On Monday at 4 p.m., a group of mothers experiencing homelessness and nonprofits supporting them gathered at the steps of San Francisco City Hall with several dozen supporters to demand the city invest $66 million to end child homelessness.
The rally, held the day after Mother’s Day, framed the demand as a call for dignity — not flowers. Members of Faith in Action Bay Area, a multi-faith nonprofit that organizes around housing and immigrant justice, organized the event with the Coalition on Homelessness.
The $66 million proposal would fund rental subsidies, hotel vouchers, and long-term housing support — enough to house roughly 2,000 families and, according to organizers, effectively end child homelessness for at least two years. Of that, $45 million would come from the city’s $6 billion general fund — less than 1 percent of its total budget.
“Why is it so easy to give $90 million to the police, but not to families?” said Miguel Carrera, of the Coalition on Homelessness, in reference to Mayor Daniel Lurie’s $90 million law enforcement funding plan, including a recent request for $61 million in SFPD overtime.
While no speaker gave an exact estimate of homeless families at the rally, the city’s latest Point-in-Time Count recorded 509 homeless families in 2024, including 912 children. Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who called the proposal “necessary and possible,” has raised concerns that the city’s reported drop in its family shelter waitlist — from 529 to 255 families — reflects a narrowing of eligibility, not a real reduction in need.
At the heart of Monday’s rally was the city’s 90-day shelter stay policy, which was reinstated in this year after being suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic. The policy limits how long families can remain in city shelters before facing eviction.
The rule has drawn criticism for forcing families back onto the streets without stable housing in place. Mission Local has reported that the policy disproportionately affects immigrant families with few legal or economic options, since they have fewer housing options available to them.
“This 90-day policy is not a help,” said Giuliana Garcia, a mother currently staying at Oasis Shelter with her child, “it’s an experiment being tested on us. After that, there’s nothing. Just the streets,” she said.
Garcia is not calling for indefinite shelter stays, she said. The $66 million proposal would provide real, affordable housing options in giving families vouchers to use. .
Maria Zavala, a mother of three, including two children with special needs, said during her speech that this Mother’s Day was marked by uncertainty. Sheurged city officials to understand the reality immigrant families face, including inaccessible rent and restrictive housing lotteries.
“Who is accessible housing really for?” she asked.
The city spent $846 million on homelessness last year. I don’t think a <10% increase in that budget is going to fully house every child in the city. I think we deserve advocacy groups that are honest about what changes are needed and more skepticism in general of simplistic solutions.