Stop the Evictions of Chronically Mentally Ill Residents of South Van Ness Manor!
Dr Grant Colfax, Director of SF Dept. of Public Health and Health Commissioners
Update: The residents are currently still in place and have not yet been moved, but we have yet to hear a clear plan from the Dept of Public Health about when and where the residents will go. We need to hold them accountable to ensuring that the S Van Ness Manor residents get appropriate care and permanent, affordable housing.
Fourteen severely mentally ill residents are slated to be evicted from their Van Ness street Board and Care home by November 30th. Due to a potential sale of the building, the Dept of Public Health has told the workers that the vulnerable, high needs residents will need to be transfered to other sites. Yet, the only beds offered to them are at a homeless shelter, known as Hummingbird Place, and is located at General Hospital. No other specific plan for permanent replacement housing has been offered.
Nurses and clinicians who serve the residents, as well as labor unions and community advocates call on the city to stop the evictions! Please sign to demand an extension of the board and care services for at least 6 months so that an adequate plan for replacement beds can be put into place. All board and care homes are permanent housing and residents should never be forced into homelessness or any temporary housing option. The city must do all it can to prevent more vulnerable citizens from becoming homeless during this time of housing crisis.
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To:
Dr Grant Colfax, Director of SF Dept. of Public Health and Health Commissioners
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Dr Colfax and Department of Public Health Commissioners,
We are greatly alarmed that fourteen severely mentally ill residents will be forced to move from their Board and Care home at Van Ness Manor without an adequate plan in place for sufficient and permanent housing, by November 30th. During this time of housing crisis, the city should do all it can to ensure that no vulnerable resident is made homeless or put at risk of losing their permanent housing. Instead, the city will be playing a role in displacing these chronically mentally ill residents and potentially contributing to their decompensation, if it doesn't act to prevent the slated evictions. We believe the city can fix this and we believe that it is incumbent upon the Dept of Public Health to make clear to the owners of the Van Ness facility that no one shall be forced to move unless and until an adequate plan for alternative, permanent housing is in place. Please do all that you can within your powers to halt the pending transfer of the residents to the Hummingbird Place, a homeless shelter, and instead ensure that we treat them with compassion, respect and in accordance with the spirit of the law, which is meant to protect individuals from such disruptive actions. Please stop the South Van Ness Manor evictions now!
Cc: Shalina Rana
Kelly Hiramoto
Roland Pickens