Mayor’s Plan to Expand Shelter GUTS HOUSING FOR HOMELESS FAMILIES AND YOUTH

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Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco  May 30,2023

Mayor’s Plan to Expand Shelter 

GUTS HOUSING FOR HOMELESS FAMILIES AND YOUTH

Mayor Breed announced plans today to fund shelter for unhoused San Franciscans. What was not mentioned is where that funding will be coming from and that these are continued and replacement beds for closing sites (net loss of 80 beds).  The Coalition on Homelessness supports the plans to replace and continue the announced 594 beds, not just for two years but permanently, and vehemently opposes that same plan to pay for these adult beds by gutting housing for homeless youth and families in Prop C. 

What could only be called cruel, the Mayor is proposing to use $40M in existing Prop C funds taken out of the housing category for TAY and families, and  $20M in future Prop C revenue meant for transitional aged youth and families housing for the next two years.  There is no permanent funding source secured for those adult shelter beds.  For every $20 million cut from the housing fund for shelter, it is equivalent fo over 650 permanent housing slots for families and youth   

Voters passed Prop C in 2018, and it was held up in court for two years.  It generates approximately $300 million per year, and half the funds must go to housing and a quarter to behavioral health.  Of the housing funds, the intention was to go upstream and ensure families and youth experiencing homelessness were no longer ignored, so 20% of the housing funds are allocated to youth and 25% to homeless families.  The total annual funds set aside for housing for these populations is roughly $67 million combined.

The fund is overseen by the Our City Our Home Oversight Committee in the Controller’s Office.  The Mayor’s  plan to gut family and TAY housing funds was not presented to the Oversight body. The Mayor’s office did NOT consult with the OCOH committee and decided to use TAY and family allocated funds to pay for the adult shelter and homeless prevention. 

According to  Miguel Carrera, formerly homeless organizer at the Coalition on Homelessness, “The Mayor of San Francisco can and should fund all of these items without pitting homeless children and youth against homeless adults.  The city has a $14 billion dollar budget.  $40 million is a fraction of that budget.  The budget priorities are inequitable when the Mayor finds funding for a $300 million raise to police, but for homeless adults chooses to take this considerably smaller amount of  funding from children.” 

The mayor is justifying the use of these funds by saying there are extra dollars given the new state funds from the Homekey program.   However, the investment plan for housing already considered that funding would be matched by Homekey, and single adult housing was also matched by Homekey.  Prop C was never meant to provide comprehensive funds necessary to address homelessness, but was meant to be additive to state, federal and local funds. 

According to Leticia Grijalva, Formerly homeless mom,  “We need support for many people who need decent and permanent housing. We don’t want to be a public charge but sometimes the need is great. Having support from our government is our last hope.  Many of our children have to watch their parents struggle to keep them in housing many of the times making them think of quitting school to support their family” 

“November 2018 Prop C Our City Our Home was deliberately designed with these inequities in mind.  We cannot solve homelessness if we continue to force poor families and youth to experience homelessness – we must target our investments upstream.” According to Jennifer Friedenbach, Executive Director and Prop C Our City Our Home Campaign Director.    

Impact of Homelessness on Transitional Aged Youth and Children

Last year, just one provider, Compass Family Services, had requests for shelter from 6,000 different family members in San Francisco, and over 50% were African American.  Only 14% of the city’s Homeless housing units are for families with children.  

On any given night in San Francisco, over 1,100 youth are experiencing homelessness, and over 50% are African American.  

Almost half of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ. 

The events of early childhood can affect us for a lifetime.  

Homeless children are five times more likely than their peers to become homeless as adults.

Homelessness among children has also been found to have a negative impact on education, with lower academic achievement, and disrupted schooling due to higher absenteeism. Less than half of homeless children nationwide met state proficiency requirements in reading, math, and science. 

Over 50% of homeless children are held back for one grade, and 22% for multiple grades. 

Homeless children have an 87% increased chance of dropping out of high school 

Shelter Bed Analysis- New Beds are Not Yielded

The Mayor announced that she is adding 594 “new shelter beds” in next fiscal year’s budget. It appears as if no new beds will be yielded by her proposal because they are either replacing closing sites, or continuing existing ones, and a loss of 80 slots.   It is important to note that Prop C monies are not allowed to be used to supplant existing funding.  

Beds that are closing:

120 trailers at Pier 93 – end of calendar year

           40 Bayview safe sleep slots (tents) -August

           40 Mission Safe sleep slots (tents) – October

Beds that are Opening:

            60 Cabins Site One – Mission  (Put in budget by Supervisor Ronen, July 2022

            60 Cabins Site Two  -TBD (Put in OCOH investment plan, April, 2023)

Beds Mayor is proposing on continuing

            3 non-congregate sites

            Continue funding for the “Reinflation” of Dolores, MSC South and Next Door