María Mera, 37, slept at San Francisco gas stations with her husband and three children when she first arrived from Ecuador nearly three months ago. “I went to ask for help with all my suitcases and children,” said Mera in a video interview. “They told me there is nothing.”
Other asylum seekers and immigrant families have similar stories: They sleep with their kids in cars, MUNI and street corners for weeks until they finally gain access to a shelter. From there, the path to stable, affordable housing is frustratingly unclear.
“In a city with almost forty-eight billionaires,” said District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safai at a City Hall rally Tuesday, “it is unconscionable that we have children living on our streets when we have shelter beds that are vacant.” Safai said he will introduce a resolution at the following Board of Supervisors meeting calling for Mayor London Breed and the Department of Homelessness to respond to the needs of the city’s immigrant families.
In particular, immigrant families are asking for guaranteed shelter space or hotel vouchers the same day families arrive at one of the city’s three Access Point sites devoted to homeless families. They also request an online public dashboard that allows families to monitor the waitlist for permanent housing.
“No more kids on the street, please,” said Jenifer Carcamo during the rally, an asylum seeker from Honduras with three children, including a month-old baby. Like other immigrant families, she says she came to San Francisco because of its designation as a sanctuary city. “I thought we were going to have more job opportunities. That we were going to have safe, stable housing,” said Carmaco during a video interview. “But it has been difficult.”
The resolution comes after the Bay Area coalition Faith in Action gathered hundreds of people in support of the families at Saint Anthony’s cafeteria on March 7, where Safai was in attendance.
Stay tuned for El Tecolote’s continued coverage of San Francisco’s immigrant families experiencing homelessness.