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San Francisco budget hearing draws hours of public comment on housing, childcare, immigrant outreach and mental health
Summary
Dozens of residents and nonprofit leaders urged the Board of Supervisors Budget & Finance Committee to restore or increase funding for programs ranging from immigrant parent outreach and senior subsidies to childcare, suicide prevention and homelessness services. The committee continued the hearing to the following Wednesday.
Sandra Lee Fewer, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, opened a public comment session on the mayor's proposed two‑year spending plan, noting the agenda covers an appropriation ordinance and an annual salary ordinance for fiscal years ending June 30, 2020 and 2021. The meeting was set aside to hear community priorities before the committee acts later in the budget process.
Speakers from community groups, service providers and residents pressed the committee for funding across multiple areas. Advocates for immigrant parents repeatedly asked the board to fully fund the Immigrant Parent Voting Collaborative at $250,000 a year for two years so organizers can educate non‑citizen parents about school‑board participation and rights under Proposition N. "We are educating our immigrant families to have the opportunity to come and go into the schools and have a say on their child's education," said Andrea of Coleman Advocates.
Seniors and disability advocates testified about strain on existing programs and called for a senior operating subsidy and portable rental subsidies to prevent displacement. "We rarely have fewer than 40 or 50" seniors at the Inner Sunset program, Judy Gaddis told the committee as she requested funding to expand the free program to three days a week.
Childcare providers and parents urged investment to reduce a long waiting list for subsidized care; speakers repeatedly said thousands of families are on waiting lists and described the impact on parents' ability to work. Representatives from San Francisco Suicide Prevention described a 24/7 crisis hotline that receives roughly 70,000 calls a year but has received a flat city allocation for decades; they asked the board to increase base funding to stabilize operations and upgrade aging technology.
Nonprofits serving homeless people, youth, survivors of domestic violence and immigrants urged restoration of add‑back requests and new subsidies to preserve services such as shelter beds, vouchers for SRO families and culturally competent programs for Asian and Pacific Islander youth. Planned Parenthood and student leaders asked for a security guard at the San Francisco Health Center during periods of heightened protest activity.
No final decisions were made; Chair Fewer moved to continue the hearing to the following Wednesday, a motion seconded in the chamber and carried "without objection." The hearing provided the committee with a broad set of community priorities to weigh as it finalizes allocations.
