San Francisco is moving forward with plans to open a controversial sobering center, despite warnings that courts would likely consider the city liable for operating an unlicensed detention center. On February 17, Mayor Daniel Lurie (D) signed legislation that authorizes a $14.5 million contract with Arizona-based Connections Health Solutions to run the Rapid Enforcement, Support, Evaluation and Triage (RESET) center, which has been described by Sheriff Paul Miyamoto as “like a big drunk tank that’s not a jail.”
RESET, which will receive health department funding but operate under the authority of the sheriff’s office, is billed as an alternative to jail and hospitalization. It’s slated to operate as a pilot for 26 months with the option of a one-year extension, and to open its doors in April at 444 Sixth Street in the SoMa neighborhood, across from the county jail.
The center is expected to have 25 reclining chairs where people arrested for public intoxication can be dropped off and can remain for up to 24 hours. Then they’re supposed to be given the option to transfer to a stabilization center, where they could stay for up to 90 days while receiving mental health and substance use services.
Though officials have characterized the initial 24-hour period as non-carceral, the sheriff’s office has warned that “people who leave early and remain intoxicated and disorderly could be arrested again.” Connections Health Solutions, meanwhile, would receive financial incentives based on how many people are deemed sober, how many stay up to 24 hours even after being deemed sober, and how many are linked to services after the 24-hour period expires.
“The RESET Center allows our officers to arrest those using drugs in public at a speed and volume we have never seen before,” Lurie stated. “And with this new resource, we will also give those suffering from addiction a real chance to choose recovery.”
Earlier in February a Board of Supervisors meeting became contentious after Mission Local published a leaked memo from the city attorney’s office.
The memo warned that the proposed facility carried “very high legal risk” because it did not meet legally mandated requirements regarding “safety checks, health care and food services.” It cautioned that people brought to RESET could sue the city for “non-compliance with standards for detention facilities.” The board still voted 9-2 to approve the RESET contract, which Lurie has now authorized.
“Let’s call it what it is,” Supervisor Connie Chan, one of the two dissenting votes, told colleagues. “People will be detained in this space and it’s not voluntary … With additional information [from the leaked memo] it makes me deeply question the operation model and its legitimacy.”
Supervisor Jackie Fielder, the other dissenting vote, noted that the $14.5 million RESET contract was inked at the same time that $17 million cuts were made to vital Department of Public Health programs. “I will not be supporting spending city funds for new sheriff’s facilities that come at the expense of community health programs,” she told her colleagues.
Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents the city’s SoMa neighborhood, said he was launching an investigation into the memo leak and would pursue censure of any fellow supervisor found responsible.
According to the San Francisco People’s Budget Coalition, the $17 million DPH cuts will gut services designed for marginalized groups, including harm reduction services.
“During a budget year where we’re going to see austerity cuts to vital social services, we can’t be spending $14 million on needlessly bringing in an out-of-state entity to administer systems already in place within our city’s own Department of Public Health,” District 8 community member Evelyn Posamentier wrote in an open letter. “We have treatment services that work, but are burdened by bureaucratic barriers and underfunding. Why would we spend such a huge price tag on something that only temporarily addresses street conditions?”
Public documents show that the sheriff’s office proposed to contract with ConnectionsCA LLC, a subsidiary of Arizona-based Connections Health Solutions, which subsequently filed paperwork on October 31, 2025.
Three local organizations had initially applied. But only Connections ultimately moved forward with the process, according to a January 30 report by the city’s legislative and budget analyst. No explanation was given as to why the other organizations dropped out.
In addition to the costs of running the RESET pilot, the report stated that over the initial term, stationing two police officers as security at all times would run the sheriff’s office an additional $4.3 to $4.9 million.
Notably, while the legislative and budget analyst’s office clearly recommended other items in its January report, it withheld a similarly clear recommendation for RESET, writing only that “[a]pproval of the proposed resolution is a policy matter for the Board of Supervisors.”
At $238,000 per bed per year, the Connections proposal was 52 percent higher than that of the lowest bidder. And because the company is new to contracting in California, it won’t be able to bill Medi-Cal for at least six months, during which time the city will be paying top dollar for a facility that’s largely focused on streamlining police operations.
“In modern times, to spend $14 million on a dressed up drunk tank is truly a shocking waste of resources,” Jennifer Friedenbach, director of the Coalition on Homelessness, wrote in a February 3 letter to the Budget and Finance Committee.
Image via City and County of San Francisco