Board continues Tenderloin emergency hearing after update on new Linkage Center; supervisors press for metrics, beds and policing data

San Francisco city leaders reviewed the city's response to a spike in overdoses and open‑air drug activity in the Tenderloin during a committee‑of‑the‑whole hearing that the Board of Supervisors continued to March 15, 2022.

The Department of Emergency Management (DEM), the Department of Public Health (DPH), the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) and other agencies described a set of short‑term operations launched under the mayor's emergency declaration and outlined initial results from a newly opened Linkage Center intended to provide low‑barrier services and connections to treatment, shelter and housing.

DEM director Mary Ellen Carroll told the board the initiative is operating in multiple phases: an initial assessment and engagement phase, an active operations phase that began in mid‑December, and a planned sustained operations phase focused on restoration and recovery. "We started in mid‑December and focused on connecting people to services, intervening in street activity and addressing infrastructure," Carroll said. She described the Linkage Center as a "one‑stop shop" providing basic needs, case management and referrals and said the city plans to expand hours and services.

DPH officials said the center had hundreds to thousands of visits in its first weeks and produced dozens of service referrals. Dr. Hilary Conins said the center logged about 1,800 visits in one week, produced roughly 30–35 referrals per week to substance use or mental‑health treatment in the early weeks, and…