Publication: San Francisco Magazine
San Francisco magazine is proud to be a participant in the fourth annual SF Homeless Project headed by the San Francisco Chronicle. We asked Assemblyman Phil Ting about his efforts to address this epidemic and his thoughts on the causes and possible solutions.
As Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, what have you been able to do and/or work on to alleviate this growing problem?
Addressing our homeless crisis has been one of my top budget priorities these last few years. Our FY 2019-20 Budget makes a historic $1 billion investment to tackle homelessness, including $650 million in emergency aid for cities and counties to build shelters and permanent supportive housing, fund rapid rehousing programs and more. Allocation of funding will be based on the pending 2019 federal point-in-time homeless count, with San Francisco estimated to receive nearly $40 million. This builds upon our work from last year’s budget, which provided $500 million to local governments for homeless supportive services. San Francisco’s $27.6 million allocation has gone towards both adult and youth navigation centers and rapid rehousing projects, including the city’s newest proposed navigation center at 1925 Evans. Other major programs funded in recent budgets include rental housing payment assistance through CalWORKS and student rapid rehousing through California Community Colleges, CSU, and UC to prevent homelessness in the first place.