Tenderloin organizations are facing budget cuts — including Hospitality House, shown here outside their Sixth Street Self-Help Center, which is slated to lose funding. The cuts would weaken the city’s social safety net, says Executive Director Joe Wilson, right. Photo courtesy Hospitality House.
As the Tenderloin braces for lawmakers to cut millions of dollars from the budgets of the neighborhood’s vital service providers, we at the TL Voice think it’s important that you hear from those providers directly. So we’ve worked with them to bring their own words to you. Find them below.
As the head of Hospitality House says, the cuts would leave “potentially irreparable” holes in San Francisco’s social safety net, “and untold numbers of people would fall through.” Refugees, our unhoused residents, trans and nonbinary people, and members of other vulnerable groups would feel the pain.
A note for the heads of other organizations staring down budget cuts: If you do your work in the Tenderloin, we’d be happy to try to add your testimonial here. Contact me: noah@tlvoice.org.
Hospitality House $250,000 in cuts
This will weaken our Sixth Street Self-Help Center and organization overall.
Written by Executive Director Joe Wilson
Mayor Lurie’s proposed city budget makes drastic cuts to community services in high-need neighborhoods. That includes more than $250,000 in cuts to Hospitality House, with much of that impact landing on our Sixth Street Self-Help Center, where services run the gamut from case management to direct placements in permanent housing.
We believe our organization can survive that — for now. But it would leave us vulnerable to a potentially devastating fiscal crisis, as longer-term financial supports may soon be at risk; we’ve been told that our decades-long partnership with San Francisco’s Department of Public Health — dating back to 1986 — could end! This partnership has made practical investments in treatment access, long-term housing supports, therapeutic counseling, and other health needs. We expected that these funds would be committed for the next seven years, but they could actually be eliminated this year.
It is impossible to avoid the ugly truth: Community-based services for more than 12,000 neighborhood residents are potentially at risk if funding for our Tenderloin and Sixth Street multi-resource drop-in centers is eliminated. And Hospitality House is not alone.
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Many organizations based in and around the Tenderloin, where services are most needed, are even more threatened than we are this budget season — especially with the “cut first, stop the bleeding later” austerity-driven approach. Historically, these nonprofits have together provided community-based care as an extension of the public infrastructure, expanding the reach and efficacy of the social safety net. This year’s budget cuts would tear holes in that net — potentially irreparable — and untold numbers of people would fall through.
What does that look like? So far, it’s severe cuts to drop-in and employment services, and programs for seniors. It’s cuts to youth clinics that would have real consequences for young people’s health. Cuts to permanent supportive housing would mean fewer options to escape homelessness. Cuts to workforce-development programs would stifle economic recovery for low-income communities — even more injurious when paired with increased work requirements for government-provided food and medical assistance.
Transgender District $525,000 in cuts
It will mean less economic mobility and leadership training for trans and nonbinary people.
Written by Co-Executive Directors Breonna McCree and Carlo Gómez Arteaga
As we see a surge in trans and nonbinary people seeking safety and refuge in San Francisco, we at the Transgender District are already being asked to do more with less. Budget cuts have forced us to pause meaningful programs for the next generation of trans and nonbinary entrepreneurs and business owners. San Francisco cannot claim to be a sanctuary city for our community while defunding the organizations that support them. We demand that city leadership protect funding for our organizations so we can continue doing what we do best — serve the marginalized communities that keep this city’s soul alive.
The Mayor’s Budget Office previously proposed cutting our funding from $330,000 to $230,000, for events, banners, and visual installations in the Tenderloin. In response to our advocacy, as well as to projected increases in city tax revenue, the office eased the proposed cut, dropping that funding to $300,000.
Meanwhile, we face other cuts that fully defund three programs, which together form our economic mobility and civic leadership pipeline for trans San Franciscans: the Entrepreneurship Accelerator Program ($325,000), Community Advisory Council ($45,000), and Social Justice Fellowship ($125,000).
The Transgender District is an organization that represents six blocks in the southeast Tenderloin and south of Market Street, and that provides services to trans and nonbinary people.
Southeast Asian Development Center $625,000 in cuts
It will be harder for refugees and other Southeast Asians to get work, housing, and social services.
Written by Executive Director Judy Young
We are facing a total of approximately $625,000 in cuts, which would threaten critical programs that support adults with limited English proficiency, as well as immigrants, refugees, low-income workers, seniors, and families in San Francisco.
This would entail a loss of $350,041 from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, for services to Southeast Asians; and of $275,000 from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, for specialized adult workforce services. Our offerings that are at risk include case management, workforce support, benefits navigation, housing and basic needs referrals, language access, and culturally responsive support.
For many community members, the Southeast Asian Development Center is one of the few trusted places where they can receive help in their language from staff who understand their culture and lived experience. Without restored or replacement funding, these cuts will result in program elimination, service disruption, and staff layoffs.
The impact will be felt directly by community members who already face significant barriers accessing mainstream systems.
OK, hi, Noah here again. While I have you, I want to underline some things about this article, and about the Tenderloin Voice.
We’ve been writing so much about City Hall’s budget wranglings, and the effects on this community, because people here told us they wanted us to. We helped mobilize residents for a major rally, by distributing flyers in five languages, because they said that would help — and it sure seemed to, when nearly 200 people showed up! And we worked with the people published here to help them clarify their messages to you.
Locals and readers often tell us that this unorthodox approach to journalism is refreshing, and a benefit to this community. But this is also a relatively poor neighborhood, and residents don’t have much capacity to financially support us.
If you’re someone who does, then please consider contributing whatever you can. Even a monthly donation of $3 tells us that you’re in this with us. And we’d love that.
I'm a journalist who has reported for years on San Francisco topics like homelessness, housing, and governance. I co-founded News Relay Network, publisher of the Tenderloin Voice, where I write and edit. Reach me at noah@tlvoice.org.
The message at the rally was clear. “Mayor Lurie: ‘Let’s go, San Francisco,’ but please don’t leave us behind!” said one speaker, from an organization facing cuts.
