Videos show drug use inside Gubbio Project ‘wellness hub’ just 600 feet from elementary school
Harm reduction group awarded a no-bid contract by city officials, which includes church remodel
Former Mayor London Breed’s staff, former District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen, and various staff from the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) worked together to hand a no-bid contract for a harm reduction-based “wellness hub” to the Gubbio Project, a series of emails obtained through a public records request show.
The emails, written in March and April 2023, are further evidence of SFDPH, and in particular Dr. Hillary Kunins, director of Behavioral Health Services and Mental Health SF, colluding with organizations to bring taxpayer dollars to “harm reduction” while shunning and even chastising recovery-based programs like the Salvation Army’s The Way Out.
The Voice of San Francisco received an anonymous message containing a recording of a Dec. 20, 2023, phone meeting led by Dr. Kunins regarding harm reduction strategies for 2024. Attendees included SFDPH employees and nonprofit providers funded by the city to handle harm reduction initiatives, including Lydia Bransten, executive director of the Gubbio Project. The 45-minute meeting centers on the group’s support for harm reduction and worries that funding won’t be there for their budgets. Both SFPDH and nonprofit providers lament the attitudes of San Francisco residents toward drug users. Kunins, in particular, is defiant and passionate, apologizing for “getting emotional” at one point. Bransten is heard on the recording saying:
As someone who is really outspoken about harm reduction … harm reduction, harm reduction, harm reduction … it’s really hard to get people to come in and talk about their experience. It’s no longer a war on drugs it’s a war on science and it makes me really crazy. … we have in the 23–24 budget $11,000 set forth for the wellness center and neighborhood security … can we have a conversation about what is happening there? Are you looking to fund those of us doing the work right now?
In the recently obtained emails, Robertson K. Somuah, overdose prevention contracts manager with the Office of Overdose Prevention, Population Behavioral Health, Behavioral Health Services for SFDPH says, “I will work with Gubbio to schedule a call that works for our calendars. And I will relay the information to Lydia.” Overdose Prevention Quality and Contracts Manager Emily Raganold responds, “It looks like we are going to meet internally this Friday. Can you find a few times where we are all available next week (Sharon, Jin, myself, and you), and work with Gubbio to schedule a call with them? You can also tell Lydia she is welcomed to send over her questions ahead of the meeting.”
There is also discussion of the budget led by Shalini Rana, then health and human services policy advisor for Breed (she now serves as assistant chief of health, homelessness, and family services under Mayor Daniel Lurie). “Budget we spoke about. Copying Dr. Kunins as well because I’m not sure what version of this I sent to her,” she says on March 24, 2024.
Ronen also chimes in, asking Andres Power, then policy director for Breed, “With the wellness funds in the budget this year, can we make this, at minimum a 3-year contract? Please let me know next steps.” Deirdre Hussey, SFDPH director of public affairs, emails SFDPH Acting Government Affairs Liaison Ana Validzic, “I want us to connect on the Gubbio project because we need to have a tight roll out and need to make sure we are aligned with Ronen’s Office. Since we are giving the majority of the money for this project, we want to ensure we roll this out. I understand Ronen wants to move on this announcement, so let’s coordinate.”
Emails continue to shoot back and forth about how Gubbio will be granted the project without a Request for Proposal (RFP) as they already have the site and SFDPH and Ronen wants the project to “move quickly.” As city staff works to design a contract just for Gubbio, one SFDPH staff member points out that Gubbio isn’t even in the system yet. “When they become an official supplier, they should receive a Supplier ID. We created CID 1000027851 but will need to change the supplier name once they are official,” says Philip Mach.
The budget: happy church, happy Gubbio
“San Francisco church offers space for ‘sacred sleep,’ support services every weekday,” a May 2024 article on Episcopal News Service crows. “Every weekday at 7 a.m., the Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist in San Francisco, California, opens its nave to people who need a safe place to rest — what it calls ‘sacred sleep.’ Those who come are unhoused neighbors in the city’s Mission District, and they find a place of welcome without judgment. ‘We love having our space open, almost recklessly open, for the neighborhood,’ the Rev. Kevin Deal, St. John’s vicar, told Episcopal News Service. Serving its community ‘has been part of the DNA of St. John’s almost since its inception 164 years ago.’” Describing itself on its own website as “A gritty Episcopal Church in the heart of the Mission District,” St. John’s is located at 1661 15th Street, just 600 feet from Marshall Elementary School. For housing the Gubbio Project’s “Rest and Resources Expansion,” the city is paying St. John’s $240,000 a year.
In a document laden with typos, the Gubbio staff budget is over $1,146,000 with salaries and benefits:
Lydia Bransten, Executive Director: $162,000
Calder Lorenz, Director of Operations: $129,200
Andy McCabe, Program Manager: $115,600
Rath Nou, Wellness and Services Coordinator: $84,320
New positions include a director of finance at $124,700; program administrator at $100,000; program assistant manager at $95,000; wellness service coordinator at $84,000; and five guest engagement positions totaling nearly $400,000. Two janitors will each make $70,720 each. Additional budget includes $160,000 for staff job training stipends, and $162,000 for Saturday guest engagement services.
Despite the fact St. John’s is receiving six figures to house the program, taxpayers are still on the line for over $36,600 in PG&E, Recology, and SFPUC expenses. Uniforms, overdose reversal and other training, and laundry are another $157,300. Expenses from industrial coffee urns and rice cookers to tables, laptops, computers, and laundry hoppers come in at $30,000, with “equipment and remodeling” costing an additional $127,750. Remodeling the church comes once again at taxpayer expense, despite the fact they are already receiving a quarter of a million dollars per year to “house” the program.
So what is Gubbio supposed to provide in the way of services? According to their presentation:
Linkage to services for safe sleeping drop-in participants. Timely Linkage to care will ensure that the participants are enrolled with the appropriate partner agencies, which include the The Dope Project, San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium and Street Outreach services, Street Crisis Response, Bridge Engagement Services Team and many other organizations that can provide wrap around services. Gubbioand its partner organizations will offer, “vaccinations, wound care, harm reduction outreach, medical services, Buprenorphine access/treatment” and they will link clients to “substance use services, withdrawal management, residential treatment, and medications for Opioid Use Disorder (buprenorphine and methadone).”
Of course, Gubbio insists, “There must also be a provision for harm reduction services, including safer use of supplies.”
Physical and mental health services will be provided through partnerships “such as HealthRight360.” A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle on the troubled, bloated harm reduction organization may not instill much confidence: The parents of Justin Cartwright have sued HealthRight 360, alleging that it failed to ensure their son’s safety. “The lawsuit accuses HealthRight 360 of breaching its ‘duty of care’ and lacking meaningful oversight. It further alleges that ‘reckless conduct’ by HealthRight 360 leadership in managing and operating its facilities created a ‘dangerous milieu where clients would fatally overdose due to known shortcomings’ of the nonprofit.”
Gubbio states they will instruct staff on how to safely reverse an opioid overdose using Naloxone, ways to connect participants to the continuum of care and substance use services, and explain the risk factors for overdose, for example, using alone, prior overdose, and so forth:
A Safe Sleeping Drop-In Center is vital as a wraparound service location that would not only provide respite for people experiencing varying levels of homelessness and substance use disorder but also link them to life-saving services. Creating a Safe Sleeping Drop-In Center that integrates substance use disorder and dignity services is essential for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it provides a controlled environment that minimizes the health risks associated with outdoor sleeping, such as exposure to extreme weather, violence, and unsanitary conditions. Secondly, by offering substance use disorder services within the site, individuals struggling with addiction can access critical support, counseling, and resources.
Undercover video shows drug use inside Gubbio ‘wellness hub’ at St. John’s church
The Voice of San Francisco wanted to discover firsthand what was happening inside Gubbio’s “wellness hub,” and unfortunately, it wasn’t good. Our undercover reporter witnessed a desk employee handing a brown paper bag to a client; video shows that client pull a brand-new pipe from the bag, place aluminum foil in her lap, and prepare drugs for smoking. Footage also showed the space in disarray with cots strewn with belongings and garbage, one person sleeping on a cot while others were sitting on the floor going through their things. Another man fiddled with his bong in front of a grocery cart stuffed with overflowing black plastic trash bags before entering the church. At the back of the room, a lone staffer’s eyes were glued to a cell phone. Not a single person was offered counseling and there were no “partner organizations” onsite.
Bransten, however, got what she wanted: a safe consumption space masquerading as a safe sleeping drop-in center. Gubbio Project’s last 990 (an IRS form required from all nonprofits), produced in 2022, shows revenue of $342,386, expenses of $495,171, net income of -$152,785, and net assets of $179,176. Bransten was making $80,000 — over 16 percent of Gubbio’s expenses. With her new SFDPH harm reduction gig at St. John’s, the taxpayers of San Francisco have given her a raise — whether they wanted to or not.
It would be nice to see that much effort dedicated to stopping the fentanyl in the first place.