addition to the board's resolution, the school district's board of education also voted unanimously on Tuesday in favor of a resolution allowing for the school district's property to be used for the sites.
Board of education President Mark Sanchez said, "I'm proud of our Board and our District for stepping up and leaning in to do our part to help out in a citywide effort to confront the epidemic of homelessness that has become a deeper crisis during the Coronavirus pandemic."
Local
According to Mandelman's office, the sites will allow for people living on the streets or in encampments to maintain social distancing while also having access to sanitation facilities, food and water. Additionally, the sites will be staffed at all hours and include janitorial services, health services and security.
