Hearing: Treatment on Demand

Over half of those unhoused suffer from substance use disorder (SUD).  We see them daily using drugs, doubled over, or passed out on the street.  We recognize that their path out of homelessness involves treatment, but an obstacle to recovery is the shortage of treatment beds.  In 1997, voters approved Proposition T (Treatment on Demand).  It requires the City to provide enough substance use treatment to serve those who are ready for recovery.  Over 20 years later, our City has not yet met that mandate.  And today, fewer than 30 beds are available for SUD treatment which doesn’t match demand.    On October 27, 2022, the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee is conducting a hearing on the current state of “Treatment on Demand.”  Supervisors plan to ask the Department of Public Health how they will provide treatment within a reasonable timeframe and about their plan to close gaps in treatment…