Save Care Not Cash! Attend and Speak Up at Public Hearing July 14th - 1:30 p.m. Room 263 - City Hall

Click here to visit and "Like" the Keep Care Not Cash Facebook page

BOMA San Francisco Members:

KEEP CARE NOT CASH: Don’t turn back the clock on how we help the homeless.

In 2002, in answer to the growing homeless crisis, San Franciscans passed Care Not Cash, a city proposition that radically changed the way our city addressed chronic homelessness, reducing the cash outlay to individuals and substituting that with services including permanent housing, temporary shelters, food and medical treatment as needed. While San Francisco still has a significant homeless problem, Care Not Cash was a major step forward and has helped thousands of people get off the streets.

Unfortunately, just two weeks ago, a small group of San Francisco Supervisors placed a measure on the November ballot that would effectively repeal Care Not Cash by no longer counting temporary housing costs in the monthly cash stipends, thus again making San Francisco the most generous city in the state for public assistance, and reinstating our city as a magnet for homeless people seeking cash, rather than care, for their situations.

A Call to Action!


BOMA San Francisco, and other civic organizations, are joining hands to speak out against this ballot measure at a meeting of the Rules Committee on Thursday, July 14th, beginning at 1:30 p.m. in Room 263 at City Hall. BOMA members are encouraged to attend and speak out in support of the current Care Not Cash program, and to oppose this ballot measure from moving forward.

Most importantly, the Supervisors can still take it back off the ballot! We need to tell them they should!

Since 2004, Care Not Cash has been a true success story:

• Placed 3,540 homeless clients into permanent housing 
• Reduced the number of individuals on General Assistance 85%, from 2,334 to 360 
• Stopped using cash grants from the City to subsidize unhealthy, self-destructive and antisocial lifestyles amongst homeless individuals 
• No new tax dollars were diverted to fund services 

What this regressive ballot measure does:

• Restarts San Francisco’s old system of giving cash grants (up to $422 a month) to any individual claiming homelessness. (Keep in mind, you only have to be in San Francisco two weeks to be considered a "resident".)
• Makes San Francisco a magnet for homeless individuals from all over the country
• Incentivizes individuals to remain homeless instead of accessing services to get out of the cycle of poverty
• Will require new taxes to fund existing homeless services as cash outlay costs will skyrocket

What YOU can do to help:

1. Join us for a Special Meeting of the Rules Committee for the Board of Supervisors on Thursday, July 14 at 1:30 PM. This is your chance, as a citizen, to go on the record against this ballot measure.

2. Join your friends and neighbors on Facebook and “Like” the Keep Care Not Cash page.

3. Send an email to the members of the Rules Committee: sean.elsbend@sfgov.org; mark.farrell@sfgov.org; Jane.Kim@sfgov.org. (Jane was one of the sponsors of the repeal, along with Eric Mar, David Campos, and John Avalos.).

San Francisco has come so far in the fight against homelessness – let’s not go back on real progress. Your voice is needed!