California bill sparks debate over drug-free supportive housing and harm reduction in SF

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- With overdose deaths continuing to rise, a shift is unfolding in San Francisco: one that pits harm reduction orthodoxy against a growing call for sobriety-based supportive housing.

For Claudia Gonzales, a former meth and alcohol user, the outcome of that battle isn't theoretical. It's deeply personal.

"This place means a lot to me," Gonzales said from her room at the Joseph McFee Center, a sober housing facility in the city's Mission District operated by the Salvation Army.

Gonzales was once homeless for five years, drifting through jail stays and addiction. She said the only time she has a place to stay is when she would land behind bars for theft-related crimes to support her addiction.

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"Every single day I would just spend my days just thinking about how I'm going to get my next high," she said. "It's really hard out there, a lot of things happen."

Her turning point came when a judge gave her a stark choice: prison or rehab.

After completing treatment, Gonzales grappled with returning to Santa Rosa, her hometown, but a last-minute opportunity kept her rooted in recovery. Someone told her about the Salvation Army's housing and she decided to stay in the city for its two-year program. The center provided her not just housing, but structure: drug treatment, job training, life skills courses, and an alumni network.

"I was able to find a job. We get more freedom, but we're also held accountable here. And I feel like that's what keeps me sober," Gonzales said. "I think it's the best decision I ever made."

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The program, called The Way Out, boasts a 100% success rate for its 2023-24 fiscal year: every graduate was sober, employed, and housed one year after completion.

Recovery advocate Tom Wolf, who was formerly addicted to heroin, said he has been pushing lawmakers at the local and state level for years.

"They go into a hotel or into an apartment complex and everybody around them is using drugs. How are you going to stay clean?" Wolf asked. "That's the key thing that we've been missing all this time."

Legal barriers to sober housing in California

But replicating this model across the city isn't so simple. California's "Housing First" law, passed in 2016, mandates that any state-funded housing cannot evict tenants solely for drug or alcohol use, making drug-free housing largely illegal under current law.

The San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing told ABC7 News that the city "does not allow illegal drug use in permanent supportive housing," but acknowledged that some residents struggle with "active substance use disorders" that the city aims to manage through harm reduction.

"San Francisco is very eager to add more clean and sober options within our permanent supportive housing portfolio to ensure that we can better meet the needs of people leaving homelessness," a department spokesperson told ABC7 News via email.

For decades, San Francisco has boasted itself as a liberal beacon where drug users will be treated with compassion, and a general tolerance from the government. The harm reduction philosophy at its core aims to reduce death and disease from inevitable drug use, and not to punish users.

Last month, Mayor Daniel Lurie - a moderate Democrat -- ended the city's decades-long policy of handing out syringes and drug paraphernalia to people on the streets. Now, to receive any of those kits, which include foil, pipes and syringes to do drugs, users have to agree to treatment and counseling first.

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Lurie defeated former Mayor London Breed last November, running largely on a platform of reducing crime and open-air drug use throughout the city. His win was part of a statewide wave of frustration with homelessness and public safety, with California voters also approving a proposition to increase penalties for repeat drug users.

Advocates like Wolf believe this is giving their recovery-first movement momentum for the first time in years.

"We've been doing this homeless policy going one way and doing this drug policy going one way and not recognizing the fact that we need to actually implement recovery and give people off-ramps from their situation," he said. "We do recover but you need those right set of circumstances."

New bill aims to expand housing options to aid recovery

Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, is trying to carve out an exception. On Monday, he unveiled a new bill, AB 255, which would allow up to 25% of a county's supportive housing units to be drug-free.

"If somebody wants to get off drugs, we should have a placement for them where they can be away from drugs," Haney said. "Not force them to be in an environment where drug use is openly allowed."

He said his proposal isn't about scrapping Housing First or harm reduction policies, but about expanding the spectrum of care.

"We shouldn't require every single person to be fully off of and away from drugs if they're not in that place yet," Haney said. "But that's a one-size-fits-all, where we are allowing drug use in every housing environment. And that is not appropriate for many people who have taken that step."

For Gonzales, the ability to choose a sober home made all the difference. Now, she has repaired her relationship with her three daughters, who are living with her parents in Texas. Now, Gonzales said she is working toward a reunion with them once she graduates from the Joseph McFee program.

"I'm just grateful," she said. "So much gratitude to be able to have a second chance at life."