by Lupe Velez
On October 15, a new City-created delegation called the Commission Streamlining Task Force held its first meeting to make recommendations on several advisory and policy groups that are focused on children and youth, homelessness and human rights, among other bodies. The Task Force reflected that the homelessness crisis is one of the biggest issues that San Francisco faces, one that Mayor Daniel Lurie has centered during his time in office. However, this commission voted to eliminate all but one of the existing five homelessness public bodies.
These recommendations raise serious concerns about what this means for many essential and critical public bodies—especially those approved by City voters—that allow for participatory democracy.
The Commission Streamlining Task Force was created as part of Proposition E, a measure that voters passed on the November 2024 ballot. Prop. E was a response to Prop. D, an opposing measure that intended to cut down the number of city commissions and consolidate more power for the Mayor. Authored by then-Supervisor Aaron Peskin, Prop. E sought to preserve participatory governance in our City commissions. The stated mission of the task force is to “make recommendations about ways to modify, eliminate, or combine the City’s boards and commissions to improve the administration of City government.”
Ironically, the Commission has already recommended to slash half of the existing City commissions and to strip the Police Commission’s authority to hire and fire the police chief and hand this authority to the Mayor, whose already great influence on City bodies would expand as a result.
The Coalition on Homelessness believes that each homelessness body serves a significant role in public engagement, providing data-driven solutions to homelessness, and transparency, compliance and accountability within the shelter system for people experiencing homelessness.
One such panel is the Our City Our Home (OCOH) i committee, which offers deep expertise in San Francisco’s efforts to address homelessness. It was formed by the passage of Prop. C in November 2018 expressly to fund homelessness solutions, including housing, homelessness prevention, shelter and behavioral health treatment by taxing the gross receipts of large corporations.
Another is the Homeless Oversight Commission (HOC). It gained unanimous support from the Board of Supervisors and 67% of voters. The purpose of public bodies like HOC is to provide vital checks and balances in a city with one of the strongest mayoral systems in the country, second only to New York City.
Voters in November 2022 approved the creation of this commission, which is tasked with providing greater transparency and oversight over the City’s homelessness funding. Christin Evans, who served as the commission’s vice chair from 2023 to 2025, said that the panel has accomplished that part of its mission.
“Every annual budget and new contract over $250,000 has had a public and independent review,” Evans said. “The commission has focused on ensuring a return on investment and effectiveness of each program and initiative receiving funds.”
The Shelter Monitoring Committee was created in 2004 to track conditions in emergency shelters and later charged with enforcing standards of care that were established legislatively by then-Supervisor Tom Ammianno. The Shelter Grievance Advisory Committee complements this monitoring process by reviewing clients’ complaints of shelters or shelter staff.
The elimination and reconfiguration of public bodies would impact the funding and delivery of several government services, including public health and safety, education and homelessness. Of similar consequence, the proposed changes would erode participatory governance and muffle community voices from decision making, leaving marginalized people more vulnerable and underrepresented. As the task force’s recommendations move to the Board of Supervisors for approval, and eventually to the ballot next fall, the Coalition on Homelessness, People’s Budget Coalition and other advocacy groups are working to mobilize San Franciscans to ensure the preservation of community voices and participatory democracy.
