Blog
Jan 20

Business Update: Tenderloin State of Emergency & How You Can Participate

  • January 20, 2022

Update on the State of Emergency

The City and community have made real progress in addressing problems of open-air drug sales and use, homelessness, and crime on the streets of the Tenderloin.

As a direct result of TLCBD’s organizing efforts, residents and businesses of the Tenderloin held a rally outside City Hall and met with Mayor Breed demanding that she declare a State of Emergency in the Tenderloin to improve safety in the neighborhood. On Friday, December 17, 2021, Mayor London Breed acted on the appeals of the Tenderloin community and announced a State of Emergency in the Tenderloin. The Board of Supervisors approved the State of Emergency on December 24, 2021.

Since declaring the State of Emergency, the following actions have been taken by the City:

  • Entered into a lease for a new Linkage Center at 1170 Market Street, which is a services-focused location where people can find respite from the streets and gain access to a wide variety of resources from the City and its partners. It is scheduled to open by mid-January.

  • Expedited the hiring of behavioral health clinicians to support people suffering from substance use disorder in the Tenderloin.

  • Placed 58 people living on the streets into non-congregate shelter in the last week, including a joint operation on the 300 block of Ellis where the Healthy Streets Operations Center (HSOC), Glide, the Tenderloin Community Benefit District, and SF Youth with a Mission (YWAM) all worked together to move 17 people indoors on one day. (Last week)

  • Transported 23 people from the Tenderloin to the hospital or behavioral health programs (Last two weeks)

  • 33 arrests with 3,164 grams of fentanyl seized made for drug dealing related offenses (Last three weeks)

  • Repaired 16 different street light locations in the Tenderloin including the intersection of Turk and Hyde (In the last month)

  • Removed 463 tons of waste and power washed 284 locations (last two weeks).

San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management is developing a dashboard to track all the work being done through this emergency declaration. I will share this with you when it is completed.

How you can participate

If you are interested in scheduling a listening session for small business owners with the City of San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management, please contact Christy at christy@tlcbd.org for more information. At this session you will be able to tell City representatives how the lack of safety in the Tenderloin affects your business.