Thread by @Twolfrecovery

"Is it humane to allow people to live, get sick and too often die in encampments, knowing they will likely wait years for housing?" latimes.com/california/sto…

This is the question we must ask ourselves and our elected leaders throughout #California. It's time for "Right To Shelter" in this state. It delivers for all sides. @CAgovernor @MayorOfLA @LondonBreed

Homeless encampments or "Open Drug Scenes" would be broken up. People moved indoors or to a safe space, buys time to create permanent supportive housing while offering services to the homeless. @ShellenbergerMD @calif_peace

Safe Consumption Sites supported by Progressives and Harm Reduction advocates is the same thing isn't it? A safe place, indoors, where people who use drugs can do so safely and get "services." If supporters could make them mandatory, they would because they're "saving lives."

Living on the street is not safe. For anyone. Using drugs on the street isn't safe. For anyone. Struggling with untreated mental illness on the street isn't safe. For anyone. What if the homeless had a place to go while they get help finding housing and treatment?

In 2014, the @USICHgov said
Housing First works if we can house people quickly. But we've learned that's easier said than done. Even with $12 billion committed in CA in the next 2 years for Project Homekey, at best, 30k of 165k get housed. usich.gov/news/four-clar…

To further this narrative, misinformation about the homeless paints a false narrative that only 30% of those on the street struggle with addiction and mental illness. This article references this. But it's just not true.
google.com/amp/s/www.poli…

I've experienced homelessness. In my advocacy, I've talked to homeless and outreach workers in SF, Skid Row (LA) and Venice Beach to name a few. Everyone says the same thing. 70% not 30% of the homeless they encounter have an SMI or untreated addiction.

Combine this revelation with new and more powerful drugs on the street like illicit Fentanyl and P2P Meth? And you have thousands. (Yes thousands) of people dying from overdose who are experiencing homelessness. npr.org/2021/11/03/104…

This connection has been exposed by @ShellenbergerMD in his book "San Fransicko" amazon.com/San-Fransicko-…

The rise in these new drugs and their intersecionality with homelessness are also laid out brilliantly by @samquinones7 in his book, "The Least Of Us" amazon.com/Least-Us-Tales…

If it's going to take at the very least 2 years for a few thousand and at worst 100 years for all homeless in CA today to obtain housing. What do they do in the interim? I will tell you. Suffer and die on the street.

Something must change. Right to Shelter is a short term but necessary answer to a long term problem. @JoeBuscaino @abales @StanleyRoberts @Ahsha_Safai @LondonBreed @Mayor_Steinberg @HUDgov @SF_HSH @LAHomeless @sfchronicle