Mothers Day Action

(San Francisco, May 8) - As San Francisco city officials prepare to decide city spending, homeless families gathered outside City Hall to demand meaningful investments in housing. Joined by the Coalition on Homelessness, Homeless Prenatal Program, the Young Women's Freedom Center, Faith in Action and SRO Families United Collaborative, families called on elected officials to ensure every child has access to safe and stable housing.

Families spoke, celebrated motherhood, and called for the city to invest in what every child needs: a safe, stable home. Family Homelessness has doubled in the city and recent city policies have pushed more families into unsafe and unstable conditions. The Coalition on Homelessness and its allies want to ensure that families move out of shelter and into housing and not onto the streets. Homeless families are asking the city to invest the $66 million that is needed to end child homelessness in San Francisco. Homeless families demands are the following:

1. 125 new 5 year subsidies for Homeless families
2. 100 housing subsidies for families that are living in SRO’s or Doubled Up
3. 50 permanent housing subsidies for homeless families.

“We believe in investing in housing and in a safe home for every child,” said Sonia Batres, Domestic Violence Specialist at the Homeless Prenatal Program.

“This Mother’s Day, we are celebrating our strength—but we’re also demanding dignity," said Tania Cruz, a mother currently staying at Hamilton Families. “l’ve faced multiple eviction threats. I stay awake at night wondering where my son and I will go. No mother should have to live like this.”

Keeping San Franciscans Housed and Healthy

Presented by the Homeless Emergency Service Providers Association,
                                   San Francisco April 2025

Introduction:

The Homeless Emergency Service Providers Association (HESPA) is a coalition of more than 30 community-based organizations serving thousands of homeless and at-risk individuals and families in San Francisco. HESPA members include city-funded service providers, privately-funded non-profits and faith-based providers. HESPA members include leaders on the frontlines of San Francisco’s homelessness response, behavioral health, and workforce development systems.

HESPA’S FY 2025-2026 budget proposal calls on our city partners to prioritize community safety and wellbeing for all residents, and funding the Vital investments that shift focus from one-time interventions toward permanent pathways out of homelessness and into systems of stability for individuals and families.systems.

The economic forecast facing the City and County this budget cycle is dire. Furthermore, the looming threats from seismic funding shifts and dramatic policy reversals at the federal level pose significant social challenges for localities across the country. Yet, the cost of downsizing our homeless support, will result in greater costs to our emergency management, physical and behavioral health systems, community safety and addiction recovery efforts. Most importantly, the targeted, modest investments reelected here — reelecting HESPA members’ deep institutional knowledge, evidence-based practice, and decades of community-based service delivery — will keep tens of thousands of homeless individuals and households from continued suffering, and more costly interventions.

The guiding philosophy of HESPA’s 2025-2026 Budget Proposal is our commitment to investing in and sustaining prosperity, equity, and sustainability. This includes investing in racial and economic justice across the full spectrum of housing, behavioral health, workforce interventions, and prioritizing communities of color. In short, HESPA believes that marshalling the resources for longer-term investments - rather than short-term austerity measures - will shorten the economic crisis confronting San Francisco, and seize opportunities to ensure prosperity for communities seeking to rebuild and rebound from the COVID pandemic.

See all high resolution photos here.