London BreedVerified account

Ten years after the Great Recession, we are riding the longest period of economic growth in our history, with one of the lowest unemployment rates in our history. The homicide rate has dropped to the lowest it’s been in more than 55 years.

We've led on marriage equality, affordable health care, and medical cannabis. We've transformed public housing, modernized Muni's fleet, launched our clean energy program, passed paid family leave, free City College, a $15 minimum wage, and two massive affordable housing bonds.

We welcomed the Warriors home. We watched the Giants win it all. Then do it again. And then once more. Our Congresswoman gave up her gavel and won it back—and we became the capitol of the Resistance.

We’ve made great progress, but through it all, we grappled with the twin troubles of homelessness and housing affordability. At the dawn of this new decade, they remain our greatest challenges. And they are what I want to talk about today.

San Francisco is so much more than our home. It is the refuge of gay, lesbian, and transgender brothers and sisters from all over the country. It is the start of a new life for immigrants from Guatemala to Guangzhou, and all points in between.

So when we walk down Market Street, and see the suffering of thousands of people right outside our door, it hurts. It hurts—not because we are callous, but because we care. The suffering on our streets—it offends our civic soul. And it should.

Homelessness is severe up and down the West Coast. Housing is too expensive, working class jobs are too uncertain, their wages too outpaced by the cost of living. Drugs–opioids and meth in particular–are too common. CA still hasn't grappled with how to help the mentally ill.

We're fighting these issues. We're opening 1,000 new shelter beds and we opened a safe parking facility for people living in vehicles. We have more permanent supportive housing per capita than any major city in the country, with 300 more coming in the next six months.

We're expanding conservatorship, adding 200 new mental health beds, expanding treatment and outreach, & transforming how we deliver mental health services. We're working to open sobering centers and safe injection sites to treat addiction like the healthcare issue that it is.

We will continue to expand our services, shelter, and housing so that there is a place for everyone in need. And when we have a place for people to go, we cannot allow them to languish on the sidewalk. If they can't or won't accept services, we will bring them into treatment.

Every day nurses, social workers, street cleaning crews, police officers, and medics are out helping people in our neighborhoods. But if they can't afford to live here, we will never address the challenges we face.

We talk about a "housing crisis." But crises are unpredictable and happen suddenly. Our housing problems are entirely predictable. We under-built for decades and downzoned three-quarters of the City to ban apartments. We don’t have a housing crisis. We have a housing shortage.

We need to BUILD at least 50,000 new homes, at least 17,000 of which should be affordable. To get there we can’t let disingenuous warnings of shadows and height stop us. We need solutions like #SB50 that will allow more multi-family housing all over the Bay Area.

So here’s what I want our next decade to look like. I want a city where we no longer walk by a person shooting up, or suffering on our streets, and wonder, “what should I do?” When you see someone in need, you should be able to make a call and know that they'll be helped.

"Compassion” can no longer mean “anything goes.” I want this to be the decade when residents and visitors to our city can enjoy every neighborhood, every day, without fear of crime or unacceptable street behavior.

We have a beautiful city, an incredible city. I want it to be lively. I want it to be diverse. I want it to be safe. And I want this to be the decade when every San Franciscan can live with confidence that he, she, or they and their children, will be able to call this city home.