San Francisco’s Health and Human Services programs are delivered at facilities throughout the city and reach many of San Francisco’s most vulnerable residents, including individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Providing innovative and compassionate health care, delivering safety net services, and creating and preserving housing for families and residents at every income level are top priorities for the City. Our major medical campuses, neighborhood clinics, shelters, children’s resource centers, supportive housing sites, Navigation Centers, and associated administrative space all play a part in providing these essential services.

San Francisco’s health and human services agencies provide high-quality, culturally sensitive services for residents in need of public care.

Public Health

The San Francisco Department of Public Health’s mission is to protect and promote the health of all San Franciscans, and the department’s hospitals, clinics, and administrative offices all contribute to the success of that mission. DPH’s organization falls into two divisions, the San Francisco Health Network, which provides direct health services to insured and uninsured residents, and the Population Health Division, which addresses public health concerns including consumer safety and health promotion. The department’s central administrative functions support the work of both divisions and promote integration.

With the completion of the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) in 2015, DPH is now focusing on the renovation of existing hospital campus buildings and community-based clinics, as well as the relocation of staff from the seismically vulnerable building at 101 Grove Street. The 2016 Public Health and Safety G.O. Bond funded the seismic strengthening of Building 5 at the ZSFG campus, as well as improvements at Southeast, Castro-Mission and Maxine Hall Health Centers. In 2016 DPH completed master planning efforts to move staff out of 101 Grove. This effort will be funded through the General Fund Debt Program. The proposed solution involves relocating some staff to the ZSFG campus, others to finger buildings on the Laguna Honda Campus, and the rest to a combination of City-owned and leased properties in and around Civic Center.

Human Services and Homelessness and Supportive Housing

Francisco has two human services departments: the Human Services Agency and the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. Through assistance and supportive services programs, HSA promotes well-being and self-sufficiency among Capital Plan FY2020-29 111 Health + Human Services individuals, families, and communities for San Francisco residents. HSA is also responsible for three child-care center facilities. HSH strives to make homelessness in San Francisco rare, brief, and one-time through the provision of coordinated, compassionate, and high-quality services. HSH operates three City-owned shelters and a growing portfolio of Navigation Centers that play a critical role in helping vulnerable populations permanently exit the streets. HSH released a five-year strategic framework in 2017, outlining its goals to achieve a significant and sustained reduction in homelessness in San Francisco by 2022.

Public and Affordable Housing

The responsibilities of San Francisco’s housing agencies have been evolving in recent years. The San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA) has converted the majority of its public housing units to private, non-profit management to enable the use of tax credits as a funding for those properties. SFHA will continue to ensure compliance with eligibility and other programmatic requirements at these sites, but the management of the facilities will no longer be SFHA’s responsibility.

Housing development at all income levels is changing the face of the city in important ways. Supporting San Francisco’s low- and middle-income residents caught in the Bay Area’s housing crisis is top of mind for the City’s entire Administration, coordinated through the Mayor’s Office of Community Development (MOHCD). In particular, there is an emerging need for additional long-term housing for people with mental illness, including Board and Care facilities and cooperative living apartments or single family homes that are designed for individuals who have successfully exited substance abuse and/or mental health residential treatment programs. MOHCD’s affordable housing development projects are discussed in the Economic and Neighborhood Development Service Area chapter.

Coordinated Services Center for San Francisco’s Homeless

In 2017 the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development acquired for one dollar a federal surplus property in SoMa to build permanent supportive housing at 1064-1068 Mission Street. The development will provide studio apartments for more than 250 households experiencing chronic homelessness, with 100 of these new units designated for formerly homeless seniors, age 62 or older. It will also include a dedicated Homeless Services Center. The Tom Waddell Urgent Care Clinic, Street Medicine team, DPH Dental Services, and Homeless Outreach Team will all co-locate on the first two floors, improving the integration of DPH and HSH services for homeless persons. The co-developers are Mercy Housing California and Episcopal Community Services, with a long-term ground lease from the City.