- Officials from the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing requested $20 million to keep six’ Safe Sleeping Village’ encampments running
- The city’s six encampment sites provide tents for the homeless as well as three meals a day, around-the-clock security and bathrooms and showers
- The program currently costs $18.2 million and funds 260 tents in six sites, totaling to just over $60,000 per tent per year
- The department is asking the city for $15 million in the upcoming fiscal year for a similar number of tents, which would amount to about $57,000 per tent per year
- The cost of the tents and the desire to extend a program that was supposed to be a short-term solution to the pandemic has been met with criticism
San Francisco’s homelessness department is seeking $20 million in additional funding to extend an encampment program that already funds tents that cost over $60,000 a year.
This week, officials from San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing went before the the Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Appropriations Committee and requested $20 million over the next two years to keep six ‘Safe Sleeping Village’ tent encampments running.
The city’s six encampment sites provide tents for the homeless as well as three meals a day, around-the-clock security and bathrooms and showers, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The city created the sites in May 2020 during the height of the pandemic as a way to keep the city’s homeless population off of crowded sidewalks and shelters, and into socially distanced camping sites in fresh air.