Tom Wolf

Senior Fellow, Fix Homelessness Initiative

Tom Wolf is a formerly homeless recovering Heroin and Fentanyl addict from San Francisco. In 2018, Tom spent 6 months homeless on the streets of the Tenderloin in San Francisco struggling with Heroin and Fentanyl addiction. He was arrested 6 times for holding drugs for street-level drug dealers and other offenses. Tom eventually went to jail for 3 months before going to a 6- month residential treatment program at The Salvation Army where he found recovery. Tom is now an internationally recognized Recovery Advocate. He has done speaking engagements across North America and most recently presented on the topic: “Drug Policy From the Street” at the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, Austria.

Tom has stood with parents who have lost their kids to Fentanyl poisoning, met with congressional leaders both Democrat and Republican in Washington DC and most recently has met senior advisors at The White House Office of National Drug Control Strategy and HUD to discuss the intersectionality of substance use and homelessness. Tom believes strongly that recovery and abstinence from drugs and addiction is the greatest form of Harm Reduction and continues advocate for common sense approaches to addiction and homelessness.

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How Two California Cities Are Reducing Street Homelessness

San Francisco has experienced a dramatic 22 percent drop in unsheltered homelessness since 2024, while San Jose has seen a 23 percent decline since 2019. Streets are cleaner, and open drug scenes in San Francisco are noticeably smaller. Fewer RVs are parked near waterways in San Jose. What these two cities are doing differently than Los Angeles and Seattle can be summarized in two words: accountability and recovery. Often, when we think of the homeless, we imagine someone sleeping rough on the street, or perhaps in an RV or a car. But homelessness is defined in several ways. If you’re sleeping in a shelter, a car, or an RV, you’re sheltered homeless. If you’re in jail, you’re homeless. And depending on the city or county, if you’re living in a single-room

Senior Fellow Tom Wolf Quoted in The National News Desk

The National News Desk just released an article that quotes Fix Homelessness Senior Fellow Tom Wolf. The article discusses the findings of the annual report on homelessness from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Wolf is a formerly homeless recovering Heroin and Fentanyl addict from San Francisco who is now an internationally recognized Recovery Advocate.