The Oasis Inn just off Van Ness in Cathedral Hill relaunched this week as the Kaplan Family Oasis Shelter, a temporary housing site for unhoused women, children and families in San Francisco.
The former motel at Franklin and Eddy streets was first turned into temporary shelter during the height of the pandemic but was slated to close earlier this year until a last-minute partnership emerged between St. Anthony Foundation, Providence Foundation, and the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.
“This space is a place of light and a place of hope, one that will be open and available to families who need it when they do need it,” Mayor London Breed said Wednesday at a press conference. “I'm really proud that this is just another opportunity to ensure that families have a safe, affordable place to call home as a transition into something more permanent in San Francisco.”
Inside one of the units at the Kaplan Family Oasis Shelter at 900 Franklin St. in San Francisco.
Natalia Gurevich
The motel rooms are sparse but functional. In one unit, two twin beds are arranged to accommodate a family of four or five, with a desk, TV and private bathroom.
“This project has been in the making for more than a year,” said Nils Behnke, the CEO of the St. Anthony Foundation. "That's really when the Kaplans came and said, ‘You know, we heard about the Oasis Inn and the possibility of eviction of the residents there.’”
Though Oasis is a step forward in The City’s ability to house its most vulnerable, the 59-unit shelter will not solve all of San Francisco’s needs. There are currently around 8,000 homeless people in The City, nearly half of whom are unsheltered, according to The City’s 2022 count.
Right now, there are only a few vacancies at the shelter, and placement is determined by individual case, said Emily Cohen, the deputy director for communications and legislative affairs for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. “It's more a matter of matching families to rooms based on what's available.”
One such family is Ladaysha Atkins and her 13-year-old daughter. The San Francisco native said she struggled with housing after she lost a child to suicide last year while living in Contra Costa County.
The project’s main opponent says that a deal has been struck to allow food businesses to continue operating in the building’s first-floor commercial kitchen
St. Anthony Foundation CEO Nils Behnke speaks at Oasis Shelter Dedication on October 25, 2023.
Courtesy of St. Anthony's
“Once that happened, I got into a state of depression, and felt very helpless and just wanted to give up,” she said. When she arrived in San Francisco, she said, she was connected to resources through Compass Family Services, which then directed her to the Providence Foundation for temporary housing.
“It was a really long waitlist,” she said. “I was calling every day.”
But her persistence paid off. She said she moved into Oasis in July of this year, and then just moved into permanent housing in September.
The new Oasis facility was purchased through funds provided by the Kaplan Family Trust and its donation was matched by St. Anthony’s Foundation, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The Providence Foundation will continue to operate the shelter, which includes cleaning, security, and other needs, while St. Anthony's will act as a landlord, covering repairs and other issues, as well as providing additional services, like medical and mental health care, as well as social services such as job training.
The City will cover the costs of keeping the shelter operational, but the funding supplied by the foundation and the private donor made its existence possible, Breed said.
Supervisor Dean Preston, whose district included the Oasis up until last year when it was redistricted last year into District 2, said that while securing the shelter is an achievement, it’ll likely be a challenge to secure more like it.
“This certainly doesn't satisfy the entire need,” he said. “Our hope is that as a model that can be expanded and that we'll see others.”
