Are cases closed for S.F. shelter inspections?

originally published in Street Sheet, Oct. 1-14, 2009

Minutes before the Coalition on Homelessness presented “The Runaround” to the Board of Supervisors' Rules Committee, the Shelter Monitoring Committee (SMC) presented its quarterly report. Street Sheet reported last month that the Department of Public Health (DPH) was backlogged in its investigations of alleged violations of the Standards of Care at city-funded shelters.

According to the SMC’s latest quarterly, the DPH has responded to only one of nine investigations SMC sent them.

The committee asked about the unusual time lag. David Nakanishi, DPH’s coordinator for special projects at community programs, said they have since closed all cases brought to them in the 2009 fiscal year. Those complaints, which included “serious health and hygiene allegations,” were remedied, said Nakanishi, who is also the DPH’s representative to the SMC. He added that he submitted a “verbal report” to the SMC at their last meeting.

So what’s the holdup? Nakanishi attributed it to staffing problems. One investigator went on vacation, while another retired in June. The other investigator had to go to the site the now-retiree visited, then finish the paperwork. The investigation periods ranged from 30 to 147 days.

Committee chair David Campos asked Nakanishi why the DPH hadn’t prepared if they knew a DPH staffer would retire. “I can’t speak to that,” Nakanishi said. “I’m not aware of every complaint, because I’m not part of the investigation.

Quintin Mecke, who stepped down as SMC chair last month, wasn't satisfied by the response. Mecke told the committee he had to go to a different division with the DPH to get results.

"I'm not sure when the response would have happened or if the inspection would have happened," he said.

"I would encourage that inspections are moved out of quality management and put into environmental health," Mecke said. "And we need to empower inspectors to do that within a reasonable time line."

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