Bay Area

Citizen Coalition Says City Can Save a Billion Dollars with Alternative Approach to Unsheltered Homelessness

The city is taking the wrong approach to getting unsheltered people off San Francisco streets, according to a citizen group that believes an alternative approach would shave $1 billion from the projected price tag. The group filed detailed comments Monday to a city report that said it would cost $1.45 billion and take three years to get all unsheltered people off of San Francisco’s streets.

Published

3 years ago

April 21, 2023

Oakland Post

Supervisor Matt Haney speaks at the press conference outside Boeddeker Park in Tenderloin, San Francisco, Calif., on Aug. 5, 2021. Supervisor Haney announced the city’s plan to expand funding for the City’s Pit Stop public restroom program. (Harika Maddala/Bay City News)

By Joe Dworetzky
Bay City News

The group filed detailed comments Monday to a city report that said it would cost $1.45 billion and take three years to get all unsheltered people off of San Francisco’s streets.

Rescue SF, self-described as a “a citywide coalition of residents advocating for compassionate and effective solutions to homelessness in San Francisco,” suggested that leasing existing space instead of acquiring or building would reduce the city’s projected cost by a billion dollars and still get the same results.

The matter has its roots in SF Ordinance 92-22, passed in June of 2022, which declared that “It shall be the policy of the City to offer to every person experiencing homelessness in San Francisco a safe place to sleep.”

To get to that end, the ordinance directed the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to prepare a detailed plan to shelter every homeless person in the city within three years. The plan required HSH to detail how much it would cost to do so.

On Dec. 30, HSH submitted its “A Place for All Report,” concluding that it would cost $1.45 billion over the first three years and $410 million a year thereafter.

In view of its lofty price tag, District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman tweeted, “It’s as if HSH is hoping to convince the city that ending unsheltered homelessness is impossible, so we shouldn’t bother trying.”

Rescue SF’s comments, co-authored by Mark Nagel and Lori Brooke, are entitled “More Beds For Your Buck: A Cost-Effective Approach to Ending Unsheltered Homelessness in San Francisco.”

While the comments do not criticize HSH, Rescue SF highlights the fact that HSH prioritized acquiring or building shelters and permanent housing rather than leasing apartments for housing and converting existing hotels into shelters.

Because of the challenges of acquiring, building and siting properties in San Francisco, HSH’s approach results in frontloading the expense (and difficulties) of reaching the goal of ending unsheltered homelessness in the city.

One graphic in the comments shows that the start-up costs for one unit of housing acquired by the city is $556,000, compared to $11,000 for a leased apartment unit.

The comments acknowledge the argument that owning is generally more advantageous than leasing, but counters, “While this is true in the long run, San Francisco’s urgent street crisis is forcing the City to focus on the short run… leasing can bring many more people into housing than newly constructed buildings…. New construction could take up to five or six years to complete, while a leased building could be operational within months.”

The comments also challenge the report’s reliance on HSH’s average historical costs of operating shelter beds. Relying on that experience, the report estimated annual operating costs of between $58,000 and $88,000 per bed.

The comments called out the recent master lease and conversion of a hotel at 711 Post St., where the per-bed annual operating costs are approximately $30,000. Replicating that approach would save hundreds of millions of dollars over the three-year period.

The comments acknowledge that their conclusion will depend on the city being able to find enough apartments for lease and enough hotels with owners willing to master lease and convert their rooms. “If the city fails to surmount these practical constraints, the number of units or the associated costs would change.”

Nagel, co-founder with Brooke of Rescue SF, said the organization was formed three years ago when “we saw that the city was in trouble, in a real crisis. And instead of pulling our hair and complaining, people said, well, what can we do about this? How can we help?”

Rescue SF prides itself on being nonpartisan and coming to the table not with general criticism but with specific suggestions that it has carefully researched. Nagel said, “We’re not ideological. We don’t have any preconceived notions of what the right answers are. We look at best practices, we talk to people, we learn, we’ll change our minds. We get new information.”

Nagel said that in preparing the report, “What the department did was they took all of their usual practices, business as usual, and said, let’s take these interventions and do that for all the people on the street…”

He said he would have preferred it if the report started with the question “given that we have limited financial resources, what combination of shelter and housing will accomplish our goal? Get everyone off the street with the limited resources that we have.”

Nagel says that the city can’t continue to just manage the problem using the same old approaches. He says, “let’s treat homelessness like a natural disaster, and act with an urgency to get people off the streets.”

A hearing on the report is scheduled before the supervisors at City Hall Tuesday at 3 p.m. in Room 250. Mandelman has scheduled a press conference on the same topic at 12:30 pm Tuesday on the City Hall steps (Polk Street side).

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Activism

Post Newspaper Invites NNPA to Join Nationwide Probate Reform Initiative

The Post’s Probate Reform Group meets the first Thursday of every month via Zoom and invites the public to attend. The Post is making the initiative national and will submit information from its monthly meeting to the NNPA to educate, advocate, and inform its readers.

Published

2 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Tanya Dennis

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) represents the Black press with over 200 newspapers nationwide.

Last night the Post announced that it is actively recruiting the Black press to inform the public that there is a probate “five-alarm fire” occurring in Black communities and invited every Black newspaper starting from the Birmingham Times in Alabama to the Milwaukee Times Weekly in Wisconsin, to join the Post in our “Year of Action” for probate reform.

Reporter Tanya Dennis says, “The adage that ‘When America catches a cold, Black folks catch the flu” is too true in practice; that’s why we’re engaging the Black Press to not only warn, but educate the Black community regarding the criminal actions we see in probate court: Thousands are losing generational wealth to strangers. It’s a travesty that happens daily.”

Venus Gist, a co-host of the reform group, states, “ Unfortunately, people are their own worst enemy when it comes to speaking with loved ones regarding their demise. It’s an uncomfortable subject that most avoid, but they do so at their peril. The courts rely on dissention between family members, so I encourage not only a will and trust [be created] but also videotape the reading of your documents so you can show you’re of sound mind.”

In better times, drafting a will was enough; then a trust was an added requirement to ‘iron-clad’ documents and to assure easy transference of wealth.

No longer.

As the courts became underfunded in the last 20 years, predatory behavior emerged to the extent that criminality is now occurring at alarming rates with no oversight, with courts isolating the conserved, and, I’ve heard, many times killing conservatees for profit. Plundering the assets of estates until beneficiaries are penniless is also common.”

Post Newspaper Publisher Paul Cobb says, “The simple solution is to avoid probate at all costs. If beneficiaries can’t agree, hire a private mediator and attorney to work things out. The moment you walk into court, you are vulnerable to the whims of the court. Your will and trust mean nothing.”

Zakiya Jendayi, a co-host of the Probate Reform Group and a victim herself, says, “In my case, the will and trust were clear that I am the beneficiary of the estate, but the opposing attorney said I used undue influence to make myself beneficiary. He said that without proof, and the judge upheld the attorney’s baseless assertion. In court, the will and trust is easily discounted.”

The Black press reaches out to 47 million Black Americans with one voice. The power of the press has never been so important as it is now in this national movement to save Black generational wealth from predatory attorneys, guardians and judges.

The next probate reform meeting is on March 5, from 7 – 9 p.m. PST. Zoom Details:
Meeting ID: 825 0367 1750
Passcode: 475480

All are welcome.

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Activism

Community Celebrates Turner Group Construction Company as Collins Drive Becomes Turner Group Drive

The event drew family, friends, and longtime supporters of Turner Group Construction, along with a host of dignitaries. The mood was joyful and warm, filled with hugs, handshakes and belated New Year’s greetings. Guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and a festive display of gourmet cupcakes as they conversed about the street sign reveal.

Published

2 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

The Turner Construction group members.

By Carla Thomas

It was a family affair on Friday, Jan. 23, at the corner of Hegenberger Road and Collins Drive in East Oakland as community members, local leaders, and elected officials gathered to celebrate the renaming of Collins Drive to Turner Group Drive. The renaming saluted the Turner Group’s 45-plus years of economic development and community investment.

Special guests included former Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, veteran broadcaster Valerie Coleman-Morris, Chevron Senior Public Affairs Representative Andrea Bailey, community leaders Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson and Beatrice “Aunt Bea” Johnson of the Oscar Grant Foundation, and Oakland City Councilmembers Ken Houston, Carroll Fife, and Kevin Jenkins. Members of WEBCORE, the Nor Cal Carpenters Union, the National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC), Swinerton and Alten construction companies, activists Elaine Brown and David Newton, and many others joined the celebration.

Inside the event tent, an emotional Oakland City Councilmember Ken Houston spoke of his deep connection to the Turner family.

“I grew up on the same street with the Turners,” he said. “When my father passed away, their parents and siblings embraced me like family. This is our city, and it’s an honor to name this street Turner Group Drive because of the love and effort this company and family have given. Many dreams came out of this building. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the Turners.”

Councilmember Kevin Jenkins, whose father once taught the Turner brothers, added, “Len Turner is an amazing person. He’ll help anyone.”

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee praised the company’s legacy, noting its creation of the Construction Resource Center, which trains and mentors the next generation of builders and developers through partnerships across the region. “This is a great day for Oakland and a profound acknowledgment of the Turner Group’s contribution to our community,” she said.

Fife echoed that sentiment: “This is a day for celebrating Black excellence. The Turner Group has poured into people and the community, showing us what’s possible.”

Among the many family members in attendance was the Turners’ 92-year-old patriarch, whose presence underscored the strength of the family’s legacy.

A touching highlight of the event came when Coleman-Morris was honored for her lasting mentorship of LaTanya Hawkins, now program manager of the Construction Resource Center. In 1979, Hawkins, then a fourth-grader, wrote Coleman-Morris a letter seeking advice. Coleman responded with words of encouragement that inspired Hawkins to pursue her dreams. The two stayed in touch for decades. On stage, they embraced as Coleman reflected on “the power of small acts of kindness to change a life.”

Coleman-Morris also shared reflections on leadership and community spirit, saying, “If we change the way we look at things, the things we see will change.” She then recited the Serenity Prayer, reminding the crowd, “We are a powerful community, we just need to believe it.”

Company leaders Len and Lance Turner closed the ceremony with words of gratitude and humor. Len thanked his mother, wife, family, legal team, and longtime supporters including Carson, Geoffrey Pete, and the late Dorothy King of Everett & Jones Barbecue. He also acknowledged the challenges the company had overcome, saying, “Without all of this support, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Through Turner Group Construction and the Construction Resource Center, the Turners have created new opportunities for underrepresented groups in the construction industry and continue to inspire the next generation of builders.

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Activism

New Bill, the RIDER Safety Act, Would Support Transit Ambassadors and Safety on Public Transit

The RIDER Safety Act would allow public transit agencies to hire transit ambassadors trained in de-escalation, crisis response, and rider education and engagement. Acting as a visible, non-enforcement presence to deter low-level incidents and reduce conflict, transit ambassadors would ease the burden from law enforcement and enhance public safety.

Published

2 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

BART train. Photo courtesy of ABC7.

By Post Staff

A new federal bill would support transit ambassador, or transit support specialist, programs at public transit agencies across the country.

The bill, (D-CA-12), H.R. 6069, the Rapid Intervention and Deterrence for Enhanced Rider Safety Act, or the RIDER Safety Act, was introduced Jan. 30 by Congresswoman Lateefah Simon. (D-CA-12), H.R. 6069, the Rapid Intervention and Deterrence for Enhanced Rider Safety Act, or the RIDER Safety Act.

This legislation is based on Congresswoman Simon’s work at Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to create a first-in-the-nation Transit Ambassador Program, which previously earned a prestigious nationwide award for “Innovation in Public Safety.”

She announced the bill at a press conference at the 19th Street BART Station alongside BART leaders and other supporters.

The RIDER Safety Act would allow public transit agencies to hire transit ambassadors trained in de-escalation, crisis response, and rider education and engagement. Acting as a visible, non-enforcement presence to deter low-level incidents and reduce conflict, transit ambassadors would ease the burden from law enforcement and enhance public safety.

This bill would also create jobs provide meaningful work, training opportunities, and a pathway for career growth in local communities. In the House of Representatives, the bill is also co-led by Representatives Shomari Figures (AL-02), Nellie Pou (NJ-09), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), and John Garamendi (CA-08).

“I am incredibly proud to champion the RIDER Safety Act in Congress and continue my work to ensure transit is safe, accessible, and affordable to everyone. We have seen the success of the transit ambassador programs here in the East Bay, and I am dedicated to bringing this proven public safety model to the rest of the country,” said Congresswoman Simon.

“These are strong local jobs for people who want to support public safety on transit and serve as a resource to individuals who may be in crisis or in need of services,” she continued. “Strengthening safety on transit benefits us all and helps ensure our public transportation systems remain places of opportunity, dignity, and trust.”

“This bill is critical to ensure the safety of every passenger who relies on public transportation across the country,” said Congresswoman Nellie Pou. “The RIDER Safety Act builds on successful transit models already implemented in communities, including the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) through the leadership of Congresswoman Lateefah Simon during her time as BART President. By providing transit stations with medically trained, unarmed personnel, we can strengthen safety standards, reduce fare evasion, and give riders a greater peace of mind when getting from one place to the next.”