California law prohibits sobriety requirements in state-funded homeless housing while 3,772 people have died of SF overdoses since 2020 — 875 inside permanent supportive housing. The nonprofit with the worst death toll runs programs helping residents use drugs, the two most progressive supervisors voted against shelter beds, and drug arrests collapsed to near-zero as deaths tripled.
Read Top Post →Peter Kazanjy charted SF’s drug arrests against overdose deaths: arrests collapsed to near-zero around 2018 while deaths tripled to 810 in 2023. DA Chesa Boudin convicted zero fentanyl dealers in 2021 — the year 500+ people died. Organized dealers grew from ~300 in 2019 to 1,000 by 2022. SF’s own analysts identified what works, and the city still hasn’t built it.
Feb 25, 2026 · 7 min
Andrea Suarez draws the line the politicians won’t: the crisis population in encampments isn’t the working poor struggling with rent — it’s people in active addiction and severe mental illness. California has spent $24 billion on homelessness since 2019 and zero on recovery housing, while 27 other states fund drug-free housing. Housing Code 8255 doesn’t just fail to require sobriety — it prohibits requiring it.
Feb 08, 2026 · 3 min
Recovery advocates in SF and Seattle report up to half of people using drugs on the streets already have housing — many through taxpayer-funded permanent supportive housing with no sobriety requirements. One man in Seattle admitted he’s had a DESC apartment for ten years but still lives on the streets. California Housing Code 8255 bans state-funded housing from requiring sobriety, ensuring this cycle continues.
Jan 16, 2026 · 2 min
