![]() ![]() By law, there’s no rigid requirement that they stick to the treatment - but just getting them to commit was unusual, and so far they’ve kept to their agreements, counselors said. And 19 of the 34 total agreed to regular treatment for medical, behavioral and other needs aimed at getting them off the street. In the past five months, eight other hard-core unhoused people like Solomon have also been moved from the Castro into housing or residential treatment facilities. Jarred and Cassie, who are homeless, sit on the sidewalk in the Castro. Leaders of the effort meet daily to coordinate strategies and check the progress on each person. The plan, coordinated by the city Department of Emergency Management, enlists more than a dozen city teams and other agencies including the homelessness and health departments to swarm the Castro with whatever it takes to persuade the 34 people to get off the street. Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Castro, helped compile the roster of the people most in need of attention, and a plan was put into place. The Castro encampment effort, city officials said, was being planned prior to the merchants’ threat to withhold their taxes. Last August, Castro merchants threatened to withhold taxes from the city if officials didn’t take action to help people they said were regularly experiencing psychotic episodes in public, vandalizing storefronts and harassing passersby - and that was just the latest in several years of steady complaints. The project began in August, focusing on 34 long-term unhoused people who have resisted most efforts of help for many years. And how it will be hard to replicate throughout the city. McGary helped lead a pilot project that shows what progress can be made in helping people get off the street - and also, how terrifically difficult that task is. The difference in the Castro, and not just for Solomon, has been remarkable in the past five months. ![]()
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