London BreedVerified account

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.