Shelter Monitoring Committee presents annual report; city officials outline bed counts and next steps

The Rules Committee received the Shelter Monitoring Committee’s 2015–16 annual report on Feb. 8 and filed it. Mwangi Mokami, chair of the monitoring body, said the committee conducted 79 site visits out of 82 assigned (96.3% completion) and received 121 complaints, down from 126 the prior year. He said the committee helped shepherd a domestic-violence policy amendment into implementation and has improved membership diversity.

Supervisors asked for more context on shelter size, bed counts and consequences for providers who fail to meet the standards of care. Assistant Director Charlie Moreno (Department of Public Health) and Sam Dodge (Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing) said the city has roughly 1,300 shelter beds and serves more than 5,700 unduplicated people over the year in the shelter system. Dodge said contract monitors and department staff work with nonprofit providers and that the city can change contractors if a provider is not performing.

Mokami said the committee is developing a point-based rating system tied to the Board-adopted standards of care and will capture outcomes and follow-up actions in future reports. A public commenter, Anne Jones, said many shelter clients fear retaliation and therefore do not file complaints, calling attention to the need for better confidential grievance mechanisms.

After discussion, the committee filed the report and agreed staff would follow up with supervisors on bed-size breakouts and complaint-resolution data.