2019: Year in Review
This year we worked to make progress on building more housing, strengthening our City’s response to homelessness, and making the City more equitable. Below are some of the key achievements over the past year. I’m proud of everything on this list, but there is still a lot more work ahead of us. We need to remove barriers to building new homes so more people can afford to live in our City, help transition people out of homelessness and into housing, address the behavioral health crisis on our streets, make Muni more reliable, and so much more. In 2020, we will keep working to make San Francisco a more affordable, equitable, sustainable, clean, and safe city for all!
Housing
We are in a housing crisis that is pushing our low- and middle-income residents out of the City and we desperately need more housing. It’s going to take fundamental change to makes things right and ensure everyone can afford to live in San Francisco. To create more housing, we need to streamline the bureaucracy and make it easier to build in areas that are accessible to transit — that’s why I support SB 50.
This year, we broke ground on 767 affordable housing units on 5 sites, and completed 680 brand new multi-family homes on 8 sites around the City.
Affordable Housing Bond — thanks to voter approval of the $600 million affordable housing bond, we can get to work on creating more affordable homes, continue rebuilding our public housing, and keep current tenants housed. This, paired with Proposition E, which will rezone some parcels to allow for 100% affordable housing and educator housing, will help us to continue to build affordable housing.
Identified $1 Billion for Housing — including the Affordable Housing Bond, I identified $1 billion in funding for housing in San Francisco.
Charter Amendment — in April, I introduced a Charter Amendment to build affordable and teacher housing projects more quickly. Although the Board of Supervisors rejected my proposal, I remain committed to finding ways to cut through the red tape and build the housing that our city desperately needs.
Hired a Director of Housing Delivery — His first year in office included efforts to reduce delays on already approved large-scale projects totaling 40,000 new homes.
Cleared backlog of ADUs — Accessory Dwelling Units (or in-law units) are a great way to build more housing — especially new rent-controlled housing. Last year, I issued an Executive Directive to the backlog of ADU permits, and in 2019 we cleared the backlog and have permitted over 1,000 ADUs.
Fee elimination for ADUs and 100% affordable housing — as part of my strategy to remove barriers to new housing, we created a pilot program to waive certain building inspection fees for ADUs and 100% affordable housing.
HOPE SF — we’re committed to the transformation of our existing public housing and continuing the promise of HOPE SF. Every San Franciscan deserves to live in quality housing, and we’re committed to making that a reality through HOPE SF developments. In the past year we opened HOPE SF housing at Hunters View, Sunnydale, and Potrero.
- Opening of Hunters View — 177 units
- Opening of Potrero, 1101 Connecticut Ave. — 71 units
- Residents began moving into Sunnydale Parcel Q — 55 units
- Sunnydale Block 6 groundbreaking — 167 units
RAD program — we completed rehabilitation on all 28 projects we set out to as part of the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program. The RAD program enables us to improve the conditions of our City’s public housing, and ensure that our most vulnerable residents can remain in their neighborhood with a place to call home. To date, more than 3,200 apartments have been converted and renovated program, including 436 units in Bayview-Hunters Point.
Acquired and preserved 97 residential units as part of the Small Sites Program in 2019 — The Small Sites Program helps prevent displacement and potential evictions by enabling nonprofit organizations to acquire multifamily rental buildings and preserve them as permanently affordable housing. Including,
- 3544 Taraval St. — 6 apartments
- El Rio and apartments in the Mission — 8 homes and a Mission District cultural landmark
Rental Subsidies — we created and funded new and existing rental subsidies, for seniors, people with disabilities, transgender people, and people living with HIV/AIDS.
- $1 million in new funding for people living with HIV/AIDS
- $2.5 million for trans rental subsidies
- $7 million for new senior housing subsidies
Housing Authority — we’re in the process of restructuring the Housing Authority, and as the City works to assume their essential functions, we’re making sure that the thousands of households who depend on subsidies are well served and keep their housing.
Homelessness
Our housing crisis goes hand-in-hand with the challenges of homelessness. We must continue adding more shelters and housing throughout San Francisco and connecting people to the services that can help get them off the streets and on the path out of homelessness.
Budget Investments — new investments in rapid rehousing subsidies, permanent supportive housing, homelessness prevention, and an expansion of Navigation Center and shelter beds. The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing’s budget includes funding specifically for Transitional Age Youth experiencing homelessness, including problem solving, family reunification interventions, and a recently announced TAY navigation center.
865 beds opened or identified towards 1,000 new shelter bed goal
Including the Bayshore Navigation Center, which was announced in 2018, and the 14 Hummingbird Beds.
Navigation Centers
- Embarcadero Navigation Center opened — 200 beds
- 888 Post announced — 75 beds, specifically for Transitional Age Youth
- Civic Center Navigation Center expansion — 20 additional beds
- Division Circle Navigation Center expansion — 60 additional beds
- Bryant Street Navigation Center opened in January — 84 beds
- Bayview Navigation Center announced — 200 beds
Shelters
- Buena Vista Horace Mann — expanded the family shelter at Buena Vista Horace Mann to homeless families from all SFUSD schools — 60 beds
- Jelani House — began construction on a shelter for women who are pregnant or with children up to 5 years old — 24 beds
Vehicle Triage Center — Thanks to legislation by Supervisors Ahsha Safai and Vallie Brown, we created a place for people who are living in their vehicles to safely park overnight and access vital social services. That site is now open and serving people.
Step Up Housing
- Bristol Hotel — we opened 58 units for formerly homeless individuals in the Tenderloin, with support from Marc and Lynne Benioff.
Declared a Shelter Crisis — legislation passed in March 2019 allowed the City to take more immediate action to address the homelessness crisis.
ERAF Funding for Homelessness Services — signed legislation appropriating $273 million of the Educational Reserve Augmentation Fund windfall, which prioritizes homelessness and affordability programs. This funding will support the master lease of approximately 300 units of permanent supportive housing, which will open by June 2020.
Prop C Waiver — Salesforce and Postmates agreed to participate in our Prop C Waiver legislation, where companies voluntarily waive their right to a refund should November 2018’s Prop C be found invalid by the courts.
In 2018, we helped 2,146 people out of homelessness — that is 41 people every week leaving homelessness, and we’ve been continuing that effort in 2019.
Behavioral Health
There are too many people struggling with substance use disorder and mental health challenges in San Francisco. We all want solutions, and by working together, we can make a difference for those suffering in our City and on our streets.
Behavioral health beds
212 behavioral beds in the City budget at various levels of care, including:
- 14 Hummingbird Place beds at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.
- 72 beds where people can live while receiving outpatient substance use treatment.
- We also announced partnership with Tipping Point to open additional Hummingbird beds.
With the Department of Public Health, we created a real-time bed inventory where people can find out if/where there are available treatment beds.
Conservatorship — we’re moving ahead to implement a new type of conservatorship in San Francisco to provide care and treatment for people most in need, who currently suffer from severe mental health and substance use disorders.
Hired Director of Mental Health Reform — Dr. Anton Nigusse Bland identified the nearly 4,000 San Franciscans experiencing homelessness, mental illness and substance use disorder, and is recommending reforms to better serve them.
Mental Health SF — we passed Mental Health SF, a comprehensive plan to help people in crisis today while also reforming our City’s behavioral health system. Thanks to Supervisors Hillary Ronen and Matt Haney for working with us on the legislation.
Expanded the EMS-6, Street Medicine Team — added funding for teams that help people suffering from mental illness and substance use disorder on our streets.
Expansion of the Healthy Streets Operations Center — we received a grant from the California Department of Health Care Services to expand our efforts with HSOC and provide homeless services.
Public Health Bond in 2020 — we decided to move up a Public Health Bond to November 2020 so that we can fund more mental health facilities, like treatment beds, so people who are suffering have a place to go.
Stabilize Board and Care facilities — with Supervisors Fewer, Mandelman, and Brown, we enacted a plan to stabilize San Francisco’s Board and Care Facilities, which support people with behavioral health challenges.
Meth Task Force — along with Supervisor Mandelman, I convened a Meth Task Force and announced the City will create a Drug Sobering Center for people to get off the streets and into care. (Meth Task Force report)
Mental health care workers in schools — In partnership with the School District, we expanded a program to promote mental health for San Francisco youth. The budget includes funding for mental health care workers in select high schools, middle schools, and K8 schools.
Transportation
In 2019, we continued to improve our public transportation, make our streets safer, and ensure that we serve all San Franciscans. We still have a lot more work to do, but I’m confident that we can make Muni more reliable and achieve our Vision Zero goals.
New Director of Transportation — I swore Jeffrey Tumlin into office on December 16th as the next SFMTA Director.
Muni Reliability Working Group — we created a working group to review the performance of Muni and make recommendations on how to improve it. The working group submitted their draft findings and recommendations on 12/13. Main takeaways are that the biggest issues affecting Muni service and reliability are:
- Workforce shortages and
- Traffic congestion.
Proposition D — Congestion Mitigation Tax — Supervisor Aaron Peskin and I championed the Congestion Mitigation Tax, which will add a surcharge to rides made through Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) in San Francisco in order to fund street safety projects and investments in Muni service.
New LRVs — we started bringing new Muni light rail vehicles into service. In 2019, we completed the first phase of our LRV 4 program. These vehicles are more reliable and have fewer breakdowns than their predecessors.
Chase Center — we celebrated the opening of the Chase Center in Mission Bay, and a series of transportation announcements to make it easier for people going to events at Chase Center, as well as meetings and appointments in Mission Bay.
- Chase Center ticket serves as your Muni ticket.
- New UCSF/Chase Center (16th Street) Muni platform in Mission Bay to accommodate large event crowds.
- Ferry Landing to expand water transit and reduce congestion around Chase Center.
Micromobility — we are committed to sustainable modes of transportation. In 2019, we saw more San Franciscans choosing micromobility options such as bike share and powered scooters.
Safer Streets for pedestrians and bicyclists
- This year we added 9 miles of protected bike lanes, and have committed to adding a total of 20 miles of protected bike lanes in the next two years.
- Increased Traffic Enforcement — I directed the SFMTA to increase citations for blocking bike lanes by 10% and directed the Police Department to “Focus on the Five” traffic violations most likely to result in severe or fatal collisions.
- “Quick Build” policy — in 2019, we implemented the “quick build” policy, which requires SFMTA staff to move forward with quick, near-term safety enhancements on high injury corridors, including paint, safety posts, and temporary sidewalk extensions.
- SFMTA is working on several pedestrian safety improvements throughout the City, including extended walking time for pedestrians, new countdown signals, diagonal pedestrian crossings, and leading pedestrian intervals.
Valencia Street Pilot Safety Project — completed in January 2019 and has essentially eliminated illegal vehicle loading in the bike lane.
Better Market Street — SFMTA Board of Directors approved the City’s Better Market Street project, which will make Market St. safer and more convenient people who ride transit, walk, or bike.
Geary Rapid Transit — in March, we celebrated the start of construction for the Geary Rapid Project, which will make 38 Geary and 38R Geary Rapid service more reliable.
Octavia Open Street — we reopened a portion of Octavia Street as a public space and bike lane so that the neighborhood and community can enjoy it and walk around Patricia’s Green more safely.
Completed Inner Sunset Improvements — we completed upgrades to public transit and other critical infrastructure along Irving St. from Arguello to 19th Ave., and along 9th and 10th Avenues between Irving and Judah Streets.
Jefferson Streetscape Improvements — we broke ground on a project to enhance pedestrian safety and beautify the Fisherman’s Wharf corridor.
Muni remains the greenest transit fleet in North America — this year, we further reduced Muni greenhouse gas emissions, which is an important part of our climate goals.
Climate Change and Environment
When it comes to climate change, we do not have time to wait. This year, we built upon San Francisco’s strong history of climate and environmental activism and advanced policies and programs that will make our City more sustainable and resilient.
EV chargers in commercial lots — Supervisor Peskin and I created legislation requiring commercial parking facilities with over 100 spaces to install electric vehicle charging stations in at least 10 percent of the parking spaces. It’s the first requirement of its kind in the country.
Released 2040 EV Roadmap — in July, we released a roadmap to achieve 100% emission-free ground transportation by 2040.
Renewable energy in large commercial buildings — The Board of Supervisors passed my legislation to transition large commercial private buildings to 100% renewable electricity.
CleanPowerSF — in 2019, we achieved full citywide enrollment in CleanPowerSF
- We were honored with the C40 Cities Bloomberg Philanthropies Award for CleanPowerSF — one of 7 cities internationally recognized this year.
PG&E acquisition proposal — The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission found that acquiring PG&E assets is feasible and could be a significant step in meeting our aggressive climate goals, while also making sure our electricity supply is safe, transparent and affordable for our residents. We submitted an offer letter for purchase of PG&E’s electricity assets in San Francisco.
Air Quality Executive Directive — this year, I announced an update to the City’s strategy for responding to poor air quality, so that we’re prepared to respond quickly to air quality and other weather-related emergencies, like wildfire smoke and heat waves.
Progress on C40 Cities Goals — we made progress on our climate goals, including become carbon neutral by 2050; reduce waste to landfill by 50% by 2030; achieve a 15% reduction in generation by 2030; Zero Emission Buildings by 2030; and Inclusive Climate Action.
Progress on Toxic Reduction — starting January 1, 2020, the Single-Use Food Ware Plastics, Toxics, and Litter Reduction Ordinance — which I co-sponsored in 2018 — prohibits the sale or use of compostable, single-use food ware with fluorinated chemicals.
Building Decarbonization — in April, I called for the formation of a building decarbonization task force that would meet to answer the question of how we eliminate emissions from natural gas in new and existing buildings. That task force will meet in 2020 and produce a decarbonization roadmap.
Parks, Public Spaces, and Recreation
Every neighborhood in San Francisco should have high-quality parks, open space, and recreation opportunities. With the Recreation and Parks Department, we’re working to upgrade the City’s playgrounds, parks, and sports facilities. In addition, my Office of Economic and Workforce Development has been working with private and nonprofit partners to activate public spaces around the City, to create spaces where people can build community with their neighbors and feel safe.
India Basin Park Restoration Project — this year I supported the restoration of India Basin to create a unified waterfront park space in San Francisco’s southeaster neighborhood
Let’sPlaySF — we made progress on Rec and Park’s Let’sPlaySF initiative, which will renovate 13 playgrounds used by 20,000 kids. This year we broke ground on 5 playgrounds:
- Panhandle Playground
- Alice Chalmers Playground
- The John McLaren Park Playground
- Merced Heights Playground
- Sgt. John Macaulay Park
New public space activations
- Civic Center: we opened Middle Ground, an outdoor exhibit space; created the 2nd Annual Winter Park, expanded Heart of the City Farmers Market to Fridays, and launched Street Soccer in the space between the Main Library and the Asian Art Museum.
- Bayview Bistro — with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, we opened the Bayview Bistro Marketplace, an open-air market hosting local food vendors as part our efforts to support restaurants and businesses the Bayview.
Expanded the Park Stop Program — we added more restroom monitors at seven parks around the city.
Recreation programming at public housing and additional scholarships — with revenue from the Soda Tax, we created recreation programs for young people who live in public housing or in housing developments assisted by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development. We are also expanding Rec and Park’s scholarship program, which provides low-income families with discounted or free registration in recreation programs.
Expanded drink tap stations — we allocated funding in the budget to install new drinking water tap stations throughout the city, so that San Franciscans can more conveniently access free, high-quality tap water.
Golden Gate Park Tennis Center — broke ground on the renovation of the 125-year-old Golden Gate Park Tennis Center. The new space will also have a dedicated classroom and support spaces for the Tennis and Learning Center.
Small Businesses
Small Business Streamlining legislation — along with Supervisor Brown, I created legislation makes it easier for small businesses to open and operate in San Francisco. The Board of Supervisors approved the legislation in September.
Shop and Dine in the 49 — we launched our sixth year of the public awareness campaign to encourage residents to shop and dine within the 49 square miles of San Francisco during the holiday season, and all year long, including City Hall Pop-Up Shops.
Organized and attended 8 Merchant Walks in Noe Valley, Chinatown, Castro, Inner Sunset, Clement, Irving, Excelsior, Outer Mission, and Cole Valley to meet with local business owners and figure out how to make it easier to start and run a business in the City.
New and Renewed Community Benefit Districts — public and private partnership to support commercial districts in the city.
- Created 2 new CBDs: SoMa West and Downtown.
- Renewed 3 existing CBDs and Business Improvement Districts: Union Square, Civic Center, North of Market/Tenderloin.
Investments and programs for small businesses
- Community Cornerstones
- Small Business Fee Assistance
- Increases assistance for City’s Revolving Loan Fund
- Expands SF Shines program
New Markets Tax Credits — announced $35 million in tax credits to create jobs and invest in nonprofits and businesses.
Economic and Workforce Development
Workforce development is a key part of our efforts to make San Francisco a more equitable city and to ensure that all residents have access to employment opportunities — regardless of their background or where they live.
Job Fairs and Job Centers
- In August, we hosted a hiring fair for older adults and people with disabilities — the first hiring fair of its kind in San Francisco.
- We hosted a job fair and hiring event in Visitacion Valley this October.
- OMI Job Center — Supervisor Safaí and I opened a job center to provide workforce services in the Oceanview, Merced Heights, and Ingleside neighborhoods.
Expanded the City’s TechSF Apprenticeship Initiative, with 300 more positions for historically underrepresented San Franciscans.
CityBuild is a nationally recognized pre-apprenticeship training program that provides career pathways for underserved residents into the building and construction trades.
- In 2019, two CityBuild Academy class cycles took place. The two classes had a successful 95% job placement rate this year, sending 75 men and women to work in union jobs.
- In November, CityBuild held a special construction training to provide career pathways for Alice Griffith Apartment’s public housing residents.
We created CityDrive, a pilot program that trains people to get their class B permits/license so they can apply to become Muni transit operators and fill the driver shortage.
- Since the program’s creation in January, over 132 men and women who were trained went to work with their Class B permit.
Supporting Labor
This year, I supported increased wages for In-Home Supportive Service workers and stood by hotel workers as they organized, collectively bargained, and advocated for better wages and benefits. I signed the citywide project labor agreement, which creates a framework for labor contracting in public projects, and helps make sure that working people can continue living in San Francisco.
Historic Low Unemployment Rate — 2019 was San Francisco second straight year with unemployment rates under 3%.
In 2019, San Francisco was identified as the country’s second most productive city by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Grants for the Arts — City Administrator Naomi Kelly and I awarded $12.9 million to support 220 arts organizations, which enhance the City’s cultural vibrancy.
Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative — we awarded $2.2 million in grants to nonprofit organizations to help them acquire space and for lease stabilization, including:
Convened a group to reform our business taxes — requested the Controller and group develop a measure for the November 2020 ballot and focus on the City’s current gross receipts tax structure.
Clean Streets
In 2019, we invested in more public Pit Stop restrooms, Bigbelly trashcans, and additional street cleaning. We all need to do our part to keep our city streets and sidewalks clean.
Street cleaning — we’ve expanded our street cleaning program with additional hours and days of cleaning, including in the Tenderolin, SoMa, Mission, and Chinatown.
Love our City — we partnered with the City’s Community Benefit Districts and Business Improvement Districts and volunteers to expand the Love our City neighborhood-cleanup program, including a Holiday Eco Blitz.
Corridor Ambassadors — our budget funded Public Works’ Corridor Ambassadors program, which provides manual street sweeping in more than 100 neighborhood commercial corridors across San Francisco.
Pit Stops — we directed additional funding to open 7 new staffed Pit Stop public toilets and expand hours at additional locations and began a pilot program that keeps three Pit Stops open around the clock.
Bigbellys — in the City budget, we funded 80 new Bigbelly trash cans.
Freeway ramp cleanups — In just the first three months of 2019 alone, more than 57,000 pounds of trash were picked up from San Francisco’s freeway on and off ramps.
Battle for the Bay — we faced off against Oakland and San Jose in a competition during California Coastal Cleanup Day to clean our neighborhoods and combat illegal dumping.
Public Safety and Emergency Response
We know that the next major earthquake will hit at any time, and we need to be prepared to respond. This year, we completed construction on critical infrastructure in the City, and made important investments in our emergency response system. Along with being prepared for a major earthquake or other natural disaster, we want to make sure our city is safe on a daily basis. That means supporting law enforcement and working together to create good relationships between police and the community they serve.
Declining violent crime and property crime rates — we’ve made good progress reducing violent crime and property crime this year. Compared to last year, homicides are down 17% and overall violent crime is down 6%. Burglary is down 15% compared to last year, and overall property crime is down 5%. (Based on November 2019 stats)
Cameras in Chinatown and along Irving Street — in partnership with the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and Supervisor Peskin, we installed 18 high definition security cameras in Chinatown.
National Night Out — we participated in National Night Out, an event to bring law enforcement and the community together.
Funded additional police officers — our City budget includes a plan to accelerate the hiring of police officers to address property crime and maintain the city’s responsiveness to 911 calls.
Street Violence Intervention Program (SVIP) — the SVIP works to reduce street violence and homicides, focusing especially on young people and working to defuse potentially violent situations.
Gun Buyback event — The SFPD, United Playaz and I hosted a gun buy-back event for people to turn in their weapons, no questions asked, and get guns out of homes and off the streets.
Critical Infrastructure investments — We completed construction and broke ground on several projects funded by previous ESER Bonds, including:
- Fire Station 5 — following renovations, this Fire Station is seismically safe and is built to be operational for at least 72 hours immediately following an earthquake or other major disaster.
- Fire Station 16 — the news fire station was completed in January this year, and is not seismically safe.
- Traffic Company/Forensic Services Division — we broke ground on a new Police Department facility in the Bayview, which will house the SFPD’s Forensic Services Division and the City’s Traffic Company, or motorcycle police.
Tall Buildings Directive — in January, I issued an Executive Directive to strengthen high-rise buildings and create a comprehensive recovery plan in preparation for the next major earthquake.
Education and Early Care
We are committed to supporting educators and students — from pre-school through college — because every San Franciscan deserves a high-quality education, regardless of where they live or go to school.
Educator stipends — funded a $10 million stipend pilot program to support and retain educators who work at the City’s high-potential schools.
CARES 2.0 Educator stipend — we announced more than $30 million over the next three years for 2,500 early childhood educators in the city, to help increase retention and attract high-quality educators.
Child Care Facilities — we opened a new child care center in SoMa, and have over 30 more facilities in the pipeline.
Child and Family Friendly Cities Initiative — On World Children’s Day, President Yee and I announced that we’re committed to making San Francisco a place that makes policy and planning decisions with children and youth in mind.
Bridge to Excellence Scholars Program — I created a program that provides scholarships to graduating high school seniors from low-income communities to help them overcome the financial barriers they face to attend college.
Free City College — I reached an agreement with the Board of Supervisors to fully fund Free City College for 10 years.
Life Learning Academy Dormitory — we celebrated the opening of a new dormitory on Treasure Island to provide housing for students at the Life Learning Academy who would otherwise be homeless or unstably housed.
Opportunities for All
In 2019, we had our first summer of Opportunities for All — my initiative to address economic inequality by ensuring all young people can be a part of San Francisco’s thriving economy. We are committed to making sure every young person in our City has access to opportunities — the opportunity to work, the opportunity to learn and pursue their passions, and above all, the opportunity to succeed and achieve their dreams.
This year, we had 4,000 internship placements— with 36% Asian American (East Asian); 19% Black or African American; 18% Hispanic or Latino; 10% Asian American (South Asian).
The majority of youth that participated in OFA were from outer neighborhoods, including the Outer Mission, Bayview, and Visitacion Valley.
There were still hundreds of young people willing to work but unable to get an internship. We need more companies and organizations to commit to hosting interns during the school year and the summer, and work with our neighbors to expand these opportunities to the greater Bay Area.
Equity
San Francisco is a City for everyone and our government needs to work for all of our residents. The City government has made decisions in the past, whether intentional or not, that have unnecessarily made life harder for some of our residents. We’re working closely with Treasurer José Cisneros and the San Francisco Financial Justice Project to fix these policies while striving to avoid similar mistakes today. To read more about our equity work, visit: https://medium.com/@LondonBreed/equity-a8a2b56f67d.
Criminal Justice Reform
- Our efforts in 2018 to eliminate fines and fees in the criminal justice system are being used as a model by other cities around the country.
- Juvenile Justice Reform Blue Ribbon Panel — created to focus on comprehensive and system-wide reforms to San Francisco’s juvenile justice system.
- Free Calls from Jail — Sheriff Hennessy and I announced that San Francisco will become the first county in the nation to make all phone call from jail free and end all county markups on jail store items.
- Funded new system to replace pre-arraignment cash bail — everyone should be treated equally under the law, not based on their ability to afford bail, so we worked to fund a new system that upholds public safety while protecting a persons’ constitutional rights.
Driver’s licenses –Treasurer José Cisneros and I cleared up to 88,000 outstanding holds placed on people’s driver’s licenses as a result of missing their traffic court date.
Library Fine Free — the San Francisco Library has eliminated fines for overdue returns in an effort to make the Library more equitable.
Museums for All — provided free admission throughout the summer to more than 15 museums and cultural institutions for residents who receive public benefits (Medi-Cal, CalFresh, etc.).
CalFresh Expansion — thanks to a change in state law, 41,000 seniors and people with disabilities who receive Supplemental Security Income are newly eligible for the CalFresh food assistance program.
County Adult Assistance Programs increase of $9.8 million— I announced that for the next two years, the City will provide $9.8 million in additional income assistance for residents who receive monthly cash assistance from the County Adult Assistance Programs.
Open to All — in March, I took the Open to All pledge on behalf of San Francisco, and encouraged business and residents to oppose discrimination, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identify and expression, religion, or disability.
Office of Racial Equity — signed legislation authored by Supervisors Fewer and Brown creating the first Office of Racial Equity in San Francisco.
Representation in Government
Representation matters. It’s important that our city government is as diverse as the city that we represent. This year I appointed:
- 84 women, or 51%;
- 81 people of color, or 49%; and
- 14 LGBTQ people. In total, there are 43 Mayor-appointed City Commissioners currently serving on Commissions who identify as LGBTQ.
LGBTQ Programs and Accomplishments
San Francisco is a beacon of hope for LGBTQ people around the world, and 2019 was full of exciting new investments and programs to support our diverse LGBTQ residents. We welcome diversity, and we’re proud to be a City where everyone belongs, no matter who you are, where you come from, who you love.
Added $3 million in budget investments for the LGBTQ community including:
- Fellowship Program for LGBTQ immigrants — providing internships, training, pathways to education and employment.
- Increased support for LGBTQ homeless youth — connecting youth to inclusive housing services and employment.
- Continued support to backfill federal HIV funding cuts and the City’s Getting to Zero initiative.
- Investing in arts and culture — supported the transgender film festival and the Compton’s Transgender Cultural District
Launching Our Trans Home SF — supporting our transgender and gender nonconforming communities in keeping and finding inclusive housing through rental subsidies program, transitional housing, and service navigation.
Progress on Getting to Zero in new HIV infections and increasing prevention services for communities of color to eliminate disparities — DPH’s Annual HIV Epidemiology Report found that new HIV infections in 2018 dropped below 200 for the first time.
Expanding community spaces and celebrations — we celebrated the groundbreaking of Eagle Plaza, which will serve as a focal point for the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District. Supported legislation for the Castro Cultural District and the renaming of SFO Terminal 1 to Harvey Milk Terminal, and attended dozen of community celebrations, including SF Pride, Trans Month of Awareness, and the Trans March.
Advancing LGBTQ inclusion — Released an Executive Directive requiring all departments to expand trans inclusion training to all staff working with the public and update all city forms to included an expansion of gender and self-identifier options on all City forms.
Constituent Services
My Office of Neighborhood Services is here to help make sure City government is working well for the people who live here. We want to make sure that our work in City Hall is connected to what’s happening in our neighborhoods and around the city, and that you know we’re here to serve you.
My Office of Neighborhood Services hosted 107 Office Hours in neighborhoods throughout the city this year.
We held a series of Town Halls to discuss issues of importance directly with residents of San Francisco
We hosted several community events:
- Gave away over 5,000 backpacks and school supplies to students throughout San Francisco.
- Gave away over 5,200 turkeys to families at public housing sites and non-profit organizations.
- Hosted Christmas Tree giveaways in multiple neighborhoods.
This year, we held a Holiday Toy and Book festival, where we distributed books and toys to over 1,200 children, and also opened up City Hall for a family-friendly Holiday Fair.
We served and prepared holiday meals at Salvation Army, St. Anthony’s, GLIDE, and Self-Help for the Elderly.
Immigration
We continue to defend our values as a Sanctuary City and stand with our immigrant communities. For information about immigration legal help in San Francisco, go to www.immigrants.sfgov.org or call the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs at 415–581–2360.
Know your Rights — when President Trump threatened ICE raids in San Francisco, we hosted a press conference to inform people of their rights when interacting with immigration officials, and we offer year-round assistance to people who need legal representation or help applying for citizenship.
Continued funding for immigrant legal defense network — the Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative and the San Francisco Immigrant Legal and Education Network are funded with grants from my Office of Housing and Community Development.
In 2019, we hosted 12 citizenship workshops as part of the San Francisco Pathways to Citizenship Initiative. These workshops help people determine if they are eligible for naturalization, and provide assistance with their applications.
When the Trump administration released a proposal to change the “Public Charge” rule, I denounced it as an attack on our immigrant communities, designed to make our most vulnerable residents forego critical services, food and medical care, and committed to defending immigrants’ access to benefits.
Women’s Rights
At a time when women’s rights are under constant attack and women continue to be underrepresented in government and in the private sector, we all need to work together to create a supportive community, and stand up against policies that put people’s rights and health at risk.
Withdrew from Title X Grant Program — in protest of the Federal Administration’s changes to the rules that govern Title X funding, we decided to withdraw the Health Departments’ San Francisco Health Network from the Title X Family Planning grant program.
We implemented Supervisor Brown’s ordinance to ban City business with states that have restrictive abortion laws.
Hosted the 2019 Women’s Summit — the be INVINCIBLE Women’s Summit brought together women from all walks of live for a day of inspiration and empowerment. It is more important than ever to have a space where women and our allies can come together in solidarity and learn from one another.
A Big “Thank you” to City Staff
None of this work would be possible without the dedication of thousands of City employees. They’re the people who are out cleaning the streets, keeping our neighborhoods safe, reviewing housing applications and permits, providing social services, and countless other responsibilities.
Our City government is only as good as our City employees— and we are lucky to have a team of dedicated, intelligent, hard-working people. This year, I met with many employees from various departments to thank them for their work and answer their questions — but wasn’t able to meet with all of them this year. For any City employee who is reading this (and made it this far), I want say “thank you,” and share my sincere appreciation for all you do for San Francisco. I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish together in 2020.
