Despite Millions in City Funding, Investigation Finds Squalid Conditions at SF SROs

KQED's Forum

KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 5 May 2022

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A year-long San Francisco Chronicle investigation found that a San Francisco program that leases residential hotels as a transitional solution for unhoused residents has failed drastically. According to the investigation, many residents reported living in squalid rooms infested with bugs, rats, and black mold. Reporters found that, of 515 people tracked by the government, 21% returned to the streets and a quarter died in the program. They also found that violence toward residents and staff, robbery, and drug overdose deaths were common occurrences in some decrepit buildings. We’ll talk about the investigation’s findings, who should be held accountable and what can be done to provide decent transitional housing for people getting off the streets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for KQED podcasts comes from San Francisco International Airport.
0:05.3	You can fly back in time and visit SFO's Aviation Museum and Library to learn about the history of commercial aviation.
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0:17.0	Support for forum comes from Broadway SF, presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story.
0:24.8	From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank,
0:31.2	a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused of an
0:36.9	unspeakable crime, it propels them into an
0:39.7	unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice, and devotion. The riveting and gloriously hopeful
0:47.1	parade plays the Orpheum Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th. Tickets
0:53.6	on sale now at Broadwaysf.com.
0:57.0	From KQED.
1:00.0	From KQED.
1:01.0	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:14.3	San Francisco's SROs housed 6,000 people, mostly in the tenderloin.
1:19.5	Most of these single-room occupancy hotels were built over a century ago, and were pressed
1:23.8	into service as supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness over the last 20 years.
1:29.3	Now a year-long investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle has found that the city program
1:33.6	that manages this housing stock has chronically underfunded some buildings, leading to brutal
1:38.9	and deteriorating conditions.
1:40.9	We talk with the reporters as well as a tenant and a supportive housing expert to figure out why a city spending so much money to reduce homelessness isn't adequately maintaining this crucial housing.
1:51.0	That's coming up next after this news. Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
2:06.7	When San Francisco Chronicle reporters Joaquin Palomino and Tricia Thadani began talking with tenants of the city's SROs, they heard and saw deplorable conditions.
	...

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