In a significant move to address the city’s ongoing homeless crisis, the San Francisco Department of Public Health has inaugurated a new 16-bed facility located at 822 Geary Street.
This center is designed to provide essential medical care for homeless individuals in crisis, offering a crucial alternative to emergency rooms or jails.
The facility will serve primarily those who do not require urgent hospitalization but still need a degree of medical assistance, according to officials.
Street outreach teams, police officers, and EMS vehicles can drop off individuals at the center around the clock, seven days a week.
Mayor Daniel Lurie expressed the urgency of this initiative during a press conference, emphasizing the need for immediate action to address the high rates of overdose deaths among the homeless population.
He stated, “Treatment for people in crisis. More capacity in our emergency rooms. More officers back on the street more quickly, and it will be open around the clock.”
The newly established center, situated in what was previously a Goodwill store, was originally planned to function as a supervised-consumption site.
It appears fully operational, complete with multiple living-room-style areas, a consultation room, an exam room, and two bedrooms, each equipped with a bed and a chair.
The city acquired the property in 2021, funding the purchase through Prop. C funds.
Daniel Tsai, the Director of the Department of Public Health, highlighted the importance of transitioning homeless individuals from streets to effective treatment and sustained recovery.
However, current regulations will limit the stay at the stabilization center to a maximum of 23 hours.
Following this period, individuals will be assigned case managers and directed toward subsequent care options, although specifics regarding those options remain unclear.
The city is grappling with a critical shortage of shelter beds, with 525 individuals currently waiting for available accommodations.
During his campaign for mayor, Lurie pledged to add 1,500 new shelter beds within his first six months in office, recognizing the dire need for expanded capacity.
His campaign website declares, “My administration will build adequate shelter beds. By building the beds necessary to house the homeless, we will no longer push the problem from one street corner to another.”
Kunal Modi, Lurie’s Chief of Health, Homelessness, and Family Services, confirmed that the 16 beds at the stabilization center will count toward the promised increase in available shelter beds, despite the short duration of patient stays.
When questioned about the sustainability of such a model, Modi explained that the center is just one piece of a broader strategy to provide comprehensive care.
“There’s no single opening that is, itself, a silver bullet,” Modi noted, affirming that multiple initiatives are needed to create a full continuum of care for homeless individuals.
While exact operating costs for the center remain unspecified, it is mandated to have a physician available at all times, in addition to one licensed clinical professional for every four clients.
Patty Blum, Vice President of Crestwood Behavioral Health, which will oversee the operation of the facility, noted that the staffing requirements are “extraordinarily high” to ensure constant observation of patients within the center.
The center will also employ registered nurses, case managers, recovery coaches, and coaches certified in dual recovery, alongside overnight security and GLIDE ambassadors to monitor the surrounding areas.
Modi added, “The most expensive thing is letting people who are in distress continue to be outside, and cycling unnecessarily through our hospitals or other places that are not the right care settings for them.”
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott echoed the necessity of the new center as a resource for officers dealing with homeless individuals in crisis.
Scott highlighted that incarceration is not always suitable, stating, “A lot of folks end up in the emergency room or, depending on what the dynamics are, they end up being taken to jail.”
He also pointed out that under state law, police officers are authorized to detain individuals and bring them to facilities like the new stabilization center, where they can receive voluntary treatment.
In conclusion, the San Francisco Department of Public Health hopes that this new initiative will contribute significantly to alleviating both the challenges faced by homeless individuals and the pressures on the city’s emergency services.
image source from：https://missionlocal.org/2025/04/sf-opens-geary-crisis-stabilization-center/
