Committee forwards four grant and ordinance items to full Board; childcare, public health and housing measures advanced

On Oct. 5 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget & Finance Committee advanced four agenda items to the full Board with unanimous votes, including multi-year grant agreements and an ordinance to strengthen early outreach around tax-defaulted property sales.

Item 1: The committee approved as amended a retroactive grant agreement with the Low Income Investment Fund (LIFT) to administer the San Francisco Childcare Facilities Fund for July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2024. The Budget and Legislative Analyst noted the legislative file shows a grant budget of about $85.6 million (including contingency) and that the resolution's not-to-exceed figure appears as about $91 million; the committee accepted the BLA's recommendation to align the not-to-exceed amount with the underlying budget. Ingrid Mesquita, director of the Department of Early Childhood, said the agreement sets aside a $10 million annual minimum for family childcare providers and described capital awards (up to $2 million for certain capital projects and $125,000 for predevelopment awards) to expand and renovate childcare spaces.

Item 2: The committee forwarded a CDC-funded California Department of Public Health grant for $226,000 to expand the Newcomers Health Program's asylum seeker health surveillance and linkage-to-care services (Sept. 1, 2022–June 30, 2023). Christy Dietrich, program manager at DPH, said funding will support a case manager and program coordinator to connect newly arrived asylum seekers to primary care, immunizations and insurance enrollment.

Item 3: The committee advanced a DPH resolution to accept an approximately $2 million increase from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for the Ryan White HIV program, bringing the total to roughly $4.6 million, to support efforts aimed at reducing disparities in HIV outcomes through community-based programs and UCSF partnerships.

Item 4: The committee forwarded an ordinance to require the Tax Collector to provide information on properties tax-defaulted for at least three years to the Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD) and to provide the Board with a summary of referrals to agencies prior to sale. Eric Mankey of the Treasurer & Tax Collector's office outlined the statutory timeline for delinquency, redemption opportunities and auctions; Sheila Nicholas of MOHCD described HELP emergency homeowner loans (up to $50,000, 30-year deferred, no interest) and other supports intended to prevent displacement.

All four items were forwarded to the full Board with positive recommendations by unanimous roll-call votes (three ayes). No substantive public testimony was recorded for Items 14 during the committee meeting; Item 1 had departmental Q&A and Item 4 elicited questions about outreach timing and protections for occupied properties.

The committee's actions will be reflected on the Board of Supervisors agenda for Oct. 18 unless otherwise noted.