San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman today announced a new Hummingbird Place behavioral health respite center on Valencia Street, in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH), Tipping Point Community, The Salvation Army, and PRC/Baker Places.

The new center will open this spring and will serve 30 overnight clients at a time and up to 25 daytime drop-in clients, providing a place for people with mental health issues and substance use disorder to rest and get connected to care. This expansion of Hummingbird Place is part of Mayor Breed’s goal to create 2,000 new placements for people off the street, in addition to the 1,000 new shelter beds that will be open by the end of the year.

“We need safe, welcoming places for people to get off the street, rest, and get connected to services so they can take the next step toward getting the mental health care and substance use treatment they need,” said Mayor Breed. “I’m grateful to Supervisor Mandelman for working with us to create this site in his district. This location will help us meet people where they are and get them on their path out of homelessness.”

“Every day my constituents encounter unhoused people on our streets suffering from severe mental illness and substance use disorder,” said Supervisor Mandelman. “This status quo is inhumane and intolerable. We need many more safe and medically appropriate places to bring people indoors, and fast.  I am proud that District 8 will soon be home to the first community-based Hummingbird, and I will continue to push for the rapid development of a citywide network of such spaces.”

“Hummingbird Place is a good example of the Department of Public Health trying something new, figuring out what works and building on that success to serve more clients with behavioral health needs,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of Health. “This marks the third expansion of this innovative model, a broader public-private partnership, and a deepening of San Francisco's commitment to help people experiencing homelessness, mental illness and substance use disorder.”

According to the latest Point in Time count in San Francisco, approximately 8,000 people experience homelessness on any given night. Of these individuals experiencing homelessness, 42% self-report alcohol and drug abuse and 39% report psychiatric and emotional conditions.

Hummingbird Place, which first opened in 2017 on the campus of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, is a successful model that bridges a gap between psychiatric emergency or hospital care and continuing on to treatment. For people who have not yet agreed to treatment, Hummingbird Place provides a respite as they recover from crisis and consider their next steps. Hummingbird clients are experiencing homelessness and behavioral issues. These clients are able to rest and regroup after an emergency visit or inpatient stay, learn about housing, substance use treatment and other services, and be prioritized for those services when they are ready.

In September 2019, Tipping Point Community announced that it would fund an expansion of Hummingbird Place beds in San Francisco, including this new location at 1156 Valencia Street. The Salvation Army is providing the property as part of its larger initiative to double its impact on homelessness. Using this site for a behavioral health respite program will continue the mission of The Salvation Army to serve vulnerable people in their communities.

PRC/Baker Places and the Department of Public Health will operate the program. PRC/Baker Places currently operates the existing Hummingbird Place located on the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital campus.

Services at the Valencia Street Hummingbird Place will include:

• Referral to primary medical and psychiatric community providers
• Coordination of services and discharge planning
• Connection to shelter and housing
• Transportation to medical and social services appointments
• Food, clothing, access to showers, and laundry facilities
• Individual and group counseling to engage in motivational interviewing
• One-on-one peer support
• Daily living skills training
• Referrals to vocational services for assessment of job skills, training, and employment opportunities.

“The Salvation Army is always looking to work collaboratively with members of the community and to best serve the needs of San Francisco,” said Major Darren Norton, Divisional Commander for The Salvation Army’s Golden State Division based in San Francisco. “This reuse of our Mission neighborhood location is just that, providing a win-win scenario for this facility. Through our partnership with the Department of Public Health, we can get our most vulnerable off our streets and into a safe place where they can rest and be introduced to some transformational life options.”

“As a family member of a consumer, it’s heartbreaking to experience the reality that while we have some excellent behavioral health resources in our community, there are shortages,” said Nina Maria Catalano, Senior Planner with the Chronic Homelessness Initiative at Tipping Point Community. “Low-barrier access to care and clear pathways to permanent housing are essential. That is why Tipping Point is investing $3 million to add much-needed capacity and open a second Hummingbird site on Valencia Street. We are excited to continue partnering with health care providers, consumers, the City, and the broader community to implement the recommendations from the report we released with UCSF last fall, and bring philanthropic resources to the table to strengthen our overall health and homelessness response systems.”

“PRC is pleased to be partnering with the Mayor’s Office and the San Francisco Department of Public Health to launch the first free-standing Hummingbird Navigation Center in the City,” said Brett Andrews, PRC Chief Executive Officer. “Building on the successful partnership we began together in establishing and growing the Hummingbird program at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, we look forward to the opportunity to provide this unique model of evidence-based care to our most vulnerable residents living in the Mission neighborhood and beyond. We thank Mayor Breed for her leadership and her commitment to expand the capacity of mental health beds for San Francisco residents living in the most desperate of circumstances.”

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