Largest-ever San Francisco budget prioritizes housing, homeless services

Under the foggy, overcast sky of the Richmond, San Francisco Mayor London Breed Thursday signed The City’s $12.3 billion budget over the next two fiscal years — the largest budget The City has ever faced.

Breed praised Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer, who was chosen by board President Norman Yee to lead the budget committee this year:

“This Board of Supervisors spent countless hours listening to the public, listening to me sometimes, but ultimately putting together what I believe is a comprehensive budget that is fair, that is equitable, that makes new investments and that is really focused on accountability.”

The mayor continued that this was one of the best budget process she has seen in a long time:

“She [Fewer] wanted to make sure that this was a consensus budget and everyone had something to be proud of.”

Breed’s and the Board of Supervisors budget focus on affordable housing for low- and middle-income residents and homelessness.

More than $180 million will go towards new affordable housing, preserving affordable housing units on the housing market, and preventing tenants from being evicted.

Breed is also expecting voters this November to approve a $600 affordable housing bond measure to help create housing for not just low- and middle-income residents, but also for teachers and seniors.

The budget includes more than $100 million for homelessness services and expanding navigation centers and shelter beds citywide. Breed recently announced a proposal for a new SAFE navigation center in the Bayview.

The City budget is also focused on prioritizing clean streets, including more staffing at the Pit Stop public toilets, expanding hours of operations for those toilets, and purchasing additional BigBelly trash cans.

Transportation infrastructure improvements were not left out of the budget. Breed committed in May that the City will commit to 20 miles of new bike lanes over the next years. The budget has $2.5 million set aside for the mayor’s effort.

Fewer said the budget approved by the board reflects the residents of The City who are struggling to make a living:

“This is a budget that says for those of you struggling to stay here, for those of you struggling to survive here, we see you.”

Jerold Chinn

Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.