Advocates urge $6M for homelessness prevention as Board hears public comments
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Summary
Dozens of service providers and residents urged the San Francisco Budget & Finance Committee to fund the Homeless Emergency Service Providers Association (HESPA) proposal, asking roughly $6 million in year one and about $5.3 million in year two for rental subsidies, prevention and rapid rehousing. Speakers said the package would house hundreds and argued prevention saves money compared with policing and incarceration.
Dozens of homelessness-service providers and residents urged the San Francisco Board of Supervisors— Budget & Finance Committee on June 19 to approve the Homeless Emergency Service Providers Association (HESPA) proposal, asking roughly $6,000,000 in the first year and about $5,300,000 in the second year to expand rental subsidies, prevention services and rapid rehousing.
Speakers from Hospitality House, Coalition on Homelessness, Larkin Street Youth Services and Episcopal Community Services described the scale of the city—s crisis and pressed the board to prioritize housing dollars over new police spending. "HESPA has a proposal that would rapidly house over 600 people over 2 years," said Jennifer Friedmach, director of the Coalition on Homelessness, adding that "the cost of training one officer would house about 26 homeless people for one year." Several speakers framed housing as a cost-effective public-safety investment.
Hospitality House and others described how subsidies, prevention and targeted outreach can move people out of shelters and stabilize households. Cathy Tajiri of Episcopal Community Services said navigation-center investments show that combining case management and housing supports produces measurable placements and urged scaling similar approaches across the shelter system.
Speakers also cited specific program elements and local needs: restoring vacant units for one-time repairs, expanding short-term rental subsidies to facilitate exits from shelters, and funding outreach and eviction-prevention. Several presenters noted HESPA—s ask would be funded in part from non-general-fund sources in some proposals, while others framed it as a mayoral priority needing legislative backing.
No final funding decision was taken at the committee: after public comment the chair moved to continue the proposed budget and the salary ordinance to the committee—s next meeting on Monday. The continuation means formal budgetary votes and any board-level amendments will occur at a later session.
Funding requests and advocacy groups at the hearing:
- HESPA coalition: request ~ $6,000,000 (year 1) and ~$5.3M (year 2) for rental subsidies and prevention; multiple providers testified in support. - Hospitality House, Coalition on Homelessness, Larkin Street, Episcopal Community Services and others described operational needs and outcomes.
The committee recessed with items continued; supervisors did not take a roll-call vote on appropriations during this session.
