SF Mayor Proposes 2-Year Plan to House and Shelter 6,000 People

San Francisco Mayor London Breed released a two-year plan on Tuesday to address homelessness that includes an ambitious increase in permanent supportive housing.

The “Homeless Recovery Plan” aims to provide shelter or housing accommodations for 6,000 people, including 4,500 placements in permanent, supportive housing.

“This is a critical moment for the city to keep people sheltered from homelessness during COVID, house them beyond the pandemic and help end their experience of homelessness forever,” said Abigail Stewart-Kahn, interim director of San Francisco's Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.

The mayor’s office said funding for the expansion plans requires the passage of two measures headed for the November ballot, as well as other state and local resources.

One ballot measure is a bond to be funded through property taxes if approved by voters. The other is a business tax reform that would allow the city to tap into existing revenue that's been collected through tax measures passed in 2018 but that's still unspent because of lawsuits filed by business groups.

Jay Cheng, public policy director of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, said tax hikes and additional revenue have failed to adequately address the city's homeless crisis.

“The city budget has doubled in the last 10 years. None of our services are twice as good," Cheng said. "It becomes more than a question of money. It becomes a question of whether our programs and our services are having the intended impact."

The projected costs for Breed's homelessness plan will be part of a budget proposal that the mayor's office plans to submit to the Board of Supervisors by Aug. 1.

— Holly McDede (@HollyMcDede)