Breed’s budget math adds up
San Francisco Mayor London Breed signed her first two-year budget on Wednesday, and it’s the largest in the city’s history: $11.1 billion. That’s an enormous amount of money. What’s more, San Francisco voters have made it clear that they expect Breed to make substantial progress on some of the most important issues that came up during the recent mayoral election: homelessness, street cleanliness, public safety, housing, and San Francisco’s ever-rising cost of living.
Her budget plan is certainly focused on these issues.
The budget dedicates about $13 million to street cleanliness. The money will be used for new public “Pit Stop” bathrooms, frequently used by homeless people, and to extend hours at existing ones. More needle cleanup is also included.
Forty-four new street cleaners will be hired, and they’ll be split across the supervisorial districts.
We understand the smart politics of sending street cleaners to every corner of the city, though we’d caution Breed to keep a careful eye on the results. (Some supervisorial districts are far filthier than others.)
As for homelessness, the city is spending tens of millions of dollars on service programs, including rapid rehousing programs, the creation of 430 new supportive housing units, and new access points to connect homeless residents to support and helpful programs.
Two days after she signed the budget, Breed also announced the opening of a new Navigation Center on a Caltrans-owned parking lot near Highway 101.
Breed was elected with the help of housing advocates, and this budget has a special delivery for them: more than $800 million for the construction and preservation of about 3,000 affordable units.
The enormity of that number suggests the enormity of the housing problem in San Francisco. It’s also a sobering reminder of how much federal disinvestment in affordable housing can cost cities and their residents.
Responding to residents’ concerns about property crime, the budget also contains money for hundreds of new police officers over the next two years — and investments in police reform recommendations made by the U.S. Department of Justice.
All in all, this budget is a document that suggests Breed is listening to the voters.
Her challenge is this: Many of the problems the budget seeks to address have plagued the city for decades. Their very persistence suggests that even $11.1 billion won’t be enough to solve them. What San Francisco will need instead is creative leadership and patient problem-solving.