SF mayor unveils new ‘vision' for tackling homelessness, addiction

Yahoo

17-03-2025

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — On Monday, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie unveiled what his office is calling a 'new vision' to tackle the city's homelessness and drug problem. The plan, which the mayor's office has dubbed 'Breaking the Cycle,' features a series of actions broken down by timeframe.
The executive directive, which Lurie signed on Monday, is intended to outline a roadmap with immediate actions and longer-term reforms aimed at tackling SF's 'enduring homelessness and behavioral health crisis.'
In the first 100 days of the plan, city departments will be responsible for actions that include launching a new street teams model, deploying emergency housing vouchers, reassessing policies for distribution of fentanyl smoking in public spaces, and merging the Journey Home and Homeward Bound programs, among other things.
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In the first six months of the program, the mayor is instructing city departments to expand short-term response capacity by 1,500, expand treatment capacity, improve case management, and encourage regional partners to build capacity to meet responsibility for their residents.
Within a year, the plan aims to maximize Medi-Cal, CalAIM and Prop 1 benefits, improve technology and data systems and evaluate the city's current organizational structure for health, homelessness, and human services, and housing programs.
'These reforms will better support the city's most vulnerable residents while keeping public spaces safe and clean and ensuring responsible management of taxpayer resources,' Lurie's office said.
The new roadmap, Lurie's office said, builds on work his administration has already been doing since the mayor announced the 'Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinance' on his first day in office.
'I believe our city must be judged by how we care for our most vulnerable residents, and today, we are outlining immediate actions and long-term reforms to address the crisis on our streets,' Mayor Lurie said. 'This directive will break the cycle of homelessness, addiction, and government failure by transforming our homelessness and behavioral health response.'
The mayor promised to being in a 'new era of accountability' and deliver outcomes designed to 'get people off the street and into stability.'
Despite millions, and possibly billions, of dollars being spent over several decades, San Francisco is still faced with a persistent homelessness, drugs, and behavioral health crisis. According to the mayor's office, roughly two people die every day from overdose in the city.'
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