FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Contact: Mayor’s Office of Communications, mayorspressoffice@sfgov.org

***PRESS RELEASE***

MAYOR BREED ANNOUNCES $53 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT FOR SAN FRANCISCO’S HOMELESS PROGRAMS

HUD’s Continuum of Care grant will support the City’s range of critical services and programs, including permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and improved access to housing for survivors of domestic violence

San Francisco, CA – Mayor London N. Breed today announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the city a $53.7 million grant to support efforts to renew and expand critical services and housing for people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.

HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program is designed to support local programs with the goal of ending homelessness for individuals, families, and Transitional Age Youth.

This funding supports the city’s ongoing efforts that have helped more than 15,000 people exit homelessness since 2018 through City programs including direct housing placements and relocation assistance. During that time San Francisco has also increased housing slots by 50%. San Francisco has the most permanent supportive housing of any county in the Bay Area, and the second most slots per capita than any city in the country.

“In San Francisco, we have worked aggressively to increase housing, shelter, and services for people experiencing homelessness, and we are building on these efforts every day,” said Mayor London Breed. “Every day our encampment outreach workers are going out to bring people indoors and our City workers are connecting people to housing and shelter. This support from the federal government is critical and will allow us to serve people in need and address encampments in our neighborhoods.”

The funding towards supporting the renewal projects in San Francisco include financial support for a mix of permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and transitional housing projects. In addition, the CoC award will support Coordinated Entry projects to centralize the City’s various efforts to address homelessness. This includes $2.1 million in funding for the Coordinated Entry system to improve access to housing for youth and survivors of domestic violence.

“This is a good day for San Francisco,” said Shireen McSpadden, executive director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. “HUD’s Continuum of Care funding provides vital resources to a diversity of programs and projects that have helped people to stabilize in our community. This funding is a testament to our work and the work of our nonprofit partners.”

The 2024 Continuum of Care Renewal Awards Include:

• $42.2 million for 29 renewal PSH projects that serve chronically homeless, veterans, and youth
• $318,000 for one new PSH project, which will provide 98 affordable homes for low-income seniors in the Richmond District
• $445,00 for one Transitional Housing (TH) project serving youth
• $6.4 million dedicated to four Rapid Rehousing (RRH) projects that serve families, youth, and survivors of domestic violence
• $750,00 for two Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) projects
• $2.1 million for three Coordinated Entry projects that serve families, youth, chronically homeless, and survivors of domestic violence

In addition, the 2023 CoC Planning Grant, now increased to $1,500,000 from $1,250,000, was also approved. Planning grants are submitted non-competitively and may be used to carry out the duties of operating a CoC, such as system evaluation and planning, monitoring, project and system performance improvement, providing trainings, partner collaborations, and conducting the PIT Count.

“We are very appreciative of HUD’s support in fulfilling our funding request for these critically important projects for San Francisco that help so many people trying to exit homelessness,” said Del Seymour, co-chair of the Local Homeless Coordinating Board. “This funding will make a real difference to people seeking services and support in their journey out of homelessness.”

In comparison to last year’s competition, this represents a $770,000 increase in funding, due to a new PSH project that was funded, an increase in some unit type Fair Market Rents (FMRs) and the larger CoC Planning Grant. In a year where more projects had to compete nationally against other communities, this represents a significant increase.

Nationally, HUD awarded nearly $3.16 billion for over 7,000 local homeless housing and service programs including new projects and renewals across the United States.

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By Magaly Muñoz

In late March, Oakland’s city administration announced the final draft of their Downtown Specific Plan, a blueprint for city improvements and developments over the next 20 years.

The comprehensive 474-page plan lays out policies for downtown developments that will increase economic, social and cultural, and communal opportunities for residents and workers who frequent this essential hub in Oakland.

Several departments over the course of eight years developed the plan, with two phases that emphasized a need for community input from local stakeholders, such as leaders and residents, and a focus on the role of social and racial equity in past and future developments.

Throughout the extensive plan, the concept of equity for marginalized communities is embedded with each goal and priority for the improvements to downtown. It acknowledges that social and racial barriers are preventing these communities from thriving on an equal playing field.

The authors identified six key disparities, or ‘equity indicators’, that set the baseline for how success will be measured for the improvements. These indicators include the burden of housing costs, homelessness, displacement, disconnected youth, unemployment rate and median income.

The plan is also broken up into chapters, each describing a major issue or topic that is plaguing downtown residents and workers, such as mobility, culture preservation, community health and sustainability, and land use and urban design.

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Within each chapter, the authors dedicate a section to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic for the various areas of interest, illustrating how disparities and inequities increased before and after the disease’s peak.

Two major issues highlighted in the plan are economic opportunity and housing and homelessness. Both of these issues have been aggravated by the pandemic and require substantial support and resources to move forward.

Many reports coming out of the commercial and residential districts downtown have blamed the rise in crime and cost of living as reasons for leaving Oakland for other cities or closing down indefinitely.

The plan attributes rising rents of both residential and commercial properties to the displacement of local businesses and entrepreneurs. Downtown also has an imbalance in the jobs to housing ratio, which limits access to jobs as commuting distances increase.

Other concerns for the local economy are barriers to employment opportunities for workers of color, non-English speakers, and those with limited access to transportation. As stated in the plan, downtown also has a lack of vacancies near public transit hubs, such as BART, bus stops or ferry terminals, which could save workers money and time for their commutes into the city.

According to the downtown plan, the average unemployment rate for the white population was 5.9%, but the Asian population was at 6.7%, and for the Black population it was even higher at 10.4%.

The proposed solutions for the lack of economic prosperity include providing assistance to local businesses owned by people of color, reinforcing downtown as the ‘place to be’ for nightlife entertainment, and building businesses closer to public transit.

The addition of over 18.3 million (m) sq. ft. of new commercial space, 1.3m sq. ft. of new institutional space, and 500,000 sq. ft. of new industrial space, could potentially create almost 57,000 jobs downtown.

Housing and homelessness, issues closely tied to economic prosperity, are top concerns for Oakland residents. High rents have led to displacement and homelessness for those unable to keep up with the rising costs of the Bay Area.

Over 5,000 people are currently experiencing homelessness in Oakland, according to 2022 Point In Time data. 60% of this population is Black despite only making up nearly 20% of the total city population.

The plan explains that by adding nearly 29,000 new homes and expanding affordable housing units across the city by 2040, this would help alleviate the stress of obtaining and affording a home.

Strategies proposed to tackle the housing and homelessness crisis include increasing renter protections, providing additional shelters and services for homeless residents, and promoting homeownership in downtown with first-time buyer assistance and proactive assistance to vulnerable homeowners.

The plan acknowledges that the implementation of changes and developments amongst the several concerns outlined in the document will take time, both in short and long term periods.

To better explain how and when each project will be addressed over the course of the next two decades, a detailed 123-page graph shows which agencies, potential funding sources, and costs come with the goals.

The Oakland Planning Commission and Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board will each hold public hearings regarding the final draft of the Downtown Plan in May and June.

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