By James Salazar | Examiner staff writer
Sixty new tiny homes opened in the Mission district Monday as part of The City’s efforts to expand temporary shelter for unhoused individuals.
Located at 1979 Mission St., the cabins can accommodate up to 68 people, depending on the number of couples. Each home has a locking door, a bed, storage space, furniture, outlets and heating. Hygiene facilities, a dining area and a common area are also included, while residents will be provided access to meals, case management and health services through a partnership with the Department of Public Health.
“We want people indoors, where it’s safe and where they can get on the path to a more secure, long-term housed environment," Mayor London Breed said in a release. “That’s how we end homelessness for people who need help and it’s how we prevent long-term encampments in our neighborhoods.”
Five Keys Schools and Programs, founded by the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department in 2003 to provide diploma programs for adults in county jails, will operate the site and provide on-site social services. The project will cost an estimated $2 million a year to run, according to the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.
Mission Cabins is the second cluster of tiny homes built for the unhoused in San Francisco; it comes after 70 cabins were set up at 33 Gough St. in March 2022. After two years, the homes at the Mission site will be taken down and a long-term affordable-housing project will be built in the neighborhood, creating up to roughly 350 new homes.
In a statement, District 9 Supervisor Hillary called the homelessness crisis the “biggest problem facing our city.”
Mission Cabins are the second such row of tiny homes in San Francisco, having been modeled after the 70 cabins set up at 33 Gough St. in March 2022.
Courtesy San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing
“Now approximately 65 people who have been homeless and living on the streets in the Mission will have dignified shelter and around-the-clock social services,” she said. “I believe these cabins will improve many individual lives as well as street conditions in the Mission.”
Ronen threw her support behind the project in the fall after the proposal guaranteed that full-time staff would keep the space clean and safe.
Officials said that The City has expanded shelter capacity by more than 60% since 2018, with 3,900 beds already available and more expected to come online soon. San Francisco has helped more than 15,000 individuals permanently exit homelessness in the last five years, homelessness officials said.
City officials first proposed the Mission district’s tiny homes project in 2022 but faced pushback amid neighborhood concerns. The site’s proximity to the playground at Marshall Elementary School and the kinds of residents it could support were sources of contention.
To address safety concerns, two sets of fencing and storage lockers separate the site from Marshall Elementary’s playground, while there is also one check-in entrance on Mission Street that comes with security cameras.
“The Mission Cabins are a step towards creating more inclusive and compassionate shelter in areas of high need, where everyone has the opportunity to thrive with dignity,” said Shireen McSpadden, executive director of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, in a statement.