News Releases
The latest news and announcements from Mayor London N. Breed

Mayor London Breed's Shelter Crisis Legislation Passes Board of Supervisors

Two ordinances introduced by the Mayor will allow the City to more quickly construct homeless shelters, contract with homeless services providers, and help unhoused residents into care and shelter

San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed’s legislation to declare a shelter crisis in San Francisco today passed the Board of Supervisors, which will allow the City to take more immediate action to address the homelessness crisis.

The two ordinances introduced by Mayor Breed together significantly expand a more limited shelter crisis ordinance that expired on March 1, 2019 and removes administrative, contracting, building, and planning code red tape that delays the construction of new shelters and the delivery of services to those in need.

“Homelessness is a crisis in our city and we cannot continue to move at our normal pace,” said Mayor Breed. “We need to cut the bureaucracy that delays new shelter from being created in order get our unhoused residents the care and services they need to help them exit homelessness. I am committed to opening 1,000 new shelter beds by 2020 to clear our nightly waitlist for shelter, which is why we are expanding two existing Navigation Centers to add 80 new beds and why I am proposing a 200-bed SAFE Navigation Center at Sea Wall Lot 330.”

The first ordinance allows the City to streamline the contracting and permitting process for the construction of new homeless shelters as well as the contracting process for homelessness services. The Departments of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) and San Francisco Public Works will be responsible for vetting a pool of contractors who can provide construction support and homelessness services and will then choose from this pool for future projects, rather than having to go through the usual three to six month contracting process for each project individually. To ensure accountability, the ordinance requires HSH and Public Works to submit detailed annual reports on all contracts awarded under this expedited procedure.

Additionally, this ordinance removes planning code barriers to opening shelters in certain zoning districts that currently have limitations or restrictions. HSH will be required to undergo a robust community process prior to the opening of any site-based service like a shelter. The Board of Supervisor will have oversight of all contracts rewarded under this expedited procedures. This ordinance will remain in effect for five years, or until there is a 30% reduction in homelessness as measured by the Point in Time Count, the City’s biennial survey of homeless individuals.

The second ordinance opts-in the City to AB932, authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting, which streamlines the building and planning code approval process for homeless shelters by implementing expedited approval procedures that reduces the process by a matter of months. This ordinance also adopts Appendix N of the California Building Code, which provides consistent standards for the development of emergency shelters during the shelter crisis. This ordinance requires approval from the California Department of Housing and Community Development before going into effect and will remain in effect until January 2021.

Mayor Breed has announced an ambitious plan to open 1,000 new shelter beds by 2020, 212 of which have been opened so far. She recently proposed a new 200-bed SAFE Navigation Center at Sea Wall Lot 330 and the expansion of 80 new beds at the existing Division Circle and Civic Center Navigation Centers to help reach that goal.

The legislation is co-sponsored by Supervisors Vallie Brown, Shamann Walton, Catherine Stefani, Rafael Mandelman, and Matt Haney. The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on this item a second time on April 2, 2019.