Board of Supervisors approves reallocating Prop C funds to expand shelter system

The Lurie administration wants to prioritize fast and temporary homeless shelters instead of decade-long permanent projects. Though Mayor Lurie asked for $88 million to be spent on on 630 new shelter beds, the Board of Supervisors only gave him $34 million.

The Facts

Proposition C, passed by voters in 2018, taxes corporations that make over 50M to fund homelessness services and sets strict spending guidelines: 50% for permanent supportive housing (PSH), 25% for mental health, 15% for prevention, and up to 10% for shelter.

Mayor Lurie’s proposal would temporarily lift those restrictions for three years, allowing the city to reallocate funds dedicated to PSH towards more shelter. The $34M approved today will help fund a $121 million plan to build 630 new shelter and treatment beds citywide.

The Context

Prop C was passed by voters in 2018 and generates between $250M and $300M annually. This money goes into the “Our City, Our Home” Fund, which is overseen by the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors and monitored by an advisory committee.

There are three major bottlenecks that have led to millions of Prop C dollars being unspent:

• The strict legal limits on how Prop C can be used
• The Mayor and Board must approve what is funded
• Capacity, implementation, and political challenges across every Prop C eligible department

As of 2022, only 26% of $600M in Prop C money reserves were spent.

Lurie’s proposal would change the requirements for three years such that money required for permanent supportive housing could now go towards building more shelter, helping meet immediate street-level needs.

The GrowSF Take

San Francisco needs shelter beds now—and it makes sense to use unspent money to build them. Voters care about real solutions, not bureaucratic categories.

We support Mayor Daniel Lurie’s and Chief of Health and Human Services Kunal Modi’s plan to build more shelter beds using Prop C funds.