Column: Newsom and mayors meet to discuss homelessness. Have we hit rock bottom? | Photo courtesy of the Mayor’s Office.
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In a meeting of the three-member Homelessness Advisory Council, City Council President Bruce quashed the notion that the department was out of ideas when it comes to alleviating the issue.
“I’m confident in the direction the city is headed,” he said. “At the same time, I know we are going to have to continue looking at how we do this as a city, as a community.”
He said he is looking at options such as the possibility of building more permanent housing structures such as a new building in South City near the intersection of Eighth and Locust streets, which would house up to 100 homeless and non-homeless.
That building would be up to 100 units across four floors with an additional 10 units above on top of that, where the city already has a roof.
“It’s going to be challenging, but it’s possible,” Councilman Scott Haggerty of the Fourth District said. “The question is: What’s right?”
In a separate meeting Monday, Mayor Pro Tem Brian Lieser said he would not be attending the Homeless Advisory Council because of its direction.
Councilman John Rhodes, head of the Fourth District, would, however, meet with the council’s Homelessness Subcommittee, which was established in September.
The subcommittee would have the authority to work with the City Attorney to draft a resolution that would give the city the authority to purchase land in South City in order to construct housing.
“We have a lot of ideas, and that’s why the Homelessness Advisory Council is not the one to hear them,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes said he would put together a list of the housing ideas that would be discussed at the meeting, as well as a list of people he would like to have speak to the subcommittee.
“There will be a good deal of input, and the Homelessness Advisory Council is not the only one that gets to give this input,” Rhodes said.
The subcommittee will meet next week.
In terms of the homeless issue,