Community groups, tenants demand restoration after DBI budget ax cuts SRO and outreach grants

The Department of Building Inspection (DBI) told the Budget & Appropriation Committee it is an enterprise department funded entirely by permit fees. Director Patrick O'Riordan and CFO Alex Koskinen said permit and inspection revenue has fallen roughly 31% since FY2019, creating a structural deficit that DBI has been managing with accumulated fund balance.

To address the shortfall, DBI proposed a 15% fee increase (item 15) and deep reductions that remove roughly $11.6 million from the combined FY24/25 budget, including elimination of recurring community grants—chiefly, the Code Enforcement Outreach Program (CEOP) and the SRO Families United Collaborative. DBI said choices were limited: either make the cuts or execute layoffs that would affect mandatory inspection and enforcement services. O'Riordan emphasized the department's mandate to preserve inspection services and avoid layoffs where feasible.

The proposal drew immediate and emotional public response. Tenants, SRO organizers and community-based organizations testified for hours that DBI-funded CBO grants provide culturally and linguistically competent outreach, help tenants report building hazards, mediate with landlords, and resolve habitability problems before cases escalate. Dozens of SRO residents described mold, leaks, rodent infestations and nonresponsive landlords who only fixed problems after community organizers intervened. Advocates and supervisors said the outreach and SRO programs prevent health and safety emergencies and argued they save city resources by resolving problems early.

Supervisors pressed DBI on alternatives and asked for line-item detail. The committee continued item 15 (DBI fee increase and fiscal changes) to the following week and requested DBI provide a detailed list of every programmatic project and the exact grant recipients and amounts removed so the board can evaluate tradeoffs before final budget action.