To: Mayor Lurie

cc: SF Department of Public Health, D5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, D1 Supervisor Connie Chan, SF City Attorney, Board of Supervisors

Next week a halfway home operated by Baker Places/PRC, located at 2157 Grove Street, is slated to reopen after five years of being closed. This is despite years of ongoing public appeals by neighbors to all involved City agencies to resolve serious issues related to safety, security, and privacy. Due to the severity of harm this program has had on neighbors, residents, and staff, Grove House Neighbors beg Mayor Lurie to intervene. Baker/PRC is knowingly negligent regarding serious issues at 2157 Grove; the City will be equally negligent if it further condones and enables Baker/PRC to reopen Grove House without fully addressing the community’s legitimate concerns.

Fall 2021, DPH issued a Corrective Action Plan for this program (link below) based on neighbors’ concerns. NONE of the issues listed in the DPH Corrective Action Plan has been resolved. DPH has NEVER followed up with the neighbors regarding these issues. Instead, DPH has taken the word of Baker/PRC that all were resolved. This is despite neighbors' multiple direct appeals to all involved City departments and during numerous "Good Neighbor" meetings organized by Baker/PRC with DPH present.

In 2020, Mayor Breed’s office provided approximately $4M for the purchase and renovation of this single three-bedroom property. The waste of resources and complete lack of accountability that Grove House neighbors have witnessed and that the City has condoned over the last five years has been astonishing.

Two weeks ago, neighbors were just made aware of the property’s current conditions. The program has been closed since spring 2021 for a renovation—to meet Mayor Breed’s “MOHCD occupied rehabilitation priorities” to allow it to be used permanently as a halfway house. After the City’s $4M+ investment, neighbors who are renovation experts and who were present at an open house on January 13th, 2026, were surprised at how little Baker/PRC has accomplished with their very generous budget. Notably, none of the safety, security, and privacy issues that neighbors have requested repeatedly since long before renovation began—and that would have been affordable and simple to incorporate—has been addressed.

Grove House has never been an appropriate facility for the use DPH designated it for. We asked Baker/PRC to address issues that make it inappropriate for our neighborhood and a nuisance and danger for neighbors, staff, and program participants. Instead, Baker/PRC has wasted everyone's time, energy, and resources by placating City agencies with promises of an improved future. They have claimed that the problems we have raised "don't exist" or that these were “one-off incidents” and that they "have a plan for the future." Yet the issues are never-ending, and Baker/PRC only addresses what the City requires them to do.

How can there be any improvement in relations with neighbors when Baker/PRC hasn’t addressed neighbors’ most basic requests?  Our homes have been damaged repeatedly by program residents, contractors, and staff. Neighboring families and children have witnessed violence, sexual activity, and the suicides of program residents. In addition to the constant serious issues that neighbors dealt with when Grove House was open, there have been ongoing disturbances and serious damage to neighboring properties with zero clients onsite. All are a result of Baker/PRC’s serious mismanagement.

Since the start of the renovation, Baker/PRC contractors have caused at least three hazardous materials releases—two of which were to an adjacent neighbor’s property. And while Baker/PRC is currently suing their contractors, they have refused to remedy the contamination of the neighbor’s property or to abate three stories of asbestos shingles that remain decaying adjacent to the neighbor’s windows, deck, and yard. During this same time, Baker/PRC refused to address flooding damage they were causing to the foundation of the same adjacent property until they were issued a red tag from DBI. Following the red tag, their contractor attempted a fake repair of the issue—which would have caused serious problems into the future had the neighbor not overheard a supervisor instructing workers to install a new false section of pipe, which DBI was able to verify and forced Baker/PRC to fully repair.

The last Grove House “Good Neighbor” community meeting where DPH staff was present was on 11/20/25. Neighbors were told by Baker/PRC’s new CEO (its third CEO since the renovation started) that no opening date was scheduled and that there would “definitely be another community meeting prior to any opening to address the outstanding issues.” We are not surprised that they are now going back on that promise. The SF "Good Neighbor" program appears to simply be a box on a form that Baker/PRC and DPH can check in order to state they are "Good Neighbors." In fact, they do not care in any way about the concerns that we have expressed time and again.

The actual good neighbors of Grove House proactively reached out to Baker/PRC long before renovations began, in an attempt to ensure a positive, mutually beneficial co-existence. Baker/PRC refused to collaborate then, just as they have for the last five years, and just as they will going forward. Baker/PRC will not improve conditions unless City agencies and you, Mayor Lurie, directly intervene. 

Thank you for your time and attention. We hope to hear from you soon.

Grove House Neighbors

LINKS
1. SF Standard Article Feb 1, 2023
2. 2021 Resident Suicide DSS Type A Violation Citation Report
3. DPH Corrective Action Plan from 2021
4. Neighbors' Petition To Mayor Breed Nov 2022