San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie (D) wants to take millions of dollars from a dedicated fund meant to supply permanent homes to people who have been unhoused, and use that money to build shelter beds instead. The plan is dividing lawmakers, while some advocates say it will trap people in the cycle of homelessness.
At issue is money generated by Proposition C, a ballot initiative that San Francisco voters approved back in November 2018. The measure raises funds for housing and homelessness services by charging local businesses a gross receipts tax or payroll tax, depending on their size and revenue. The proposition has faced opposition from tech CEOs, among others, and an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit sought to invalidate it because it didn’t reach two-thirds voter support.
Amid that lawsuit, it took nearly two years for Prop C to actually started paying for services, with $492 million unlocked in September 2020. According to city data, Prop C funding has since created nearly 5,300 housing units in three years, with permanent housing accounting for most of the recent growth; 96 percent of those households have either stayed in that housing or exited to other stable housing. Housing funded by the measue has included “scattered-site and site-based permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing, and family rental subsidies for adults, youth, and families.”
The Homeless Oversight Committee considered his plan to redirect $88.5 million—about 30 percent of projected Prop C funding in the next fiscal year—to pay for emergency beds.
Mayor Lurie, who was elected in November, is now proposing to change how this money is used. On June 5, as Mission Local reported, the Homeless Oversight Committee considered his plan to redirect $88.5 million—about 30 percent of projected Prop C funding in the next fiscal year—to pay for emergency beds through his “Breaking the Cycle” initiative. Lurie says this will create 572 new shelter beds, nearly a third of the 1,500 beds he promised while campaigning, and has cited fentanyl as a factor in the need for more emergency services. The proposal was included in his $15 billion city budget released in May.
Critics have spoken out. “We must protect Proposition C funds because they are already breaking the cycle of homelessness for hundreds of people in this city,” said Solange Cuba of the Coalition for the Homeless, according to Mission Local. Commissioner Christin Evans also blasted the proposal, calling it “backwards from what our goal should be.”
Commissioner Sharky Laguana expressed some support, however, saying, “First things first—can we help get people off the streets?”
Accordng to San Francisco’s latest point-in-time count, its unhoused population slowly increaed from 2019-2024, from 8,035 to 8,323 people. However, the unsheltered population has steadily decreased in that time, from 5,180 people to 4,354. Though such numbers, particularly counts made during the pandemic, may be inaccurate, this suggests that more people are entering shelters rather than living on the streets. But a shelter, of course, is not a home.
San Francisco is meanwhile nearly a year into a new police strategy for targeting encampments of unhoused people.
Some recipients of permanent housing units were even told recently that they would have to move out, into city-owned hotel accommodation with a history of poor conditions, for over a year while repairs are carried out. If they don’t accept, they could face being moved to a shelter.
San Francisco is meanwhile nearly a year into a new police strategy for targeting encampments of unhoused people. That’s also happening statewide, as Governor Gavin Newsom (D) encourages a crackdown on encampments. Governments have been emboldened by the 2024 Grants Pass Supreme Court decision, which ripped away legal protections for people sleeping outside when no shelter is available.
In July 2024, former Mayor London Breed (D) pledged to increase enforcement against encampments, saying police had greater “legal clarity” after Grants Pass. According to city data reported by CBS, police have since arrested or cited about 1,000 people camping outside, though few were criminally charged. Unhoused people told CBS of being repeatedly arrested and released, and of being unhappy with shelter options or other assistance offered by the city. Shelters may have rules prohibiting pets, lack disability accessibility and entail sleeping in close quarters without privacy.
In March, two San Francisco Supervisors issued a proposal to require each electoral district to approve at least one new shelter by June 2026. But it also restricts the total number of shelters by preventing any two from operating within 1,000 feet of each other. Supervisors Bilal Mahmood and Shamann Walton, described it as “equitable citywide access to shelters, transitional housing and behavioral health services.”
“For too long certain neighborhoods, from Tenderloin, SOMA, Mission to the Bayview, have borne the brunt of the responsibility,” Supervisor Mahmood said. “These are communities of color, immigrants, refugees on homeless shelters, behavioral health centers. What we’re basically saying is that every district by next year has to have built or approved one shelter or behavioral health center, including my district, by next year.”
Mayor Lurie seems to oppose the resolution as written; amendments from his office would commit each district to simply “endeavor to” approve a new shelter, rather than making it mandatory. Implementation would also be delayed by six months, according to the San Francisco Standard, who obtained Lurie’s amendments via public records request.
Supervisor Walton has criticized the mayor for “watering down” his proposal.
Photograph of Lurie byThomas Hawk via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0
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