Update 1: The following letter was sent Tuesday, May 5th from the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) to members of the Embarcadero SAFE Navigation Center Advisory Group. The message contains an update to the City’s plan to transition the Embarcadero SAFE Navigation Center to a “Post-COVID” congregate shelter. Additionally, you can find a link to the Center’s FAQ document here. This FAQ document was last updated on May 9, 2020.
“Dear Embarcadero SAFE Navigation Center Advisory Group Members,
As you know, the City is rolling out a number of interventions for people experiencing homelessness to help protect them from the spread of COVID-19 including the opening of nearly 1,000 hotel rooms and multiple congregate facilities. The City is planning to transition the Embarcadero SAFE Navigation Center to a “Post-COVID” congregate shelter. Similarly, the City has converted MSC South and Moscone West to this purpose.
This means that the 65 people currently staying at the Embarcadero SAFE Navigation Center will be tested for COVID-19 and then transitioned to shelter-in-place, isolation or quarantine sites depending on the results and their needs. The facility will then be closed, cleaned, and reopened as a shelter for people experiencing homelessness who have been tested, diagnosed with COVID-19, received medical care, and cleared their quarantine period.
Each person who is placed at the Embarcadero SAFE Navigation Center will be cleared by the Department of Public Health prior to placement. DPH has stated that the change in population served at the Embarcadero SAFE Navigation Center does not pose any risk to the health of the public.
The site will continue to be operated by Five Keys and will continue to comply with existing shelter social distancing, shelter in place, and health screening protocols. Five Keys will continue to provide the same services to guests that they were providing prior to the COVID crisis. All other provisions and agreements in the existing MOU with the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing will remain in effect, including the good neighbor policy, and the Embarcadero SAFE Navigation Center Advisory Group and dedicated police patrols will continue as before.”
