Nonprofit organizations across San Francisco are expected to gather on the steps of City Hall Wednesday to rally against what they describe as “unconscionable” budget cuts proposed by Mayor Daniel Lurie in his recently unveiled financial plan for the city.
“My overall reaction is extreme disappointment,” said Adrian Tirtanadi, founder and executive director of Open Door Legal, a legal aid nonprofit and one of the organizers for Wednesday’s rally.
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WATCH HERE“The budget will make homelessness worse, not better.”
The budget will make homelessness worse, not better.
Adrian Tirtanadi, founder and executive director of Open Door Legal
Open Door Legal receives about a third of its funding, $2.2 million, from San Francisco’s Civil Legal Services program, a $4.2 million effort to offer free legal representation for a wide range of issues, including family law, discrimination, and poor living conditions. Providing free legal assistance – to help people secure money they are owed or keep housing that is rightfully theirs – has been proven to prevent families from becoming homeless, according to research Open Door Legal collaborated on, as well as other studies from across the country. The mayor, however, is proposing to eliminate the program in his newly unveiled $16 billion budget.
“The city's own data shows that for every one person they help exit homelessness, three to four people enter it,” Tirtanadi said. “That means we'll never get a handle on the problem unless we go upstream and prevent people, as many people as possible, from entering homelessness.”
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SIGN UP Nonprofit prepares to cut 900 clients amid budget cuts
Open Door Legal assists roughly 3,000 clients and their families each year, but Tirtanadi said the potential budget cuts would mean his nonprofit would likely have to slash its client load by about 900. Tirtanadi plans to begin a hunger strike on Wednesday until the funding is restored. While nine other nonprofits across the city also stand to lose funding, Open Door Legal estimates the impact on its work alone would result in roughly 300 more people becoming homeless in San Francisco each year – that’s in addition to the more than 8,000 people already unhoused in the city.
The mayor’s budget proposal utilizes $90 million in previously unused funds to provide homeless services, such as expanded shelter capacity. Tirtanadi, however, argues providing free legal representation is a more cost-effective way of attacking the San Francisco’s homelessness crisis.
“If you prevent people from becoming homeless, they don't develop that trauma and then they don’t need all of the supportive services that people who are homeless need,” he said.
Since taking office, Lurie has warned deep budget cuts were coming in light of San Francisco’s still struggling economy. Post pandemic, tourism is down and the amount of empty office space is still up.
I want to be very clear, this is a painful budget.
Mayor Daniel Lurie
“I want be very clear, this is a painful budget,” Lurie told reporters late last month when unveiling his financial plan. “I am hopeful and I am optimistic about our economic future here in San Francisco because we are prioritizing clean and safe streets.”
While the city’s police and fire departments are each slated to receive a more than $20 million boost in their budgets, the Public Works department will lose more than $26 million, though the mayor’s office says funding for street cleaning will remain intact.
Across city government, about 100 workers are expected to lose their jobs. More than 1,300 vacant positions will be cut, too, if San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors approve the mayor’s proposed budget.
Where does your supervisor stand on the issue?
The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit reached out to all 11 members of the board to find out where each elected official stands on the issue.
Seven supervisors – Stephen Sherrill (District 2), Danny Sauter (District 3), Joel Engardio (District 4), Bilal Mahmood (District 5), Jackie Fielder (District 9), Shamann Walton (District 10), and Chyanne Chen (District 11) – said they support restoring funding for Civil Legal Services.
“You have to spend a little money sometimes to save a lot of money,” Engardio said. “Cutting this, you'll end up ballooning the deficit more, so this is not an area to cut because it's proven to be very effective.”
Board President Rafael Mandelman said he is still researching the issue. The remaining three supervisors -- Connie Chan (District 1), Matt Dorsey (District 6), and Myrna Melgar (District 7) -- did not respond.
Budget hearings at City Hall will continue through the end of the month as departments make their pitch for funding. The Board of Supervisors has until August 1 to approve the city’s latest financial package.
“This is a very tough budget year,” Engardio said. “Tough decisions have to be made.”
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