Health
hands holding a vial of naloxone

Harm Reduction Critical to Addressing Overdose Crisis, Local Experts Say

04.07.2022
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The key to addressing San Francisco’s overdose crisis, say community activists and medical experts in the city, is harm reduction. That’s an approach that acknowledges not all drug users will achieve abstinence, and that focuses on keeping them safe and alive if they’re not ready or able to quit. Drug overdoses killed more people in San Francisco than did COVID-19 in the first two years of the pandemic — 711 deaths in 2020, and 645 in 2021.

Health
A photo of the building fascade and entrance to a HealthRIGHT 360 location on Mission Street. Overdoses in San Francisco spiked in 2020. HealthRIGHT 360 is one of many organizations in the city that provide substance use disorder treatment services.

Surge in Overdose Deaths Is a Puzzle Public Health Experts Are Desperate to Solve

03.30.2022
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In San Francisco, drug overdoses killed more people than did COVID-19 in the first two years of the pandemic — 711 deaths in 2020, and 645 in 2021. These figures are troubling, even without counting nonfatal overdoses and other suffering associated with this crisis. While fentanyl is often cited for the rapid increase, many factors contribute to this trend both in San Francisco and nationally.

Public Safety
A tent stands to the left of a pile of charred debris under the charred bottom of an overpass.

What Reporters Learned Mapping Encampment Fires

03.17.2022
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Fires in encampments, tents and other makeshift shelters occurred more frequently in recent years, reporting from the San Francisco Public Press and Mission Local shows. But incident counts alone do not offer a clear explanation of what is happening on the street.

Housing

Tenant Protections are Expiring as Thousands Wait on Rent Assistance

03.10.2022
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The last remaining tenant protections against eviction for pandemic-related rent debt that were granted by the state are expiring at the end of the month. A new protection covering rent due in April will go into effect for San Francisco tenants, but even these residents will be vulnerable to eviction for past rent debt at the beginning of the month. 

Homelessness

Hear Why Hundreds of Homeless San Franciscans Wait Months as Rooms for Them Sit Empty

03.03.2022
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A recent investigation from the San Francisco Public Press and ProPublica indicates Hanson is not alone in her frustration. But the problem is not that there is nowhere for people to go. Rather, hundreds of units of permanent supportive housing — rooms in hotels or full apartments intended to get people experiencing homelessness a roof over their heads and connected with services — are sitting empty. Meanwhile, more than 1,600 people have been approved to move into them, and more than 400 people on the streets have been waiting to be housed for more than a year.  

Elections

Ballotpedia Strives to Earn Voters’ Trust With Comprehensive Elections Guide

02.10.2022
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Voters who feel confused or misled by the bombardment of political advertising that comes with every election season might seek out a neutral, straightforward explanation of a ballot measure or campaign. For many voters, that search leads to Ballotpedia. Though the site is exhaustive and may seem formulaic, its content is not automatically generated. Professional writers and editors carefully curate the material that lands in this elections encyclopedia, which covers everything from ballot measures to judges to redistricting. 

Elections

Interview Transcript: David Campos

02.07.2022
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This transcript is from an interview on our radio program and podcast “Civic,” published as part of our February 2022 nonpartisan election guide. Though “Civic” will broadcast only seven minutes of each candidate’s interview to give each equal airtime on our program, we are making a transcript of the full conversations available. These transcripts have been edited for clarity.     

Laura Wenus   

Okay, so I think I’d like to start by asking if you could give San Francisco voters a quick review of the work that you’ve been doing between when you were District 9 supervisor — I know you were a deputy county executive in Santa Clara County, and after that became chief of staff to the San Francisco District Attorney, Chesa Boudin — but maybe if you could just give an overview of some of what you’ve been working on in that time? 

David Campos   

Sure. Thank you very much for the opportunity. I think that I’ll sort of divide the work that I’ve been doing since I left the Board of Supervisors into two different types of work.

Elections

Interview Transcript: Matt Haney

02.07.2022
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This transcript is from an interview on our radio program and podcast “Civic,” published as part of our February 2022 nonpartisan election guide. Though “Civic” will broadcast only seven minutes of each candidate’s interview to give each equal airtime on our program, we are making a transcript of the full conversations available. These transcripts have been edited for clarity. 

Laura Wenus 

I think maybe people are sick of hearing me talk about this, but we are still in a record-breaking spike of coronavirus cases, though at the time of this recording, I think we’ve peaked and we’re starting to come down. I am not convinced this is now over and everything is going to get better from here on out. People are still getting sick and they will continue to get sick even if we’re on a downward slope of infections.

Elections

Interview Transcript: Bilal Mahmood

02.07.2022
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This transcript is from an interview on our radio program and podcast “Civic,” published as part of our February 2022 nonpartisan election guide. Though “Civic” will broadcast only seven minutes of each candidate’s interview to give each equal airtime on our program, we are making a transcript of the full conversations available. These transcripts have been edited for clarity.   

Laura Wenus  

I’d like to start by getting a little bit of your background first because there’s a lot — you trained as a neuroscientist, you worked for Stanford, you started at least one company. You’ve also worked as a political analyst. Could you just briefly describe each of those roles, your educational background, your role at Stanford, what your companies did and the kinds of policies you were working on in the Obama administration?  

Bilal Mahmood  

Sure.