San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed, joined by Board President Norman Yee, Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer and community members, today signed the City’s budget for Fiscal Years (FY) 2019-20 and 2020-21 at the Richmond Neighborhood Center. The budget includes important new investments in programs to create more housing, prevent homelessness and transition people into services and housing, clean the City’s streets, provide behavioral health treatment, and ensure that the City government is working for all San Franciscans.

The City’s budget focuses on equity and accountability, which includes investing in neighborhoods and communities that have been traditionally overlooked and are in dire need of key housing and infrastructure improvements. The budget makes significant investments in housing, which is one of Mayor Breed’s priorities. Mayor Breed has identified over $1 billion for affordable housing since taking office, including the $600 million affordable housing bond that will be on the November ballot.

“This budget is the result of months of hard work and collaboration, and I’m proud of the new investments we’ve identified to make San Francisco more equitable and accountable for all our residents,” said Mayor Breed. “With this funding we can continue creating more housing, help our homeless residents get the care and shelter they need, clean up our streets, support our small businesses, and invest in programs that will help all San Franciscans.”

“I believe that our budget reflects the values and priorities of everyday San Franciscans, while also being strategic and responsible with taxpayers’ dollars,” stated Supervisor Norman Yee, President of the Board of Supervisors. “We are fortunate to have a robust economy that provides us the opportunity to serve our most vulnerable residents, but also expand on basic services to improve the quality of life for everyone. We made essential investments to keep our residents housed, improve public safety, retain workers like our childcare providers and educators, and expand programming for youth and families. I commend Mayor Breed and Budget Chair Sandra Lee Fewer for their leadership in bringing together a forward-thinking, comprehensive budget.”

“I am proud to have worked closely with my colleagues on the Board and with Mayor Breed, as well as departments and community stakeholders, to pass this comprehensive and consensus-based city budget,” said Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer, Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee. “This budget addresses the needs of communities across San Francisco, with a focus on services and support for our most vulnerable and marginalized residents.”

Increasing Affordable Housing

The City’s two-year budget makes significant new investments in creating more housing and supporting low- and middle-income residents who are struggling to afford the high cost of housing in San Francisco. Over $180 million in new funding will go to the creation of new affordable housing, preservation of existing affordable units, and prevention of eviction and displacement. When taken together with the $600 million Affordable Housing Bond that Mayor Breed and Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee proposed, and the Mayor’s housing investments in FY 2018-19, these investments result in the Mayor identifying over $1 billion in total discretionary funding for affordable housing since taking office.

Preventing and Reducing Homelessness

To address the homelessness crisis, the City’s budget contains over $100 million in new funding over two years for homelessness services to bolster the City’s ability to help people off of the streets and into care and shelter. This includes investments in Rapid Rehousing programs, new permanent supportive housing, homelessness prevention, and an expansion of Navigation Center and shelter beds to reach Mayor Breed’s goal of opening 1,000 new beds by the end of next year.

Responding to Critical Health Needs

Continuing Mayor Breed’s commitment to helping people with behavioral health and substance use issues, the City’s budget contains over $50 million to support the expansion of behavioral health and other health services. This funding will support over 100 additional behavioral health treatment and recovery beds at multiple different levels of treatment, including Dual Open Residential Treatment beds, Behavioral Health Respite beds, and Behavioral Health Assisted Living beds. These beds are in addition to the 100 that have been opened in the last year.

Cleaning San Francisco’s Streets

The City budget includes a new, nearly $12 million investment in programs to promote cleanliness on San Francisco’s streets by adding 7 new staffed portable Pit Stop public toilets, 80 new BigBelly trash cans, and increased street cleaning. The funding will also expand service hours at existing Pit Stops across the City, and maintain the 2 Pit Stops and 20 BigBelly trash cans that opened during the current budget cycle in highly-trafficked commercial areas. In total, this will fund an increase of 100 trash cans and 9 Pit Stops since Mayor Breed took office.

The clean streets investments will also expand the Tenderloin Clean block sweeper program by adding an afternoon and evening shift seven days a week and continue the weekend expansion of the Tenderloin Clean and SOMA Clean programs. It will maintain the Downtown Streets Team, a workforce development initiative that employs formerly incarcerated, homeless, and other hard-to-employ individuals to do targeted street cleaning in the Mission and the Haight. Finally, it will add funding for the Chinatown Clean program, which will operate five days a week.

Creating Better Transportation

In order to improve transportation in San Francisco, the budget includes $130 million for road repairs, $30.7 million for fleet modernization and rail service improvements and $2.5 million for Vision Zero improvements over the next two years. This includes funding to complete Mayor Breed’s commitment of 20 miles of new bike lanes over the next two years.

Investing in Small Businesses

The budget includes $9 million over two years to support small businesses start, stay and thrive in San Francisco. These investments include increased funding for the City’s Revolving Loan Fund, and the expansion of the SF Shines Program, which provides grants for small businesses to fund storefront and interior improvements, as well as design services for issues like compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Additionally, funding will provide new small business fee assistance, as well as a new Community Cornerstones program to help small businesses and nonprofits occupy and stabilize ground floor retail spaces at affordable housing developments.

Creating Equitable Opportunities for Youth and Students

The budget continues Mayor Breed’s commitment to not only addressing San Francisco’s immediate problems, but also investing in the City’s future by providing $8 million for her signature program, Opportunities for All, a youth workforce development program that connects high-school aged youth with paid job training and internship experiences. Additionally, the budget provides full funding for Free City College, and invests $10 million to retain talented educators at schools that serve historically underserved populations and experience high teacher turnover.

###