To say the much-ballyhooed homeless shelter on Pier 80 has gotten off to a slow start would be an understatement.

Although city officials say they were only holding a “soft opening” on Friday, the response was tepid at best. Only 20 people showed up at the 150-bed shelter, which was created out of the hangar a little over 3 miles south of Market Street, where Oracle housed its America’s Cup boat.

Worse yet, several of the homeless people who arrived took a look around and then left. Although their places were filled by people from overcrowded homeless shelters, there are still just roughly 20 residents in the facility.

Sam Dodge, who coordinates homeless policy for the mayor’s office, says there are some reasons why the new arrivals were not thrilled with the facility. First, he reminds us that this was meant as emergency housing to get people out of the El Niño rainstorms. But it’s been warm and sunny out.

It has also proved more difficult than expected to install flush toilets and showers on the waterfront. So far, neither the showers nor the toilets are working.

The draw for homeless residents now is that they will be able to have a mat to sleep on and can stay in the facility for weeks at a time. But that doesn’t seem to be enough.

“When the first group came on Friday,” Dodge said, “They were like, ‘Where’s the showers?’ And we’re working to change that. We want to have showers, toilets and everything, rather than just a mat on the floor.”

But Dodge also said some of the new shelter residents looked around and then said: “I don’t know if this is for me. It’s boring here.”

Missing amenities

That has an ominous ring to it. Remember, the whole idea was that Pier 80 would be the latest version of the popular Navigation Center, where residents would be able to live as a couple, bring their pets and stay all day, seven days a week. Showers and flush toilets are just another perk to encourage them to stay.

“Showers,” Dodge said, “are a game-changer.”

Maybe. But with a stretch of rain-free weather and misguided housing advocates handing out tents, the campground along Division Street has only grown. Why go all the way out to Pier 80, where there isn’t much to do, when you can camp in the middle of the city where the action is?

Dodge says he intends to make the new facility attractive enough that homeless people will want to leave the tents on the street and live there.

“The truth is they can’t stay on Division Street,” Dodge said. “It’s not viable and it is not a good solution. There are many issues, not the least of which is going to the bathroom in a bucket or on the street. There have been incidents of violence of a predatory nature.”

But the longer the campers stay, the more likely it is that Supervisor Scott Wiener’s unpleasant scenario becomes a reality. If people are allowed to camp in tents indefinitely, eventually it becomes accepted city policy. If left alone, the campgrounds will be a part of the city’s homeless policy — and that’s a whole new can of worms.

Dodge says he realizes the shelter needs work. But the installation of plumbing for toilets and showers has gone slowly out of understandable concern about accidentally putting some of the sewage or waste water in the bay.

“It is rather utilitarian,” Dodge said. “It’s a big hangar and we’re working to change that. We’re taking a little break (from actively offering beds in the facility) to make sure we do this right, so that it is better than living under the freeway on Division Street.”

The next step

The plan is to get the showers and toilets installed and working, then to go to the Division Street campers and tell them they have a bed for them with a roof over their head and full amenities, meaning food services, bath facilities and storage for belongings.

The concern is that the tent dwellers may not want to go. If the choice is to live entirely on your own, with no rules, a street camp may look more attractive than a big hangar that is miles south of the middle of the city.

But if homeless campers don’t buy the idea, the city could be headed for an ugly scene. If San Francisco police or Department of Public Works employees go to the campgrounds and order residents to pack up the tents and leave, and the residents refuse, what’s the next step?

Because video of cops and DPW workers rousting homeless people out of tents, with the inevitable shouting and confrontation, would go viral. It would be fodder for the far left fringe homeless advocates and could feed into the uproar about the SFPD.

For now, there’s an impasse. Nearly everyone agrees tents on the sidewalks are not viable. But the city has spent big bucks creating a facility that — at least so far — the homeless population doesn’t want to use.

Figuring this out won’t be easy. But whatever the solution is, it had better happen soon.

C.W. Nevius is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His columns appear Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail: cwnevius@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @cwnevius