With all of their belongings packed into a stroller, Gabriella Crespo and her 14-year-old son, Adeimis, wait outside an emergency homeless shelter in the Mission District each night, wondering whether there will be space on a school gymnasium floor for them to sleep.

Crespo, who fled Venezuela around a month ago to escape sexual violence and political turbulence, said she was forced onto a bus in Texas before being dropped off at an Oakland BART station on April 12.

She was then instructed by immigration authorities to take a train to the Embarcadero, she said, where a San Francisco police officer took them to the makeshift shelter at Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Community School on Valencia Street.

But weeks later, Crespo and her son have been unable to officially secure a spot to sleep.

“I heard this was a sanctuary city,” Crespo told The Standard. “But it’s been really difficult.”

A total of 372 families were in line for shelter as of Tuesday, according to the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, representing a dramatic leap since December, when 238 families were on the waitlist. Staff at the shelter have told The Standard they’re forced to turn away several families every night due to a lack of funding.

In a statement, the department attributed the surge to an influx of migrants, admitting the city’s homelessness response system is ill-equipped to help the families.

“The Homelessness Response System is not always the most appropriate system of care for migrant families,” the department said in a statement. “While it is crucial to respond to newcomers, the City must also balance the existing demand for shelter.”

Mayor London Breed’s office didn’t respond to The Standard’s request for comment. An advocacy group for the migrants told The Standard it would be meeting with her staff on Wednesday.

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