{"id":48009,"date":"2026-05-02T13:23:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T20:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48009"},"modified":"2026-05-02T13:23:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T20:23:05","slug":"tax-on-big-business-for-housing-has-been-a-huge-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/tax-on-big-business-for-housing-has-been-a-huge-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Tax on big business for housing has been a huge success"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

But why is the city still not expanding proven programs to end homelessness?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Tim Redmond<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 30, 2026 (48hills.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three things emerged from a supes hearing this week on homelessness and supportive housing, called by Sup. Chyanne Chen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First: Proposition C, the 2018 increase in taxes on the biggest businesses in town, promoted by progressives including former Sup. Dean Preston and opposed by the Chronicle and much of the conservative political establishment<\/a>, has been a phenomenal success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, it\u2019s been such a success that Mayor Daniel Lurie is using a $68 million surplus, Prop. C money that exceeds budget expectations, to replace General Fund support for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProp. C has been wildly successful,\u201d Jennifer Friedenbach, director of the Coalition on Homelessness, told the Budget and Appropriations Committee. She said the money that came from taxing the rich has created 5,620 units of affordable housing, and has moved 8,420 people who were living on the streets into stable housing, including 2,800 children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lurie is now opposing another tax on the rich, Prop. D, which would bring in enough money to solve much of the budget crisis. If it passes, I look forward to hearing next year that it\u2019s wild success has made the mayor\u2019s job a lot easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friedenbach gave a short, but critical history of why homelessness has become such an issue in the US:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Second: Housing First,<\/strong> a policy that Sup. Matt Dorsey is trying to undermine<\/a>, is widely recognized as a critical approach to ending homelessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHousing First is the most effective approach to ending homelessness,\u201d Colleen Rivecca, director of policy planning at the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Center, noted. \u201cIt is an evidence-based practice that is supported at the federal, state, and local level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sponsored link<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Under Housing First programs, tenants can\u2019t be evicted for failing to meet treatment goals\u2014that is, they can\u2019t be thrown back on the streets if they are still struggling with substance use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third: The city isn\u2019t putting enough money<\/strong> into funding permanent supportive housing, despite all the money coming in from Prop. C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PSH isn\u2019t just about putting people in rooms; it requires a trained, dedicated staff to work with every resident to address the trauma, physical and mental health issues, and substance disorders that are the result of this nation refusing to fund affordable housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That costs more every year, in part, Rivecca said, because the population PSH is serving is getting older, and the trauma is getting more serious. Plus: The cost of living keeps exploding in San Francisco, thanks to the latest tech boom (which the mayor happily embraces). When more rich people move into a city, the price of housing (and almost everything else) goes up, and the nonprofit workers who don\u2019t have AI salaries need better pay to afford even marginal housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a fact that generations of mayors who supported tech booms have failed to acknowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The failure to fund services in PSH creates a doom loop: Tenants and neighbors complain that the facilities aren\u2019t well run, Dorsey demands no drugs, and public faith in the programs drops. This is a classic right-wing strategy: Refuse to fund public services, then complain that the programs are failing, and cut their funding entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prop. C will bring in $63 million more than<\/strong> expected this calendar year, and some $90 million more during this budget cycle. And yet, the budget for HSH is going down by more than $50 million. Sophia Kittler, the mayor\u2019s budget director, told the supes that money that once came from the General Fund to support programs to end homelessness is now being replaced by unexpected money from Prop. C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sup. Shamann Walton was a bit incredulous. If the city has all this extra money, he said, why are they any cuts to HSH?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kittler said there are no service cuts, since the Prop. C money backfills the cuts from the General Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut you could be doing so much more,\u201d Walton said, to applause from a room full of affordable housing advocates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sup. Connie Chan was also disturbed. \u201cIf we know there is a forecasted revenue increase, why are we cutting services?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kittler said that the mayor\u2019s approach this budget cycle will be to reduce funding for new PSH. \u201cThe emphasis has been on capacity building,\u201d Kittler said. Now, Lurie wants to move toward stabilizing existing programs, to \u201cnot double down on capacity but improve the infrastructure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walton kept making the point that the city can do both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the mayor wants to reduce the amount of new housing, while homelessness continues to increase. As Friedenbach noted, every time the city finds housing for one homeless person, three more become homeless\u2014largely because rents keep going up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Largely because Lurie keeps promoting this city as the AI capital of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody ever asked the residents to vote on whether that\u2019s the city we want to live in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit\u00a0here<\/a>. We also invite you to join the conversation on our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Redmond<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But why is the city still not expanding proven programs to end homelessness? By Tim Redmond April 30, 2026 (48hills.org) Three things emerged from a supes hearing this week on homelessness and supportive housing, called by Sup. Chyanne Chen: First: Proposition C, the 2018 increase in taxes on the biggest… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48009"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48010,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48009\/revisions\/48010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}