Students at San Francisco State University are grappling with conflicting directions about student housing during the coronavirus outbreak. Students who live in dormitories received an email last night instructing them to leave campus housing due to the coronavirus outbreak. This morning, the school followed up with an email saying students would not be forced to leave their dorms, but left the decision up to students and asked anyone who chooses to stay in campus housing to notify the school by March 12.

Voters approved a measure in 2018 that guaranteed legal counsel to every tenant facing eviction in San Francisco. But six months after Proposition F was supposed to have been fully implemented, a third of tenants facing eviction have had access to only partial representation. In a hearing before the Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee, legal aid attorneys, tenant advocates and city staff testified that tenant right to counsel is an effective protection from eviction but needs more funding, and more attorneys, to cover everyone.

In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. The news: City offers text alerts for coronavirus updates, homelessness department head shifts to new role, state criticizes police reform progress. Coming up: Mayor to address the Board of Supervisors on corruption, SFMTA open house, Planning Commission to learn about city's housing affordability strategy.

Coalition on Homelessness executive director Jennifer Friedenbach gives her perspective on the announcement that the city will be shifting away from a complaint-based response to homelessness. City data show that that in 2019, when the complaint-based system was in place, nearly everyone who stayed in a city shelter or navigation center returned to the streets after their stay.

San Francisco is working to improve bus service and adapt infrastructure to encourage cycling and walking, but is also grappling with managing ride-hailing, parking, and congestion. Jason Henderson, a professor of geography and environment at San Francisco State University, studies the struggles for better street infrastructure across cities and says San Francisco and the region should do more to promote the decarbonization of transportation.

In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. The news: Coronavirus emergency declared, City Attorney issues more subpoenas, car-free Market examined, state plans for sea level rise. Coming up: Board of Supervisors to weigh another navigation center lease, and a resolution to end a contract with street furniture company JC Decaux.

Assembly member Phil Ting represents District 19, having been elected to that seat in 2012. He previously served as San Francisco’s assessor-recorder. He's recently worked on legislation advancing electric cars, addressing plastic waste, reforming how criminal records are cleared and improving housing protections and production to help curb homelessness.

In January, the San Francisco Public Press published an investigation showing just how much we don’t know about the safety record of the ride-hailing industry. The Public Press recently hosted an event at which journalist Seth Rosenfeld offered the latest developments in the story. Former California Public Utilities Commission President Loretta Lynch and Glen Smith with the First Amendment Coalition offered insights into how the agency, which regulates Uber and Lyft, operates and the broader implications of the secrecy revealed in Rosenfeld’s story.

John McDonnell is a business and tax attorney running to challenge State Assemblyman Phil Ting for the seat for District 19. He outlines his perspectives on education, housing, criminal justice reform, and how taxation and inequality intersect.