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A Shelter Monitoring Committee ("Committee") is hereby established. The Committee shall document its findings and shall submit reports consistent with this Article to the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, the Local Homeless Coordinating Board, the public, and any other entity, as appropriate. Subject to the fiscal and budgetary provisions of the Charter, the Department of Public Health shall assign two full-time employees to staff the Shelter Monitoring Committee. The Committee shall, among other things, receive and document complaints made to the Committee regarding shelters and shall refer complaints to appropriate committee members for follow-up.
(Added by Ord. 283-04, File No. 041449, App. 12/1/2004; Ord. 150-07, File No. 070084, App. 7/3/2007; Ord. 51-08, File No. 080229, App. 3/28/2008; reenacted by Ord. 61-21, File No. 210115, App. 4/30/2021, Eff. 5/31/2021, Oper. 5/31/2021)
The purpose of the Committee is to provide the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, the Commission, the public, and any other appropriate agency with accurate, comprehensive information about the conditions in and operations of shelters covered by this Article XII, as well as City policies in place that affect operations of shelters or their impact on shelter clients.
(Added by Ord. 283-04, File No. 041449, App. 12/1/2004; Ord. 150-07, File No. 070084, App. 7/3/2007; reenacted by Ord. 61-21, File No. 210115, App. 4/30/2021, Eff. 5/31/2021, Oper. 5/31/2021; amended by Ord. 23-23, File No. 221246, App. 2/23/2023, Eff. 3/26/2023; Ord. 35-23, File No. 230125, App. 3/17/2023, Eff. 4/17/2023)
The Committee shall have all of the powers and duties necessary to carry out the functions of the Committee as follows:
(a) Site Visits. Individual Committee members shall form teams and make unannounced site visits to all shelters a minimum of two times per year, per site. The scope of the site visits shall be limited to gathering information relevant to: 1) health and safety conditions in shelters, 2) the adequacy of policies and procedures governing each facility, and 3) the treatment and personal experience of shelter residents in the shelters. Committee members shall conduct site visits in the least invasive manner possible and shall respect the privacy rights of shelter clients. In addition, teams shall make one announced site visit per year for the purpose of giving shelter residents the opportunity to discuss shelter conditions with the members of the Committee. The Committee shall conduct additional site visits when it receives complaints or out-of-compliance findings. The Committee shall establish in its By-Laws thresholds for the number of complaints or out-of-compliance findings during a year that triggers the additional site visits. All site visits shall occur during shelter operating hours only. After consulting shelter staff, the Committee shall post Committee contact information and information regarding announced visits at each shelter. Each team shall prepare a report for the full Committee on its findings and recommendations as described below under subsection (b), “Reports.”
(b) Reports. The Committee shall prepare and submit quarterly reports that shall include but not be limited to information on the following: safety in the shelter, cleanliness in the shelter, disability access to and within the shelter, family life in the shelter, a review of policies and procedures in place at the shelter, and any information received regarding the treatment and personal experiences of shelter residents. In order to enable the Committee to prepare reports required under this subsection (b), City departments that contract for services at a shelter that is under review must respond within 15 days to any reasonable request for information submitted by the Committee relative to the shelter or to City policies that affect shelter clients. The reports shall also include recommended action steps for the shelter and for the City department that contracts for services at the shelter. City departments and the reports referenced in this subsection shall not identify shelter residents or disclose any confidential information concerning shelter residents consistent with state and federal law. The Committee may issue emergency reports at any time it deems necessary. The reports shall be provided to: 1) the Mayor, 2) the Board of Supervisors, 3) the Commission, 4) the appropriate City department responsible to take action, 5) the City department that contracts for services at the shelter, 6) the shelter under review, and 7) the public. These reports shall be public documents. Any City department identified in the report as responsible to take action recommended in the report shall, within 30 days of issuance of the report, provide to the Board of Supervisors a departmental report setting forth how the department intends to respond to the Committee’s recommendations.
(c) Training. All members of the Committee shall receive training in confidentiality laws regarding the provision of services to homeless people, as applicable, and will agree in writing to comply with any and all confidentiality requirements. In addition, members of the Committee may not disclose the following information before an unannounced shelter visit occurs: the date, time, and location of an unannounced shelter visit and the identity of the members of the team conducting the visit. After providing notice and an opportunity to be heard, the Committee may remove a Committee member for making disclosures prohibited by this subsection. If the Committee removes a Committee member pursuant to this subsection, it shall inform the appointing authority of this fact and request that the appointing authority appoint a replacement as soon as possible. All members of the Committee shall receive sensitivity training related to cultural differences, gender issues and the Americans With Disabilities Act. Committee members shall receive other training deemed necessary by the Committee to carry out its functions.
(d) Monitoring unaccepted shelter bed reservations. The Committee shall collect information from reservation sites regarding how many shelter clients are turned away from a shelter bed reservation and shall include this information in the reports required under subsection (b), above. Information reported shall include the number of unaccepted bed reservations and the reason, if available, for the missed reservation.
(e) Retaliation Prohibition. Shelter staff and shelter clients shall not be retaliated against for participating in any activity involving the Committee. This section is not intended to create a private right of action against the City and County of San Francisco.
(Added by Ord. 283-04, File No. 041449, App. 12/1/2004; Ord. 150-07, File No. 070084, App. 7/3/2007; Ord. 131-10, File no. 100437, App. 6/24/2010; reenacted by Ord. 61-21, File No. 210115, App. 4/30/2021, Eff. 5/31/2021, Oper. 5/31/2021; amended by Ord. 23-23, File No. 221246, App. 2/23/2023, Eff. 3/26/2023; Ord. 35-23, File No. 230125, App. 3/17/2023, Eff. 4/17/2023; Ord. 277-24, File No. 240871, App. 12/12/2024, Eff. 1/12/2025)
(a) The membership of the Committee shall reflect the diversity of the homeless people that access shelter in the City. The Committee shall consist of 12 members, appointed by the Homelessness Oversight Commission (“Commission”) as follows:
Seat 1 shall be held by a person who is (1) providing direct services to homeless families, or (2) a parent, legal guardian, or caregiver who is personally experiencing or has personally experienced being homeless.
Seat 2 shall be held by a person who is homeless or has been homeless within the three years prior to being appointed to the Committee, and who has a disability.
Seats 3 and 4 shall be held by persons with experience providing direct services to homeless people through a community setting.
Seat 5 shall be held by a person nominated by one or more community agencies that provide behavioral health, housing placement, or other services to homeless people.
Seat 6 shall be held by a person who is homeless or formerly homeless, and who has been nominated by one or more nonprofit agencies that provide advocacy or organizing services for homeless people.
Seats 7 and 8 shall be held by persons nominated by one or more nonprofit agencies that provide advocacy or organizing services for homeless people.
Seats 9 and 10 shall be held by persons who are homeless or formerly homeless, and who have experience providing direct services to homeless people through a community setting.
Seat 11 shall be held by a person who is homeless or formerly homeless, and who has been nominated by one or more community agencies that provide behavioral health, housing placement, or other services to homeless people.
Seat 12 shall be held by an employee of the Department of Public Health.
In making its appointments to the Committee, the Commission is encouraged to select people who are bilingual.
(b) The Committee shall elect its own officers and may establish rules for its own organization and procedures, consistent with this Article XII.
(c) Limitations on site visits.
(1) Committee members who work at a resource center or shelter shall not conduct site visits at that site or any other site that is part of that agency. If they are former employees of a site, they must wait at least six months after leaving employment before conducting a site visit.
(2) Committee members who reside at a shelter shall not conduct site visits at that site or any other site that is part of the agency responsible for the shelter. Committee members who formerly resided at a shelter must wait at least six months after leaving the shelter before conducting a site visit at that site or any other site that is part of the agency responsible for the shelter.
(3) Committee members from the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and the Department of Public Health shall not conduct official site visits on behalf of the Shelter Monitoring Committee at a site where their respective agency holds a contract with said site or agency.
(d) Members of the Committee may not serve on any other City body that advises on issues relating to homelessness, including but not limited to the Commission, Local Homeless Coordinating Board, and Shelter Grievance Advisory Committee, during their term(s) on the Committee.
(Added by Ord. 283-04, File No. 041449, App. 12/1/2004; amended by Ord. 150-07, File No. 070084, App. 7/3/2007; Ord. 116-16, File No. 160638, App. 6/29/2016, Eff. 7/29/2016; Ord. 249-18
, File No. 171171, App. 11/2/2018, Eff. 12/3/2018; reenacted by Ord. 61-21, File No. 210115, App. 4/30/2021, Eff. 5/31/2021, Oper. 5/31/2021; Ord. 35-23, File No. 230125, App. 3/17/2023, Eff. 4/17/2023; Ord. 277-24
, File No. 240871, App. 12/12/2024, Eff. 1/12/2025)
(a) Continuing Membership on the Committee. Members of the Committee seated as of the effective date of the ordinance in Board File No. ______ shall by operation of law remain members of the Committee for one year from the effective date of said ordinance. New terms for members of the Committee shall commence on that date, and the Commission shall make appointments to the Committee for those terms in accordance with Section 20.305. Members of the Committee seated as of that date shall be eligible for reappointment to the Committee by the Commission.
(b) To provide for staggered terms, the members appointed to Seats, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 shall serve for an initial term of one year; thereafter the term for Seats, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 shall be a two-year term. The members appointed to Seats 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 shall serve for an initial term of two years.
(c) In the event that a vacancy occurs during the term of office of any Committee member, a successor shall be appointed by the Commission to complete the expired term of office.
(a) The Committee shall meet a minimum of once per quarter at such times and places as the Committee shall designate.
(b) The Department of Department of1
Homelessness and Supportive Housing shall provide clerical and administrative support and staffing for the Committee.
CODIFICATION NOTE
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