Mayor Edwin M. Lee and Board President London Breed today announced a $350 million Public Health and Safety Bond on the June 2016 ballot. The initiative will expand access to mental health services for San Francisco residents, including homeless people living on the streets, and seismically upgrade and strengthen the City’s vital public health care facilities and emergency medical response infrastructure to ensure their viability after a major earthquake.

“Protecting public health, expanding mental health services for our most in need, and improving safety for our residents in the event of emergencies is our City’s highest priority, and the $350 million Public Health and Safety Bond will provide the necessary improvements so our City can meet San Francisco’s 21st Century needs for health care and emergency medical services– all without raising property tax rates,” said Mayor Lee. “The bond continues the critical work to repair, strengthen and invest in our infrastructure as outlined in our City’s Ten-Year Capital Plan so we can improve and expand access to services, bolster resiliency and respond quickly during and after a major earthquake.”

“This bond will expand the mental health service facility that many in our city desperately need,” said President Breed. “By acting now, not only can we improve health care access in our neighborhoods, but also better prepare for the next major earthquake, and save local taxpayer dollars.”

There is a 72 percent chance of a 6.7 or greater magnitude earthquake striking the Bay Area in the next 30 years, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and San Francisco must continually prepare for a major earthquake or other disaster. By upgrading these health and safety facilities, San Francisco can help protect its residents, neighborhoods and small businesses in an emergency. This investment and planning for future emergencies will protect San Francisco’s community health and safety.

The $350 million Public Health and Safety Bond will fund essential projects and improvements to City infrastructure in three areas: health, safety and rescue.

• $222 million will be allocated to Zuckerberg San Francisco General to make essential earthquake safety improvements on the campus. The funding will modernize fire response systems and improve services by renovating a 1970s-era campus facility that houses the City’s only emergency psychiatric services, as well as outpatient and urgent care services. The voter approved, state-of-the-art Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital opens spring 2016. This bond continues that work by addressing other outstanding needs on campus to make our health services resilient.
• $30 million will be used to renovate the Southeast Health Center and construct a new addition to the clinic, a high-demand neighborhood-based community health center in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, to update, improve and expand access to serve more patients while providing integrated mental health and primary care.
• $20 million will be directed toward modernization and transformation of the City’s homeless shelters and homeless service sites, providing improved, expanded services to an at-risk population.
• $20 million will be used for additional renovations to neighborhood public health clinics that provide primary care and behavioral health across the City.
• $44 million will be used to construct a modern, seismically safe San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) ambulance deployment and emergency medical services facility to dispatch ambulance and paramedic staff for improved response and to ensure the operation remains functional during and after a major earthquake.
• $14 million will be used for repairs and modernization of SFFD’s neighborhood fire stations.

This bond proposal is part of the Ten-Year Capital Plan, the City’s formal commitment to long-term, strategic and fiscally responsible capital planning. The plan is adopted annually by the mayor and Board of Supervisors to prioritize capital needs across all City departments. The Public Health and Safety Bond is a key component of this important program to ensure the City’s public health, mental health and emergency medical service facilities are seismically safe, and meet modern standards. The City invests in these health, safety and rescue services to meet San Franciscans’ ongoing, and growing, needs.

Property tax rates will not increase as a result of this bond program. New general obligation bonds will only be issued once the City pays off previous bonds that funded the construction and improvements to other public assets, such as neighborhood parks and libraries, Laguna Honda Hospital, the Public Safety Building, the Academy of Sciences and the Asian Art Museum.

For more information on the Public Health and Safety Bond, go to: sfpublicworks.org/publichealthbond.