Less than a month before his sudden death last week, then-Mayor Ed Lee made an ambitious pledge to bring 1,000 homeless people off San Francisco’s streets this winter, primarily though the opening of emergency Navigation Centers — temporary shelters offering services to the homeless population.
On Tuesday, in an effort to see Lee’s promise through, Acting Mayor London Breed instructed San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to make room for a total of 75 additional beds at the city’s two largest homeless shelters.
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“Before he left us, Mayor Ed Lee made a promise to move 1,000 people off the streets by the end of this winter, and I intend to honor that pledge,” said Breed. “Increasing capacity at our two largest shelters is an important step forward in our goal to transition more people off the streets and into safe, stable living situations.”
Beginning Saturday, an additional 50 beds will be made available at the Open Door shelter on Polk Street and 25 beds will be opened at the MSC-South center on Fifth Street, according to Breed’s office.
The beds will be available through the end of March, said Jeff Kositsky, director of the city’s homelessness department. By then, he expects the added beds will have served between 150 and 200 additional people needing temporary places to stay.
It’s common practice to expand capacity at homeless shelters during long stretches of rainy days and nights, Kositsky said, “but what (Breed) asked us to do was make that expansion ongoing throughout the entire winter, rather than on an ad hoc basis.
“We’re pleased that Acting Mayor Breed is continuing on with the mayor’s direction and is taking an active and aggressive approach to getting 1,000 people off the streets this winter,” Kositsky said.
On Wednesday, the city also plans to officially open the Auburn Hotel, a 70-unit supportive housing facility for homeless veterans. It’s the fourth such site — intended as permanent housing for a total of 300 veterans — to open in the past year.
City officials are also working to open an emergency Navigation Center at 125 Bayshore Blvd. in San Francisco’s Visitacion Valley neighborhood, with between 100 and 125 beds. It could be open by February. The city is also negotiating with Caltrans to use two state-owned sites for temporary Navigation Centers that could hold a combined 180 beds. Those sites are located at Fifth and Bryant streets and at 13th and Division streets.
Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa