NCJ Number
167775
Date Published
1997
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This chapter describes San Francisco's Matrix Program and some of the financial, social, legal, and ethical issues in its application.
Abstract
San Francisco's Matrix Program was, in reality, a large-scale police dragnet with small social service outreach appendages. Large numbers of homeless people were cited or arrested, but relatively few received help in escaping homelessness. The program consisted of three parts: (1) Police Enforcement, a set of police department operations orders instructing all officers at all stations to aggressively enforce a list of quality-of-life offenses and to search out and take action against concentrations of individuals committing such offenses; (2) Outreach, teams of workers who attempted to connect homeless people to single-residence-occupancy housing, emergency shelter, substance abuse treatment, and mental health treatment; and (3) Night Shelter Referral, by police officers who, each evening, offered homeless persons vouchers for and transportation to Salvation Army and church shelters. Notes