SF supervisors hear evidence of rising acuity in suicide and domestic-violence crises during COVID-19; advocates warn of budget cuts

San Francisco supervisors heard testimony May 28 from suicide-prevention and domestic-violence advocates who raised concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic has altered how people seek help: although crisis-line volumes have fallen since shelter-in-place began, callers who require immediate intervention have increased.

Laina Schaff, interim director of San Francisco Suicide Prevention (now part of the Felton Institute), told the committee the organization answered "over 82,000" calls last year, up from about 56,000 the previous year, and described a puzzling regional pattern since shelter-in-place: overall call volume declined, but caller acuity rose — observers reported people with concrete plans to harm themselves moving from levels of 1–3 per month to 1–3 per week. Schaff said the hotline expanded remote capacity, added text and chat, and that the highest historical suicide rates are concentrated among middle-aged men and disproportionately affect LGBTQ youth and low-income residents.

Vice Chair Catherine Stefani and Supervisor Shavon Walton pressed presenters on risk factors and prevention. Schaff said responses must be multi-layered — hotlines, community outreach, hospital capacity and housing stability — and warned against cutting mental-health and social-service budgets during recovery.

Beverly Upton, executive director of the San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium, described how domestic-violence crisis lines and shelters initially saw spikes in contacts (Women, Inc. reported a roughly 130% jump early in shelter-in-place), then declines: Women, Inc.'s crisis-line calls were reported as 885 in March, 738 in April and about 220 in the first weeks of May. Upton credited shelters and city partners (including the Department of Public Health and the Mayor’s Office) with arranging hotel rooms and adapting shelter operations for social distancing, but warned that direct-service providers face proposed cuts (a combined reallocation/RFP and mayoral reductions could total roughly $1 million in contract funding).

Amberly Cross of the Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic explained legal and court adaptations: attorneys are meeting survivors by phone and text when safe, courts have continued to process restraining order requests daily with reduced in-person hearings prioritized for cases involving children, and clerkial rules requiring original or faxed signatures have complicated filings.

Supervisors asked about the pathways from community reports to the district attorney. Presenters described case triage (911 → responding officers → Special Victims Unit → DA) that often filters cases and noted one innovation: text-to-911 pilots that can help survivors who cannot speak. Advocates also flagged a surge in gun purchases and many first-time owners during the pandemic as an added risk for survivors.

Vice Chair Stefani closed the hearing by urging people in crisis to seek help, thanking presenters and staff, and moving to file the hearing; the committee voted to file the matter with a unanimous 3-0 roll-call vote. No formal policy was adopted at the hearing; staff and advocates recommended sustaining or expanding mental-health and family-violence funding and continuing operational adjustments to shelters and courts.