Report claims rampant abuse at homeless shelters

By Tamara Barak

May 16, 2007

Homeless advocates in San Francisco today released a report claiming rampant abuse in city-funded shelters.

The report, called Shelter Shock, was put out by the Coalition on Homelessness organization. It is the result of interviews with 215 shelter residents documenting human rights abuses, said organizing director Jennifer Friedenbach.

According to the survey, 55 percent of respondents said they have experienced some form of abuse while staying at a San Francisco homeless shelter. Verbal abuse was most common, with 44 percent citing it as something they had endured. However, 14 percent said they were victims of physical violence, and 4 percent claimed to have experienced sexual abuse in a city shelter.

A third of respondents said that they do not feel safe, either due to rude and neglectful staff members, physical violence, stealing or overcrowding.

More than half of the homeless people surveyed - 56 percent - said their suggestions or complaints were ignored and that their dietary needs were not met.

Shelters consistently fail to provide basic hygiene supplies, Friedenbach said. About 27 percent of survey respondents said they did not have access to toilet paper, feminine hygiene products or soap.

Recent shelter resident Tomas Picarello said it was outrageous that basic needs were being ignored in such a wealthy city.

Picarello asked, "In a city with a $125 million budget surplus last year, why are we talking about toilet paper?"

Friedenbach said about half of those who responded to the survey had physical or psychiatric disabilities. She noted that a full quarter of complaints made to the Mayor's Office on Disability regarding inadequate facilities involve homeless shelters.

"It would be far too easy to blame front line staff at shelters for these abuses. That would be a mistake," she said. "The true fault lies with city administrators and policymakers who have allowed this situation to go on unchecked."

Friedenbach called for legislation that would enforce standards of care, training of shelter employees, and a system for lodging complaints against shelters.

San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano said he was "shocked and appalled" by the report's findings.

"The conditions they have found in the shelters are barbaric," he said. "If we were going to be judged by how we treat our less fortunate in San Francisco, we'd get an F. I know that's not where we want to be."

Lauren Livengood of the Mayor's Office of Communication said Mayor Gavin Newsom had not yet seen the report and did not have a response.

Copyright © 2007 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

####