San Francisco officials preview HSH budget, leaders urge safe-parking funding and immediate roll-out of 30% rent standard

Interim Director Abigail Stewart Khan told the Board—s Budget and Appropriations Committee on March 3 that the city—s COVID response to people experiencing homelessness "has led the nation," and outlined a proposed HSH budget that maintains core services while expanding shelter and housing supports.

Khan and Deputy Director Gigi Whitley presented HSH—s proposed FY2021-22 budget of $578,500,000, saying most of the increase year-to-year reflected one-time COVID-related and special revenues. Khan emphasized racial equity work — including an internal Equity Action Plan, an external homelessness-focused equity consultant and a search to hire the department—s first chief equity officer — and said HSH is building public dashboards and a data warehouse to improve transparency and performance monitoring.

Why it matters: supervisors and community callers focused immediate attention on two gaps: a shortfall in resources for safe parking sites for people living in vehicles, and funding to enforce a newly passed 30% rent standard for permanent supportive housing tenants. Those issues have concrete fiscal implications and near-term policy choices for the mayor and board as HSH finalizes its proposals.

HSH—s proposal and priorities HSH described rapid COVID-year work — opening hotels, safe-sleep and navigation centers and building a flex pool designed to deliver both permanent supportive housing slots and rapid rehousing. Khan said the flex pool plans to reach roughly 900 new slots and that more than 500 units of site-based permanent supportive housing are being opened with state and local resources.

Whitley outlined the department—s budget numbers, saying the coming-year request is $578.5 million, a year-over-year change of about $273.6 million driven largely by one-time revenue sources tied to pandemic response (slides and staff cited FEMA, Project Homekey-related local match allocations, Prop C allocations and state grants). Whitley said roughly two-thirds of the budget supports housing subsidies and ongoing housing programs, about 17% supports shelter and navigation centers, and the remainder funds prevention, outreach and a small admin footprint. She also flagged critical gaps in staffing and infrastructure and requested approval to modernize grants management systems to speed contracting.

Contentious tradeoffs: safe sleep vs. safe parking Supervisor Safaie pressed HSH on the budget arithmetic for safe sleeping sites compared with safe parking, noting prior slides showed about $5.9 million tied to safe sleeping while only $1 million was shown for safe parking. "There—s obviously a stated need" for safe parking, Safaie said, asking whether the $5.9 million represented continuing or one-time funding.

Khan acknowledged a gap and said HSH—s proposed budget to the mayor did not include additional Prop C dollars; she said decisions on expanding Prop C allocations will be made through the Our City, Our Home committee and the mayor—s budget process. Deputy Director Whitley clarified that the safe-sleep six-month budget is roughly $16.1 million and that safe-sleep slots number about 262 (often more people when families use a tent). She said safe parking is being transitioned into HSH—s homelessness response portfolio but many sites are not permanent and will require additional operational and development resources.

Supervisor Safaie and President Walton repeatedly urged a firmer commitment to safe parking, noting many people are living in vehicles and that the program was an existing priority before the pandemic. "COVID did not create the need for a safe parking site," President Walton said.

Public pressure for 30% rent standard Public comments — more than a dozen callers — focused heavily on funding the newly enacted ordinance that requires permanent supportive housing tenants to pay no more than 30% of their income for rent. Jonathan Mead, a retired San Francisco paramedic, cited the Budget Legislative Analyst—s estimate of roughly $6.1 million per year to implement the "30 right now" standard and argued the cost is modest relative to the department—s overall proposed budget: "The 6.1 is a drop in the bucket," he said.

Multiple callers, advocacy groups and service providers urged the committee to prioritize and fully fund the rent standard in the current-year budget rather than defer implementation.

Oversight, contracts and next steps Chair Matt Haney asked HSH about contract oversight and what the department changed after the 2020 BLA audit. Khan said HSH is moving toward performance-based contracting, has strengthened procurement practices during the emergency ordinance period, and is building publicly accessible dashboards; she pointed to a six-month controller—s report for specifics on emergency contracts. The committee requested follow-up materials and more precise budget breakdowns for safe parking, safe sleep and 30% rent funding.

Outcome The committee voted to file the HSH hearing after the presentation and public comment. Chair Haney said additional follow-ups and written questions would be submitted to HSH and that the department would return for more detailed budget conversations.

Ending note HSH staff left for a scheduled equity workshop; the committee recorded multiple follow-ups (budget clarifications, capacity dashboards, and a request for written responses) and reiterated that Prop C allocations and mayoral priorities will determine whether unfunded items are added to the mayor—s proposed budget.