• Public Bank - San Francisco is leading the way to establish the first municipal bank in the nation. We secured hundreds of thousands with Budget Chair Matt Haney and Supervisor Connie Chan to help make Public Bank a reality. This is a critical investment in the future of our city and we will carry it to the finish line. 


• Rent relief - We fought for and won an additional $32 million for local rent relief efforts, ensuring that approximately 3,500 households who would otherwise be shut out will receive the relief needed to prevent eviction . Thank you Anti-Displacement Coalition, Housing Rights Committee of SF, CCDC, EDC, Jobs with Justice, Affordable Housing Alliance and many of our housing advocate partners. 


• Right to Counsel - This year for the first time the budget fully funds a right to an attorney if you face eviction. It’s a groundbreaking program that we put on the ballot and passed in 2018 with DSA and SF Tenants Union. This major funding expansion will stop many post-pandemic evictions. 


• Housing Organizers - We secured funding for two experienced, full-time public/affordable housing organizers to conduct outreach, education, and assist residents on their housing needs in HUD or publicly-subsidized housing. These positions will help ensure these residents -- disproportionately African American tenants -- get the help they need. 


• A Reimagined Family Shelter - After years of a basement family shelter with mats on the floor and no showers before, we moved residents at the emergency family shelter into individual hotel rooms during the pandemic. Now we’re proud to announce that the hotel will become a permanent family shelter, providing families the stability, privacy, and resources to navigate out of homelessness.


• Homeless Youth in the Haight - From drop in center dollars to housing subsidies, we’ve added hundreds of thousands of budget dollars to address homelessness in the Haight. The prior approach of defunding the homeless service infrastructure doesn’t work for anyone, and we’re proud to work with advocates to chart a new course. 


• Major investments in the Future of the Fillmore - Funding for commercial corridors, Buchanan Mall, seed funds for Black entrepreneurs, youth programming, food security, live music, and more.


• Addressing Neighborhood Needs in Japantown - We won support for the Annual Cherry Blossom Festival, support for Japantown nonprofits, funding for neighborhood-based arts programs as well as increased lighting in the Japantown Peace Plaza. 


• 10 Community Ambassadors for District 5 - Traditional models of public safety are failing our communities. We are so excited to launch a proven, cost-effective, alternative to policing expansion in our district.


• Compassionate Alternative Response Team (CART) - We are ecstatic to watch the power of CART ramp up and compassionately help unhoused folks on our streets. (Although we’d have preferred to see amazing programs like CART funded through police dollars since they will offload the work officers do.) Thanks to the advocates who fought so hard to insist on funding for CART in the budget! 


• Law Enforcement Budget - We pushed hard for the board to make major cuts to law enforcement this year and really reimagine policing. There’s no way to sugarcoat it: this budget does not do justice to the demands of advocates and the national movement to change policing. We wanted deeper cuts and a stronger commitment to alternatives. 


• We were also proud to partner with other Supervisors to support funding for domestic violence victims, education, childcare, food security, public restrooms, and so much more. 

This week, Governor Newsom signed into law AB832, which extends the statewide eviction moratorium on nonpayment of rent from June 30 to September 30. That’s the top-line takeaway, and it’s good news, but the legislation is a mixed bag. We are frustrated by the process--it wasn’t released until the last minute, so there was no opportunity for public input or changes--and, crucially, it appears to override local protections against eviction, like the ones we recently passed at the Board of Supervisors.

Here are other key takeaways on the state bill:

• Nonpayment evictions may not be filed before October 1, 2021 for a​n eligible tenant impacted by COVID-19 who returns the relevant declarations in response to an eviction notice.
• Tenants have until September 30​, 2021 to pay 25% of the rent owed from October 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021. Tenants are protected from eviction for nonpayment​ of rent during that time period. 
• Both tenants and landlords can apply for 100% relief of rental arrears accrued starting April 1, 2020. Payments are retroactive, so any landlord or tenant who has already received funds can still get to 100%. Some eligibility restrictions apply. 
   

The updated eviction protections give us more time to make sure tenants in need can get access to rent relief funds. If you can’t pay rent because of income loss or increased expenses due to the pandemic, there are emergency laws in place to protect you from eviction. Read more about your rights here, or call a tenant rights group for more information.

San Francisco tenants may be eligible for two different programs: one run by the state and one run by the city. 

• If you need help paying rents due between April 2020 and March 2021, apply to the State’s emergency rental assistance program at www.housingiskey.com.
• If you need help with rents from April 2021 and forward, the City’s program can provide up to three months back rent plus three months forward rent at a time to eligible tenants who meet the city’s priority guidelines. See more information below or visit www.sf.gov/renthelp.

With thousands of San Francisco small businesses struggling with COVID rent debt, I introduced legislation last month that proposes a simple fix: cancel it.

For back rent accrued during the time period that a small business was completely shut down because of a public health order, and where their lease does not provide otherwise, the ordinance clarifies that the debt is no longer due. 

We hear everyday from businesses facing crushing rent debt that piled up while they were forced to shut down. We shouldn’t leave small businesses that complied with public health orders out to dry. If we’re going to meaningfully recover, we need small business rent debt forgiveness.

The legislation was unanimously recommended by the Small Business Commission on June 17, and it is tentatively scheduled for a July 19 hearing at the Land Use and Transportation Committee.

Last week I joined TNDC and SF Transit Riders at the Bring back the 31-Balboa rally on Eddy and Jones.

At the rally I announced that we will hold a hearing at the Board of Supervisors in July on MTA’s apparent abandonment of MUNI routes and the timeline for service restoration of Muni buses, trains and cable cars.

Residents, organizers and community leaders have submitted petitions signed by over 800 people demanding the return of the 31 -- a line that goes through the heart of the Fillmore and Tenderloin neighborhoods.

People have been waiting for a year and a half and there has been very little transparency regarding when, if ever, these Muni lines will return. The economy is fully reopening, and yet the return of our transportation system is nowhere close to where it needs to be. We need some answers and some commitments from MTA.
 

On June 15th, the Board passed a Resolution authorizing the Recreation and Parks Department to enter into an agreement with the Trust for Public Land to accept and expend an in-kind and cash grant funding in the amount up to $7,100,000 for the Buchanan Mall Renewal Project.

The Buchanan Mall is a critical part of our District 5 ecosystems. Just last year in partnership with Green Streets and Citizen Film we successfully advocated for the Buchanan Mall to be included in the Health and Recovery Bond that passed in November 2020. The Bond passed and included $2 million in dedicated funding to the Buchanan Mall, which is being coupled with other Rec and Park funds, including our recently approved NTIP funds ($676,000) for pedestrian safety improvements at the intersections that are expected to break ground in early 2022.

We continue to be excited by all of our momentum around the Buchanan Mall, and look forward to fully resourcing the green spaces, recreational areas, additional lighting, and traffic safety improvements that are long overdue for this community.
 

Please do not hesitate to reach out to our office with any ideas, questions or concerns, at prestonstaff@sfgov.org.