Oversight Commission forwards HSH budget to mayor, adopts resolution urging restoration of youth and family add-backs

The San Francisco Homelessness Oversight Commission voted on Feb. 16 to forward the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing’s proposed budget for fiscal years 2024–25 and 2025–26 to the mayor’s office while also adopting a resolution asking that cuts not be made and that funding for youth and families be prioritized.

The commission approved the departmental submission by roll call, with Vice Chair Bevan Dufty, Commissioners Katie Albright, Dina Aslanian Williams and Shaki Laguana voting aye and Commissioners Kristen Evans and Joaquin Guerrero voting no. After the budget vote, the body unanimously passed an amended resolution that added three whereas clauses calling for (1) no cuts to funds for unhoused young people and families, (2) that ongoing funding come from general funds rather than one‑time funds, and (3) consideration of reallocating general funds from other departments if needed to sustain Home by the Bay objectives.

The vote followed an extended public‑comment period in which providers, advocacy groups and people with lived experience urged commissioners not to accept midyear cuts. Larkin Street Youth Services’ Sherilyn Adams and other speakers told the commission the HSH five‑year Home by the Bay strategic plan must be fully funded to deliver promised outcomes. RJ Sloan, who described personal experience with psychotic breaks and supportive housing, summed up the message from multiple callers: "Housing is health care."

Commissioners debated whether approving the departmental submission would undercut their policy message. Commissioner Kristen Evans said she would vote no on the budget to avoid what she described as a "mixed message" — approving a budget that includes reductions while simultaneously asking the mayor and Board of Supervisors to restore funds. Vice Chair Dufty and other commissioners argued that forwarding the departmental proposal is a chartered, ministerial action required by the city and that submitting the budget alongside a strong advisory resolution best preserves the commission’s voice in subsequent mayoral and Board negotiations.

HSH staff said several Board‑approved one‑time add‑backs — four in total — were not included in HSH’s departmental submission because they were one‑time items that the department did not proactively fund on an ongoing basis. Among those was a $200,000 TAY (transitional‑age youth) food‑security add‑back and approximately $1 million in expanded TAY programming that were frozen during midyear adjustments.

Deputy Director Gigi Whitley told commissioners the department will include the commission’s resolution and accompanying memo when it submits its proposal to the mayor’s office and stressed that the commission’s recommendations will be shared with the mayor and Board of Supervisors as part of the packet.

The commission’s action does not change the mayoral or Board authority to modify the budget; it sends an advisory position and a request that priority items for youth and families be sustained in the coming negotiation. HSH must file its departmental submission with the mayor’s office on the published schedule; the commission’s resolution will be included in that transmittal.

What happens next: HSH will submit the budget packet and the commission’s resolution to the mayor’s office. The mayor’s office and Board of Supervisors will consider add‑backs or changes during the citywide budget process.