San Francisco Spent $160 Million Only to Have Homeless People Die in Rat-Infested Hotels
May 3, 2022 | California
A housing project based out of old hotels in San Francisco became the site of overdoses, rampant crime, violence and unsafe living conditions, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.
The hotels are the main components of the city’s $160 million permanent supportive housing program, which failed in its goal of helping residents gain enough stability to find independence and their own housing, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. A quarter of the tenants tracked by the government after exiting supportive housing in 2020 died.
Overdoses occurred frequently in the hotels, with at least 166 people dying between 2020-2021, the SFC reported. Residents attacked and threatened to kill staff members, lit fires in rooms and attacked other residents.
Another 21 percent left for unknown destinations, and only a quarter found steady homes, which included living with friends or relatives or moving into taxpayer-subsidized housing, according to the SFC.
Some residents had to use hospital-style portable toilets due to shuttered bathrooms and elderly residents were trapped in broken elevators on numerous occasions, according to the SFC. Rooms had issues with mold, water leaks and rat infestations, and the hotels accrued more than 1,600 violations from city housing inspectors since 2016….(Excerpts from the Virginia Star and the Daily Caller)
