Mayor Daniel Lurie has proposed adding more than 90 treatment beds in a locked facility at the city’s Behavioral Health Center on the campus of San Francisco General Hospital. The catch is that 82 people are already receiving treatment there, and they would have to be moved out.
On Monday, they and their caregivers assessed that plan before the city’s Health Commission — and they are not fans.
During the public forum at City Hall, nurses, staff, and residents gathered in Room 408 to share emotional testimony opposing the plan. A majority of the advocates, nurses and others stressed that the closure would displace scores of current residents, many of them low-income people with chronic mental health conditions, and disrupt the critical care they receive.
Antoinette Conde was among the first to speak at the podium. She shared the story of her brother Elmer, 64, who has been a resident at the Behavioral Health Center for five years…