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Supervisors hear dozens of accounts of harassment in city shelters; advocates urge LGBT-specific services and stronger accountability
Summary
At a Rules Committee hearing, dozens of LGBT residents and advocates testified that transgender and LGBT people face harassment and inadequate protections inside city shelters; Human Services Agency and other departments acknowledged gaps between written standards and residents' experiences and agreed to follow up.
Supervisor David Campos opened a committee hearing focused on whether San Francisco's shelter system adequately serves lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents, saying the city must "be very vigilant" about a high rate of homeless LGBT people and citing studies and anecdotal reports of abuse.
More than two dozen public commenters testified at length. Jason Skerrick, a gay veteran, said he left a shelter after being repeatedly harassed and called a slur; several transgender speakers described staff mockery, lack of privacy and threats of physical assault. Beck, a youth program coordinator at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, urged creation of an LGBT youth commission and said youth repeatedly report transphobic staff behavior and enforcement practices that risk their safety. Jennifer Friedenbach, director of the Coalition on Homelessness, summarized the coalition's Shelter Shock findings and recommended culturally targeted services; she said transgender residents were disproportionately subject to abuse and that lost shelter beds should be replaced with queer-friendly alternatives.
Representatives from the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and the Shelter Monitoring Committee told supervisors the city has long-standing policies (including the Carolyn Plyden gender-identity guidance) and that HRC has taken "over 40 recorded complaints" between 2003 and February 2010, with 26 of those recorded complaints related to gender identity. HRC witnesses and shelter monitors said training has been delivered but flagged weak institutional accountability and inconsistent enforcement of standards at some contracted shelters.
Human Services Agency manager Scott Walton explained how shelters are accessed (the CHANGES reservation system), described the standards-of-care legislation added to shelter contracts in 2008 (which requires training and a grievance process), and acknowledged a disconnect between written policies and some residents' experiences. Walton said shelters document warnings and incidents, operate grievance and arbitration processes, and that denials of service require investigation and can be appealed. He said HSA would review complaint records, training logs and provider practices in light of testimony and work with providers and the shelter monitoring committee on follow-up.
Mayor's Office and Department of Public Health staff said they would improve transmission of formal complaints to funders and would provide updates on the training and compliance steps called for by the standards-of-care legislation. Supervisor Sophie Maxwell and other supervisors pressed HSA and DPH for a monitoring plan, training rosters, complaint tallies and timelines for accountability actions.
Community groups and providers recommended multiple steps: replace lost LGBT-friendly shelter beds, build culturally targeted emergency and retention services for LGBT youth and adults, increase the number of out LGBT staff in shelters, and adopt stronger progressive-discipline measures for shelter staff with repeated complaints. The committee continued the matter to the call of the chair and asked departments to report back promptly with records and a monitoring plan.
