During Helen Pulido’s first night in her new apartment this year, she cried tears of joy. She, her husband, and their 2-year-old daughter had spent months sleeping on the city’s streets and bouncing between hotels and shelters.
There was no furniture, so they ate sandwiches on the floor. But it was a home. The family represents a tiny fraction of the more than 3,100 people San Francisco has helped exit homelessness this year.
While San Francisco’s reputation for homelessness is infamous worldwide, city officials contend that few other local governments have done more to help their most vulnerable residents. The city has allocated at least $668 million in annual funding toward the crisis since 2020, amassing a portfolio of more than 21,500 housing and shelter beds.
For those who have turned their lives around with the help of the city, the investments are worth it.
This month, Pulido’s daughter decorated her first Christmas tree. She asked Santa for a Barbie and a bicycle. The family’s apartment is now fully furnished.
“There was a lot of happiness. We could cook and bathe in our own clean bathroom,” said Helen, who landed the apartment with financial help from Compass Family Services. “Now that I have an apartment, I have plans. I aspire to arrive at a place where I don’t have to depend on help.”
She is not alone in her gratitude toward the city.
‘I’m paying it forward’
As a teenager, Johnny Montgomery robbed stores and sold stolen goods. He took dozens of lawnmowers and weed-whackers, stashing them in sheds and renting them to neighbors in his hometown of Pittsburg, California.
Montgomery said his illegal business stemmed from a need to help his little sister buy clothes. But before long, he started smoking weed and sniffing cocaine. Police eventually caught on to his illicit rental business, and he spent a few decades in prison or homeless in San Francisco.
“I turned it up in the streets,” Montgomery said. “I became very violent and dangerous. I had become a menace.”
In 2022, after a long stint in prison for an attempted murder charge, Montgomery landed a job as a safety ambassador with the nonprofit Urban Alchemy.
He is studying for a certificate in treating substance use disorders and moved into a subsidized apartment with help from the nonprofit Episcopal Community Services. Something had changed in him, he said.
In January, he’s moving into a studio apartment that isn’t subsidized. He plans to become a full-time addiction counselor after he finishes his certification.
“Working in this field, it’s like I’m paying it forward,” Montgomery said. “I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing to try to right my wrongs. In recovery circles, we call it living amends.”
‘San Francisco is really amazing’
Rachel Inouye was homeless and addicted to crack and heroin when she discovered she was pregnant. Wracked with guilt, she could hardly bring herself to visit a doctor. She didn’t think she was ready to quit drugs. And even if she was, she didn’t know there were programs for mothers-to-be like her.
“I never thought I could live without drugs, and I didn’t want to,” Inouye said. “There’s just so much shame.”
But when she finally went to San Francisco General Hospital, she was shocked by the support she received. Nurses from Team Lily, which provides prenatal care for homeless mothers, encouraged her to enter a treatment program.
The nurses helped her enroll in Casa Aviva, a rehab facility for pregnant women struggling with addiction, operated by the Latino Commission. From there, she transferred to Jelani House, operated by the nonprofit Homeless Prenatal Program. Last year, she landed an apartment in a city-funded family housing complex.
“San Francisco is really amazing,” she said of the city’s services. “Where my mom and dad live, those services wouldn’t have been as easy to get.”
Inouye’s daughter Molly, 3, is in preschool, and they are celebrating their second Christmas in their own apartment.
“Sometimes I just pinch myself — I’m really a parent,” Rachel said. “A lot of times, you feel like you’re the only one out there with these problems. But especially in this city, there’s help out there.”