1 week Ago By Kelly Waldron
Help grow our newsroom , joining the hundreds of San Franciscans who support us by giving below. We have an ambitious goal for 2025: Double the total number of donors from last year to over 5,000! We are already 20 percent of the way there . Homeless shelters are unevenly massed in San Francisco’s eastern neighborhoods, and two supervisors representing the Tenderloin and Bayview intend to change that.
District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood and District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton proposed new legislation this week requiring each city district to approve a new shelter or behavioral health facility by June 2026. The law, which already has the support of six supervisors, would also prevent the approval of any new facility within 1,000 feet of an existing one without a board hearing and waiver process. Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter below.
At present, the city’s shelters and behavioral health facilities are located almost exclusively in the Tenderloin, SoMa, Mission and Bayview-Hunters Point. Data provided by the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to Mission Local following a public records request indicates that Districts 4, 7 and 8 have no shelters. According to Mahmood’s office, there are also no emergency shelters in Districts 1 and 11.
A recent report from the city controller pointed out the same disparity. Excluding shelters for minors, “There are no shelters on the western half of the city,” the report reads. The proposed law is meant to increase geographic equity and Walton, for his part, has criticized the density of homeless shelters in his district , which he referred to as “inequitable” and “unfair.
” Prior Tenderloin supervisors such as Jane Kim and Matt Haney, also criticized the density of such services in the neighborhood, which is de facto the city’s “containment zone” for unsavory street behavior. The proposed 1,000 feet buffer would change that by virtually excluding new facilities from most of the Tenderloin, SoMa and parts of the Mission District. To open a new shelter within that buffer zone, the city would need approval from the Board of Supervisors, which can grant it “if doing so would serve the broader public interest,” according to Mahmood’s office.
Addiction treatment facilities are also clustered in eastern neighborhoods, namely SoMa. And while some say that services are close to those who need them, others argue that cost and less pushback from residents are also determinants. Moreover, they said, clustering services and shelters is hard for those trying to recover from drugs or alcohol.
The city controller’s report made such a reference: “The reputation of the Tenderloin and experience living there may discourage people who may otherwise be interested in shelter, and may make it more difficult for clients in recovery.” “This concentration has delayed recovery for unhoused residents in underserved neighborhoods and created growing fatigue in those that have carried the heaviest load,” wrote Mahmood, in a press release. “The time is now for a fairer, citywide approach.
” “Everyone across the city should play a role in addressing the crisis,” added Walton. We're a small, independent, nonprofit newsroom that works hard to bring you news you can't get elsewhere. In 2025, we have a lofty goal: 5,000 donors by the end of the year — more than double the number we had last year.
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