An Equity-Driven Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness in San Francisco
The city is ending homelessness for people every day. We know what works and what needs to be done. Success is within reach, but it will require that multiple city departments align their efforts; hold themselves accountable to outcomes; and work in partnership with people experiencing homelessness, non-profit providers, advocates, community groups, volunteers, the business community, and elected officials.
Letter From Mayor London Breed and HSH Executive Director Shireen McSpadden

What Makes This Plan Different?
Equity-Driven | • Developed with active community engagement/stakeholder input processes and with the partnership of people with lived expertise of homelessness. • Recruited and compensated Community Liaisons with lived expertise to design and implement engagement activities; surveys and focus groups with people currently and formerly experiencing homelessness. |
Reflects Broad-Based Input | • Input sessions with service providers, community leaders & stakeholders representing neighborhood groups, merchant associations, the business community, and the general public. • planning discussions with the HSH Strategic Framework Advisory Committee, the Local Homeless Coordinating Board, the Our City, Our Home Oversight Committee, and other entities. |
Citywide in Scope | • Developed with input from multiple City departments; reviewed and considered other existing relevant plans and reports. |
Quantitative System Modeling | • Used the best available data to project how changing the mix and scale of a packaged investment of shelter, housing, and prevention services will impact homelessness. |
Core Values
Vision
The City and County of San Francisco is committed to achieving racial equity and housing justice in our community, ensuring that no one experiences homelessness and that everyone has the housing, supports, community, and opportunities they need to thrive. Achieving this vision for our community is essential, most especially for people who continue to be impacted by structural racism and inequities and for people whose health and lives are threatened by being unsheltered.
Equity and Justice
Advancing racial equity and housing justice for all San Franciscans will be the leading focus within our community’s efforts to prevent and end homelessness.
Quality
Continuously strengthening and improving the homelessness response system and centering people’s experience of it will be valued, so that people receive the help they need when they need it to prevent or end their experience of homelessness.
Innovation
Creativity and innovation will be encouraged and supported within the growth of the homelessness response system, and new models and practices will be assessed to determine their impact and to identify opportunities for replication and expansion.
Strategic Plan Goals

Plan Proposals to Achieve the Goals
To achieve these goals, the City will expand our inventory while focus on five strategic action areas:

Expanding the Homelessness Response System
The comprehensive system modeling analyses and projections indicate that to achieve the Plan’s Goals, the City must expand the homelessness response system through packaged investments into the below additional interventions between July 2023 and June 2028.

Our data modeling has demonstrated that through the program expansions listed above, we will be able to achieve a 50% reduction in unsheltered homelessness.
Cost Projections
System modeling has also made it possible to project the costs of expanding the homelessness response system with these additional resources and services. The City estimates that the projected expansion of the homelessness response system will require:
- More than $607 million in additional funding during the five-year timeframe of this plan and;
- More than $217 million in additional funding annually thereafter, increasing with inflation over time to sustain the new investments.
Strengthening Operations and Outcomes –
Five Strategic Action Areas
For each of these Action Areas, the Plan identifies:
- The goals whose achievement will be most impacted by efforts within the Action Area
- Relevant guidance and recommendations provided by people with lived experiences of homelessness.
- Objectives that express the intended improvements, changes, and impacts that City departments and offices will be pursuing through their collaborative efforts within the Action Area.
- Prioritized Strategies and Activities, representing specific actions and efforts that are already underway or are being planned for the early stages of the implementation of this Plan.
- Future Areas of Focus, representing actions and efforts that are expected to receive greater emphasis from City departments and offices in future stages of the implementation of this Plan and which may be further refined or adjusted over the course of the implementation of this Plan.
Accountability Mechanisms
The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) will lead the development of annual implementation plans and will use these primary accountability mechanisms to ensure that the City as a whole is accountable to making meaningful progress toward achieving this Plan’s Goals and Objectives and to inform refinements to Strategies and Activities in the future.
Next Steps
- Community and stakeholder education regarding the Home by the Bay and its Goals and strategies
- Development of initial annual implementation plan
- Development of detailed performance measurement plan
- Determining baseline data on racial inequities and other disparities
- Performing regular reporting, centering the experiences of people who are most impacted by homelessness
- Refining the Plan over the course of its implementation
Acknowledgements:
The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) especially offers our deep thanks and appreciation to:
- The hundreds of people experiencing homelessness who contributed their expertise and recommendations through participation in surveys, focus groups, interviews, and meetings to help inform and shape this plan.
- Community-based service providers and partners who provide many of the services and housing programs within the homelessness response system, with deep gratitude to the foundational “frontline” staff of these organizations who provided their expertise.
- Community Liaisons, people with recent experiences of homelessness in San Francisco, who designed and implemented the focus groups and surveys with people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco and staff working within the homelessness response system.
- The HSH staff across every division of the department who participated in our internal Strategic Planning Working Group and/or contributed ideas and information for this plan, as well as the HSH Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for providing their time and expertise.
- Everyone, including City partners and charitable organizations, who participated in town hall and community partner input discussions and meetings.
- The broader public, including San Francisco residents and business owners, who contributed their input.
- National and local experts and researchers in homelessness and housing justice.
Further, HSH wishes to thank the following organizations and individuals for their active partnership and support for the development of the Home by the Bay plan:
Organizations:
Committees and Boards:
- San Francisco Local Homeless Coordinating Board (LHCB)
- LHCB Coordinated Entry Redesign Workgroup
- Our City, Our Home Oversight Committee
- BIPOC Providers Leadership Workgroup
- Homeless Emergency Service Providers Association
- San Francisco Supportive Housing Network
The City gives special thanks to the organizations represented on HSH’s Strategic Framework Advisory Committee who have helped guide the implementation of the original Strategic Framework and deeply informed the development of this Plan:
- 3rd Street Youth Center & Clinic
- Bayview Hunters Point Foundation
- Catholic Charities
- Compass Family Services
- Delivering Innovation in Supportive Housing
- Dolores Street Community Services
- Episcopal Community Services
- Homeless Prenatal Program
- HomeRise
- Hospitality House
- Larkin Street Youth Services
- St. James’ Infirmary
- Swords to Plowshares
- Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation
Consultants and Community Liaisons:
- Focus Strategies
- Talent Poole Consulting, and especially Community Liaisons Aminah Elster, Deyna Loveless, Couper Orona, and Kezia “Zia” Martinis
- Matthew Doherty Consulting