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Rules Committee hears sharp criticism of shelter reservation system; advocates push for longer stays and software fixes
Summary
At a Rules Committee hearing Sept. 17, advocates, shelter monitors and dozens of clients described long waits, frequent "dropped" reservations and one‑night placements under a revised shelter reservation policy. The Human Services Agency outlined steps and short‑term bed expansions while promising continued review.
The Board of Supervisors Rules Committee heard more than two hours of testimony on Sept. 17 about complaints that San Francisco’s shelter reservation and extension policy is producing long waits and unstable placements for people seeking emergency beds.
"We have a shelter reservation system that is confusing, complicated, constantly changing," said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, which issued a report called the "Runaround" after interviews with people trying to access shelter. The coalition’s review found median waits dropped from roughly seven days to eight hours after a July policy change but also reported widespread problems including reservations that no longer appeared in the system when people arrived at a shelter.
Why it matters: advocates, shelter monitors and some shelter directors said the July changes — which standardized shorter initial stays and relied on the city's "Changes" reservation software to manage assignments — exposed two linked risks: (1) a brittle computer workflow that sometimes drops reservations or misroutes beds, and (2) a narrower…
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