Homelessness Recovery Plan

Mayor London N. Breed's Homelessness Recovery Plan invested in more housing and shelter.

Sections

Mayor London Breed’s Homelessness Recovery Plan guided San Francisco's work from July 1, 2020, through the end of 2022. The Plan supported San Francisco’s work to:

  • Decrease homelessness by bringing more shelter and housing resources online. 

  • Help San Franciscans experiencing homelessness recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Homelessness Recovery Plan Overview

The Mayor’s Plan set several goals to expand the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing’s (HSH) housing and shelter resources. The Plan initially ran from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2022. When we created this plan, many people thought the pandemic would be over by summer 2022. The continued impacts of COVID-19 delayed new program openings throughout the year, so we continued to track on these goals through the end of December 2022.

Targeted Plan Goals:

The Plan included four goals with targets for system expansion and placements. We exceeded all four goals.

  • Housing Expansion: Purchase or lease 1,500 new housing units

The City more than doubled this goal, with 3,081 units active or under contract as of December 31, 2022.

  • Shelter Expansion: Reach 2,100 adult and youth beds in the shelter system.

By the end of 2022, we reached 114% of this goal with 2,402 youth and adult shelter beds.

  • Placements: Provide 6,000 housing and shelter placements, including 3,000 placements to Permanent Supportive Housing.  

We made 7,047 placements, including 3,505 placements to PSH. We exceeded both placement goals by 117%.

 In 2023, HSH will publish a new citywide strategic plan that will build on the Homelessness Recovery Plan. The strategic plan will have new goals  to measure and report on progress. 

Other Plan Goals

As part of the Plan, we also worked to increase resources by:

  • Expanding Rapid Rehousing, Problem Solving, and Prevention

  • Maintaining Safe Sleep, trailer, and Vehicle Triage Center programs

This page includes information about the resources added through these programs during the Plan’s initial two-year period. Visit the HSH website for more information about these programs. 

Progress Towards Targeted Plan Goals

Get information about the City's progress through December 2022.

Housing Expansion: Purchase or lease 1,500 new Permanent Supportive Housing units. 

Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) provides long-term affordable housing with services to people exiting homelessness. Housing is the solution to homelessness. 

By the end of 2022, the City had expanded the PSH portfolio by 3,081 units. We achieved 205% of this goal.

This progress marks the largest expansion of PSH in the last 20 years. The dashboard shows new housing inventory identified between July 2020 and December 2022. It includes units that are active or under contract.

Data notes and sources

Data notes and sources

This dashboard includes units that are currently available for client placement under an interim model until master leases with non-profit providers are finalized. HSH anticipates that clients staying in these units will be able to sign leases and become PSH tenants in 2023.

As of June 30, 2022, the original end date of the Plan, the City had added 2,918 units of new PSH.

  • “Active” units are units that are already open and ready for placement.

  • “Under Contract” units are still in the contracting stage. 

We also expanded other kinds of housing during the Homelessness Recovery Plan. The dashboard below shows new housing that opened during the two full fiscal years of the Plan between July 2020 and June 2022. It includes all types of housing (including PSH) for adults, families, and youth.

Data notes and sources

Data notes and sources
  • “New site-based PSH units” includes units that are currently available for client placement under an interim model until master leases with non-profit providers are finalized. HSH anticipates that clients staying in these units will be able to sign leases and become PSH tenants in 2023. 
  • In FY2021-22, HSH activated 125 slots of Short-Term Housing Assistance. Although these slots were activated in FY2020-21, clients were matched to longer-term housing interventions to better meet their needs and as such these slots are not tracked in this table. 

Shelter Expansion: Operate 2,100 beds in the adult and youth shelter system by June 2022. 

The City's shelter system helps people experiencing homelessness by providing a temporary place to stay while seeking housing and accessing resources. Shelters offer temporary stays; housing is for long-term placements.  

After the COVID-19 pandemic started, the City reduced shelter capacity by nearly half at congregate shelter sites, which have shared living spaces. We also had to stop accepting new guests for a period and move some vulnerable guests to other shelters. These steps were life-saving public health decisions. However, this approach also meant fewer people could access shelter. 

As we shifted from response to recovery, the City worked to expand the adult and youth shelter system to 2,100 beds. However, we want to do more than reopen the shelter system as it was before COVID-19. Drawing on lessons from the Shelter-in-Place hotel program, we are opening new shelter models that offer private spaces for individuals and small groups instead of shared living spaces. Shelter expansion since July 2020 has included: 

  • New non-congregate shelter. 

  • New Navigation Centers. 

  • Reinflation of existing congregate shelter sites with COVID-19 safety precautions. 

At the end of 2022, the City had reached 114% of this goal with 2,402 beds in the adult and youth shelter system.

Data notes and sources

Data notes and sources

As of June 30, 2022, the original end date of the Plan, the City had reached 1,613 beds in the adult and youth shelter system.

In the same time frame, the City also opened shelter programs outside the traditional shelter system that are not tracked in this dashboard. These resources include: 

Placements: Provide 6,000 housing and shelter placements, including 3,000 placements to Permanent Supportive Housing.  

At the end of 2022, the City had made 7,047 placements to housing and shelter – 117% of the Plan’s goal.

The dashboard below counts:  

  • Adult and youth shelter beds added between July 2020 and December 2022.

  • Placements to all housing programs between July 2020 and December 2022.

Data notes and sources

Data notes and sources

This dashboard includes client placements to units under an interim model until master leases with non-profit providers are finalized. HSH anticipates that clients staying in these units will be able to sign leases and become PSH tenants in 2023.

As of June 30, 2022, the original end date of the Plan, the City had made 4,679 placements to housing and shelter.

As part of those 6,000 placements, the City had a goal to place 3,000 people into Permanent Supportive Housing during the Plan period.  

As of December 31, 2022, the City had made 3,505 placements into Permanent Supportive Housing, reaching 117% of our goal. 

This dashboard shows the number of placements of adults, youth, and families to PSH between July 2020 and December 2022, broken out by new and existing units.

Data notes and sources

Data notes and sources

This dashboard includes client placement to units under an interim model until master leases with non-profit providers are finalized. HSH anticipates that clients staying in these units will be able to sign leases and become PSH tenants in 2023.

As of June 30, 2022, the original end date of the Plan, the City had made 2,400 placements to PSH.

  • “New PSH” is placements to a PSH unit that the City purchased or leased in June 2020 or later. Some new PSH sites that we purchased or leased in 2021-2022 will start placements in 2023.

  • “Existing PSH” is placements to a PSH unit that is already part of the inventory that someone moved into because it was vacated.  

Progress Towards Other Plan Goals

Learn about the City's progress as of June 30, 2022.

Expand Rapid Rehousing, Problem Solving, and Prevention resources 

Rapid Rehousing, Problem Solving, and Prevention provide temporary support. These programs help people exit homelessness or avoid it all together. The programs are for people who likely do not need permanent housing subsidies.  

The City expanded these resources to help approximately 1,500 additional households exit or avoid homelessness, meeting the Plan’s goal.

The dashboard below shows the number of new resources opened between July 2020 and June 2022.

Over the two-year period, all three of these resources significantly expanded. More resources may have been in the planning phases or recently funded, but were not yet active. Visit the HSH website for more information about: 

  • Rapid Rehousing: medium-term rental assistance with services. 

  • Problem Solving: flexible interventions like move-in support and relocation assistance. 

  • Prevention: assistance for at-risk households, including financial help.

Maintaining Safe Sleep, trailer, and Vehicle Triage Center programs

The City opened several new shelter models before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

  • Safe Sleep: People sleep in tents at a safe distance from each other at sites that are off the public sidewalk and offer services.  

  • Trailers: Another form of non-congregate shelter. 

  • Vehicle Triage Centers: Safe places for unhoused people living in their vehicles to stay and receive services.

We maintained these shelter models through the duration of the Homelessness Recovery Plan, meeting this goal.

Capacity of these sites as of June 30, 2022, is shown in the dashboard below. 

Learn more about HSH’s work to maintain and expand the Homelessness Response System on the HSH website.