Report: SF Homelessness Department Wants $20 Million to Extend Encampment Program

San Francisco’s homelessness department is reportedly asking for $20 million in funds to extend the encampment program that already pays for tents costing $60,000 a year.

“This week, officials from San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing went before the the Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Appropriations Committee and requested $20 million over the next two years to keep six ‘Safe Sleeping Village’ tent encampments running,” according to the Daily Mail.

The encampments provide tents for homeless people, three meals a day, security, bathrooms, and showers, the article continued:

The city created the sites in May 2020 during the height of the pandemic as a way to keep the city’s homeless population off of crowded sidewalks and shelters, and into socially distanced camping sites in fresh air. The program currently costs $18.2 million and funds 260 tents in six sites, totaling to just over $60,000 per tent per year, which is twice the median cost of an apartment in the city.

The department is reportedly asking the city for $15 million in the coming fiscal year for a similar amount of tents, which would come out to around $57,000 per tent per year, according to the outlet.

“The additional $5 million will be for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, when officials plan to significantly ramp down the program,” the article said.

In March, Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the city’s Coalition on Homelessness, explained the tents were a good option amid the coronavirus pandemic to help prevent the spread of the disease and offer more privacy than a cot at a shelter.

“But we do not think that a tent is a permanent solution to homelessness,” Friedenbach noted.

Breitbart News reported June 3 Democrat San Francisco Mayor London Breed wanted to spend $1 billion to stem the city’s homeless epidemic.

“The mayor’s plan is part of the city’s $13.1 billion budget for the next fiscal year, in addition to the $300 million the city already spends annually on homelessness,” the outlet said.