Too many vacancies in SF's nonprofit SRO hotels?

Open letter to STREET SHEET and
the Coalition On Homelessness (COH):

Are there too many vacant rooms at some "master lease" residential hotels,
including those run by the Tenderloin Housing Clinic (THC)?

At one THC hotel, almost one-tenth of the rooms stand empty (as of April 2007).
Is there a shortage of homeless citizens who need to rent such rooms?

Or do homeless individuals and couples, including those who sleep outdoors to avoid shelters,
find too many bureaucratic obstacles in their path toward a room?

Or does THC evict too many tenants from its hotels,
making them homeless again?

Or is THC deliberately saving rooms for a future emergency,
such as another fire in a private hotel?


Please do some investigative jornalism.

Taxpayers and the homeless both deserve to know
whether city-subsidized hotels are housing
as many of the homeless as they can.
And, if not, whether there's some good reason to keep rooms vacant.

-- Near Homeless
in SF