Oversight committee urges full funding for mental health, shelters and expands one-time housing subsidies

The Our City, Our Home Oversight Committee voted April 24 to forward a package of budget recommendations to the mayor and Board of Supervisors that would fully fund mental-health, shelter and homelessness-prevention programs for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 and use projected one-time surpluses to expand short-term housing supports.

Staff presented draft recommendations drawn from department proposals and liaison work with departments and providers. For mental health, the committee recommended that the mayor and supervisors “fully fund all mental-health programs at the levels reflected in DPH’s budget proposal for both fiscal years.” David Adleman, a DPH budget analyst, told the committee that acquisition funds previously appropriated and Proposition C resources are available for capital needs but that state funding (Proposition 1, if awarded) would only cover capital costs while operating funds would need separate sources.

On shelter and hygiene, the committee recommended fully funding HSH’s shelter and hygiene programs at HSH’s proposed levels and leveraging a projected surplus to expand hotel vouchers. The liaison proposed leveraging between $900,000 and $1,000,000 of projected surplus funding to expand hotel vouchers “to serve as many homeless families as possible and or approximately 40 families per year, including unhoused families with dependents, pregnant and postpartum people.” Committee members debated whether to prioritize a dollar amount or an approximate number of families; the final language allows a range of surplus funding and emphasizes serving families with dependents.

For permanent housing, the committee recommended a set of targeted allocations: a $1,000,000 ongoing expansion of the Bayview flexible subsidy pool to address needs among unhoused single adults in Bayview; leveraging approximately $10,000,000 (up to $11,000,000) of projected surplus in TAY (transitional-age youth) housing to expand rapid-rehousing subsidies by roughly 50 youth for five years (an estimated $40,000 per youth per year); and leveraging approximately $30,000,000 to $31,000,000 of projected surplus in family housing to expand rapid-rehousing subsidies by about 125 families for five years (an estimated $47,000 per family per year). The committee also recommended fully funding homelessness-prevention programs at HSH-proposed levels and asked departments to provide outcome data beyond encounter counts to help assess program impact.

Public commenters and service providers voiced strong support for the package during a lengthy public-comment period. Providers described existing hotel voucher programs, urged extensions for families who need more than one year of subsidy, and urged prioritizing children and pregnant or postpartum people. Multiple speakers urged urgency and oversight to ensure earlier promised funds were actually disbursed. In one public comment, Christiana Porter asked whether the new figures were part of a previously promised $50,000,000 for family homelessness from last year and pressed the committee for accountability.

Committee votes: the committee approved the mental-health recommendation and the shelter/hygiene voucher recommendation in separate roll calls; it later adopted the set of permanent-housing and prevention recommendations as a package after refining language on approximate amounts and caps. Several members were absent or recused for specific agenda items per a prior recusal vote.

Next steps: the committee’s recommendations will be forwarded to the mayor and Board of Supervisors for consideration. Committee members repeatedly urged city departments to move quickly on contract amendments and other implementation steps so services and vouchers can reach people who are currently unhoused.

Sources: Committee presentations and roll-call votes during the April 24 meeting; public comments by service providers and residents.