It is time to end Homelessness
in San Francisco
RescueSF is a citywide coalition of residents advocating for compassionate and effective solutions to address the street sleeping and drug crisis that is plaguing the streets of San Francisco. We are engaged with more than 45 neighborhood associations and community benefit districts across all eleven of the City’s electoral districts. We are independent, non-ideological, and non-partisan.
Below are six policy initiatives we are advocating the City adopt for a more comprehensive and effective approach to addressing homelessness.
End Street Sleeping
Increase our homeless shelter capacity significantly. With more shelters, people can transition from the streets, receive services, and find permanent housing.
RescueSF Activities:
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Campaign to support "A Place for All" Legislation (more)
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Partnering with SF Chronicle for a public brainstorming session on shelter (more)
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Spearheaded the first shelter cabin site at 33 Gough (more)
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Partnering with My Own Lock and Key (more)
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Campaign to allocate funds for shelter, treatment beds, and supportive services (more)
Connect People to Care
Increase the availability of long-term treatment beds for people dealing with substance abuse and mental health issues.
RescueSF Activities:
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Working with Tipping Point and the Mayor's office to produce a report on frontline workers' compensation and ways to improve recruitment and retention
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Providing feedback, accountability, and public awareness of San Francisco's implementation of CARE Court (more)
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Campaign advocating for an increase in on-demand treatment beds (more)
Stop Open-Air Drug Market
Help people leave the streets and to improve street conditions for all residents, the City must end open-air drug trafficking and usage.
RescueSF Activities:
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Campaign to urge City Hall to prioritize enforcement of trafficking and treatment for users (more)
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Meet regularly with DA's office to give resident feedback and engage the public in the process
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Organized a coalition of Mission Associations (ALMA) to give them a stronger voice
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Campaign to advocate for greater police budget (more)
Keep People Housed
Use streamlined administrative procedures, flexible financing, and creative construction techniques to produce housing faster and at lower cost.
RescueSF Activities:
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Working with the Mayor's office and assembling a group of stakeholders – including architects, builders, lawyers, advocates, and residents – to identify the most impactful methods for the City to reduce construction costs and produce more affordable housing for all.
Improve Government Effectiveness
Improve the City's collection, analysis, and review of data to promote greater accountability, transparency, and effectiveness in the City’s policies.
RescueSF Activities:
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Developed dashboard for Tenderloin Emergency Initiative to show better data analysis could improve the City’s approach to the Tenderloin (more)
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Meeting with the Mayor and Controllers' office to advocate for the City to adopt performance management processes
Promote Regional Cooperation
Provide a resident backbone throughout the Bay Area to support intergovernmental cooperation.
RescueSF Activities:
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Building a Coalition of Coalitions called UniteSF that brings residents, businesses, nonprofits, faith-based, and advocates together to identify areas of policy agreements that develop trust and cooperation
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Working to promote policies that actively collaborate with governments throughout the Bay Area to implement comprehensive regional solutions
Policy Initiatives
What You Can Do
Effective change will come only if we make it happen, ourselves. We have to be more personally engaged on the issues that matter to us, and we must hold our political leaders accountable for results. We are looking for effective solutions and will work with people who are moving in the right direction.
To be successful, we need people-powered activism. Please join us by signing up for updates, making a donation, and visiting our current advocacy opportunities page.