San Francisco budget cuts threaten housing, nonprofit programs amid $643 million deficit

The sharpest edge of San Francisco’s budget crisis is landing in the Mission District, where La Raza Community Resource Center said more than $660,000 in proposed cuts could hit its Family Resource Center and the rent help that keeps families housed.

That matters because the city’s March financial update projected a $642.8 million General Fund shortfall over the next two fiscal years, and Mayor Daniel Lurie told departments to find $400 million in savings, including $100 million in personnel costs. By early April, 127 city workers had already received layoff notices, with more cuts still possible as officials try to balance the books for fiscal years 2025-26 and 2026-27.

At a Board of Supervisors Budget and Appropriations Committee hearing at City Hall, Supervisor Cheyenne Chen warned that the cuts were not abstract accounting. She said she had seen firsthand how community groups stabilize families and that stripping away those supports could drive more homelessness and job loss.

Mohamed Hadjab, a security guard who has worked downtown for nearly seven years, put a human face on what is at stake. When his wife had surgery and he could not work full time, La Raza helped his family pay rent, utilities and diapers. For households already stretched by San Francisco’s housing costs, that kind of short-term aid can decide whether a family stays in the city or falls into deeper instability.

The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, which funds rental assistance, homebuying programs and other affordability initiatives, said it had about $104 million spread across 12 grant funding portfolios for the upcoming fiscal year. City officials are also looking at more than $13 million in proposed cuts to MOHCD overall, a reduction that could ripple through neighborhood programs designed to prevent displacement before it starts.

La Raza said its Family Resource Center serves more than 1,000 immigrant parents and children each year, helping them meet basic needs. The group also operates SF Emergency Rental Assistance, part of the city’s anti-displacement and homelessness-prevention network with MOHCD and the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.

For low-income San Franciscans, the fight over the budget is not about balance sheets. It is about whether one of the city’s remaining safety nets will still be there when a paycheck falls short, a medical crisis hits, or the rent comes due.