Tonight in San Francisco, an estimated 8,000 people will go to sleep in a tent, a car, a homeless shelter or on a friend’s couch.
The desperate need for stable housing has become so entrenched that generations of governments have tried and failed to solve the crisis.
To that end, local primary school teacher Christi Carpenter says everyday San Franciscans like her need to step up and help.
Christi is the Director and Board Chair of ; a volunteer-powered organisation that matches hosts who have extra space in their homes with people on the verge of homelessness.
Christi Carpenter says, “Hosting an unhoused person in your home is no different from having a roommate.”
Over the past five years, Christi and her husband have more often than not had a guest staying with them.
“Being low-income is not a criminal act,” Christi says.
“Hosting an unhoused person in your home is no different from having a roommate."
And, just like having a roommate, hosts aren’t expected to provide their guests with food.
Most of Christi's guests have been individuals, but for a stint of several months, she and her husband opened their home to a family of five.
Being low-income is not a criminal act.
Around 30 per cent of Americans are living on or below the poverty line. People can find themselves on the brink of homelessness for any number of reasons – sudden eviction, family breakdown or just being a poor student who can’t afford rent in one of the most expensive rental markets in the world.
While conservative commentators often claim that San Francisco’s ‘liberal attitude’ and lax policing of public order attracts homeless people from across the country, homeless migration makes up only 30 per cent of the city’s homeless population.
Christi and her husband hosted a family of five in their home at one stage. The family was able to move out after buying a home.
“The real migration issue is more likely San Francisco’s booming tech sector,” says Julie Stewart, an urban strategist and researcher based in San Francisco.
As wealthy workers from around the world have descended on the city with the rise of tech startups, the city’s housing market has become one of the most competitive in the world. Those at the bottom of the market fall out of the race and into the streets.
Safe Time is a small-scale operation and each partnership is tailored to meet the specific needs of each host and guest.
“The security measures that we go through with the background checks and the reference checks make sure that people are who they say they are,” Christi says.
In some cases, the hosts will also need to pass a background check.
To qualify for Safe Time, guests must pass a criminal background check, be addiction-free, in good mental and physical health, and have mapped out a clear path back to stable housing within a few months.
Once those hurdles are cleared, Safe Time arranges two meetings between applicants and hosts; the first is in a public setting like a cafe or a park, and if that goes well, the second meeting is at the host’s home.
In the face of a homelessness problem that seems intractable, Christi has found the experience deeply rewarding.
“This is such a big problem that we need to address it on all fronts. The government needs to do more, but members of the community need to do more for each other.”
