Posted Jun 1, 2021, 10:24 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 24,177
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Mayor Breed wants to spend $1B on homelessness in San Francisco over next two yrs
Quote:
Trisha Thadani
June 1, 2021
Updated: June 1, 2021 12:57 p.m.
Mayor London Breed is proposing more than $1 billion in new funding to address homelessness over the next two years — a staggering amount that she hopes will finally make a dent in the city’s most vexing problem.
That proposal, announced Tuesday as part of her wider plan for the city’s upcoming $13.1 billion budget, is on top of the $300 million or so already spent directly on homelessness each year. The historic investment reflects the intense pressure Breed and other city leaders are under to address the thousands living on the streets, in shelters and in unstable housing.
Breed said at a Tuesday press conference that the investment includes “more housing more placements, more people living indoors” . . . .
She said the city will try to assist people struggling with addiction to get into recovery, but “for those exhibiting harmful behavior, whether to themselves or to others, or those refusing assistance, we will use every tool we have to get them into treatment and services, to get them indoors. We won’t accept people just staying on the streets, when we have a place for them to go.”
It’s unclear exactly how many homeless people are currently in San Francisco, but the number has certainly swelled over the past few years. The city’s official count in 2019 logged more than 8,000 homeless, a 30% rise from two years prior. Other counts have suggested there may be as many as 17,000 homeless in the city.
At the same time, homelessness funding has also significantly increased. The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing’s budget has increased by 80% since it was created in 2016, to $364 million in the most recent fiscal year. Meanwhile, Prop. C., a 2018 ballot measure that taxes big businesses for homeless services, is expected to raise $250 million to $300 million per year.
Indirect spending on homelessness is likely much higher, as the crisis touches many different parts of the city — from police officers responding to reports of people sleeping on the streets to Department of Public Works cleaners who sweep away tents, human feces and trash . . . .
The majority of Breed’s proposed homelessness investment comes from $800 million collected by Prop. C, which she did not support in 2018. The rest would come from the city’s general fund, a 2020 bond measure, state funding and one-time funding from the federal American Rescue Plan, which helped erase a massive, pandemic-induced budget deficit earlier this year.
Under her proposal, the money would go toward initiatives like capping all permanent supportive housing rent at 30% of a resident’s income, funding two new RV parking sites and continuing a 40-bed emergency shelter for families. The mayor also wants to create 6,000 new housing placements by June 2022, which includes buying new hotels to convert to housing, purchasing or leasing new permanent supportive housing units, housing vouchers or buying people bus tickets back to family and friends of town . . . .
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https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics...n-16217231.php
Let's hope she means it when she says she won't accept people sleeping on the street if the city can offer them shelter.
Here's what it looks like now in the worst parts of town (my pictures):
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