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Mayor pledges to backfill roughly $2.7 million in federal HIV funding cuts, supervisors hear
Summary
At a May 7 hearing the Board's Budget & Finance Committee heard that San Francisco faces about $3 million in federal HIV funding reductions; the mayor's office committed to backfill the shortfall and providers urged continued support to avoid service losses.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Budget & Finance Committee heard on May 7 that federal cuts to HIV programs could reduce local Ryan White and CDC prevention funding by roughly $3 million, and the Mayor's Budget Office said it will include an offset in the mayor's proposed budget.
Supervisor Scott Wiener opened the hearing, saying the city has repeatedly backfilled federal reductions and urging that pattern continue. "This year ... we anticipate approximately $2,700,000 in federal cuts," Wiener said, framing the hearing as a deliberation on how to replace that funding.
Greg Wagner, chief financial officer for the Department of Public Health, told the committee DPH spends about $59,000,000 a year on HIV health services, prevention and related epidemiology and research. He said the current projection is for about $2.7 million in reductions to Ryan White grants and roughly $300,000 in prevention funding, and that the department will receive final award notices in May and June before making definitive allocations. Wagner said the projected cuts would reduce core services and prevention activity, estimating a decrease in core services equivalent to about $2.2 million and a reduction in support‑service funding that would affect several hundred clients.
Leo Chi, deputy budget director for Mayor Ed Lee, told the committee the mayor "has committed to backfilling these cuts" in the proposed budget. Committee members confirmed that the commitment covers the roughly $2.7 million shortfall to Ryan White funding.
Representatives of the HIV/AIDS Providers Network and other community organizations urged the city to sustain funding. Mike Smith, executive director of AIDS Emergency Fund and president of the Providers Network, thanked the mayor and supervisors for past backfills and said San Francisco remains a national model for linking people into care. Clinicians detailed local outcomes: Kim Gilgenberg Castillo of the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center said her agency has 70 percent of clients with suppressed viral load and 60 percent undetectable, citing neighborhood conditions in the Tenderloin that make outreach and wraparound services essential.
Speakers from Latino and transgender advocacy groups called for culturally targeted prevention and housing options for transgender Latina women in the Mission District; clinicians and service providers warned that reductions would degrade testing, outreach and linkage services that keep community viral load low.
After public comment supervisors moved to file the hearing record, a motion the committee took without objection. Several supervisors and provider representatives said they expect to work with the mayor's office and the planning council to finalize any allocations after DPH receives its award notices.
The Budget & Finance Committee did not take an immediate budget vote; the mayor's proposed budget that will include the backfill is scheduled to be submitted later in May.
