Breed signs off on $26 billion two-year budget

Mayor London Breed signed officially signed a San Francisco budget Thursday that focuses on economic recovery and several other key issues, including homelessness, mental health and community investment.

The two-year budget allocates $13.2 billion for the 2021-22 fiscal year and another $12.8 billion for the following year. Built in is more than $1 billion in local, state, and federal resources to tackle the homelessness crisis by way of housing placement, eviction prevention and funding for additional safe parking sites.

Breed said:

“It’s important to make sure that we get people off the street, we get them housed and we get them into treatment.”

The City will spend $300 million toward mental health and substance abuse programs, and will fund new and existing street crisis response initiatives, including the Street Crisis Response, Street Wellness Response and Street Overdose Response teams.

Nearly $525 million will be invested over the next two years to revitalize The City’s economy with a special focus on community ambassadors and Moscone Center discounts to ensure visitor safety and entice convention crowds. 

The budget includes funding for a whole host of community organizations, programs and projects aimed at improving life for all residents, but especially those hardest hit in the pandemic. Money is set aside for the new Women and Families First Initiative, the Dream Keeper Initiative to lift up the Black community, a guaranteed basic income pilot for transgender residents, one year of free youth Muni rides, affordable housing fiber optic expansion and rent relief, as well as street and park infrastructure improvements.

New small businesses will benefit from various fee waivers made possible by a $12 million budget carveout.

Two 40-person police academies are funded in the 2021-2022 fiscal year and another 50-peson academy in the following fiscal year. The budget also invests $11 million in violence prevention programs and support for victims of crimes.

Supervisor Matt Haney, who chaired this year’s budget committee and put in countless hours with the Mayor’s Office and colleagues, said the work was nothing compared to sacrifices made by residents over the past year, adding:

“What they needed from us during this budget process is for us to honor those sacrifices, for us to focus on their needs in recovery and for us to work together.”

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.