Title
City of San Francisco and the US Interagency Council on Homelessness (B)
The City Commission referred the issue of the City of San Francisco and the US Interagency Council on Homelessness to the Community Development Committee. This item is related to File 060135, Mayor's Report of the New Cities Project.
Explanation
On June 12, 2006, the City Commission referred the request that the Homelessness Implementation Committee receive information obtained during the New Cities Project meeting from the City of San Francisco and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. This matter was referred to staff to address homeless problems in Gainesville, particularly: a) the San Francisco "Homeward Bound" Family Reunification Program that pays to transport homeless individuals back to willing family members; b) advocacy for obtaining Social Security benefits for homeless individuals and recovering 12 months of retroactive Social Security and Medicaid reimbursements for those eligible; and c) the use of the Food Stamp Employment and Training Program to provide supportive housing services for those individuals eligible for food stamps.
The Community Development Committee discussed this item on November 14, 2006, and Jim Hencin, Block Grant Manager, suggested that the $10,000 budgeted by the City Commission be set aside as a resource for the proposed One-Stop Homeless Assistance Center to implement the homeward bound program locally. (Staff will be submitting an agenda item at an upcoming City Commission meeting to provide such a contract.) On the issue of Advocacy for Social Security benefits, staff recommended that no action be taken at this time, since it was already being handled by various local providers. Although there are no definitive data to show how many homeless persons might benefit from the Social Security advocacy, it appears that at any given time, local providers are working with 20-30 low-income/homeless persons to obtain Social Secu...
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