Mayor Asks for Cuts to Community Development, More Money for Drunk Tank

by Contributing Author

by Lukas Illa

San Francisco community based-organizations enter another city budget cycle with great uncertainty of whether their core programs will exist in four months time. With Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Austerity First budget (my words, not his), San Francisco is once again electing to siphon funding for working-class communities of color to pad law enforcement agencies’ already bloated budgets.

The People’s Budget Coalition has tracked a combination of $62 million expected cuts to the Department of Public Health (DPH),

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Streamlining the City Government Could Hand More Power to the Mayor at the People’s Expense

by Contributing Author

by Lupe Velez

Proposed changes to decision-making and advisory bodies might tilt the balance of power in favor of the Mayor’s Office. Creative Commons image by Blaine A. White.

In the latest development regarding the future of the city’s commissions and committees, Mayor Daniel Lurie and Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman proposed three ballot propositions that boost executive power this month. If these measures pass,

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Pro-Business Groups Tried to Remake SF Government in 1995. Now, They’re at it Again.

by Contributing Author

by Lukas Illa

In December 2025, Mayor Daniel Lurie and Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman called for the creation of a Charter Reform Working Group. As referenced in its name, the working group has been tasked to review the City’s 548-page charter and make recommendations to bring to the ballot in November 2026.

While labor and community organizations have sent delegates to the working group,

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“No Outlet to Have Their Voices Heard”: SF City Hall’s Homeless Panels Could be in Peril

by TJ Johnston

Mothers deliver testimony inside the mayor’s office inside San Francisco City Hall on February 11, 2025. Photo by Leon Kunstenaar.

The average San Franciscan that goes to or contacts City Hall can access 152 boards and commissions and give input on how the City operates. Some of these bodies make decisions for City departments, like the Police Commission or the Rent Board. Others perform as advisory committees, such as the Youth Commission.

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San Francisco PIT Count Changes Will (Still) Likely Lead to Undercount

by Contributing Author

by Lupe Velez

Every two years, the City of San Francisco conducts a Point-in-Time Count (PIT) with which it attempts to capture the number of people experiencing street homelessness, as required by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a condition for funding. San Francisco’s latest PIT Count was conducted in the early morning Thursday, January 29.   Historically, advocates and government officials alike have criticized the PIT count for underreporting its figures.

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Supervisors Approve Mayor’s Zoning Plan

by Contributing Author

by Christin Evans

As tenant activists decry development plan, one supe looks to drafting ballot measure as an alternative

In a heated session of the Board of Supervisors’ December 2 meeting, Mayor Daniel Lurie’s controversial “family zoning plan” to upzone the western and northern sides of San Francisco passed on a 7–4 vote. The board’s more left-leaning supervisors—Connie Chan, Chyanne Chen, Shamann Walton and Jackie Fielder—voted to oppose the plan. 

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Lessons I’ve Learned in My 10 Years of PSH Advocacy

by Contributing Author

by Jordan Wasilewski

As of mid-October this year, I have been stably housed in San Francisco for 10 years. For the first time in my adult life, I became a tenant with my name on the lease and am living alone, instead of subletting with others. 

That was also my 10th anniversary in permanent supportive housing, my 10th anniversary in a single-resident occupancy hotel, and also my 10th anniversary of permanent supportive housing and SRO activism.

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“No Tows Without Homes”: Activists Demand More Time for RV Permit Registration and Housing as SF Enforces New Ban

by TJ Johnston

Still, the new law caught many who live in large vehicles off guard 

At the same time that advocates for San Francisco’s vehicle-dwelling residents charged the City to protect RV and large vehicle residents from displacement by a parking enforcement program, City workers were removing trailers about five miles away.

On November 5, at a plaza on 16th and Harrison streets in the Mission District, members of the End Poverty Tows Coalition,

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Why Supervisor’s Scheme for Sober Supportive Housing Sucks

by Contributing Author

by Jordan Wasilewski

I am a millenial, and one of the defining moments of my generation was 9/11. There are many takes on this issue, but one thing I gleaned from the aftermath is that, despite the supposed “unity” that crises bring, there are people out there who will weaponize collective pain to push policies that are wrongheaded and cruel. I find the same holds true for San Francisco’s overdose crisis.

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A Commission to Get Rid of Commissions: How the Mayor’s Office Plans to Consolidate More Power and Erode Participatory Democracy

by Contributing Author

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.

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