SF Homeless Services Chief Shireen McSpadden to Retire in June

Shireen McSpadden, the executive director of San Francisco's Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, informed staff on March 17 that she will retire effective June 30, 2026, closing a tenure at the helm of the city's primary agency for housing unhoused residents.

McSpadden leads HSH, which the city launched in 2016 to consolidate housing, shelter, outreach, and prevention services for San Francisco's unhoused and insecurely housed populations. The department operates across a network of city-contracted partners, including the Felton Institute and Compass Family Services, and coordinates the range of interventions the city deploys from street outreach to long-term housing placements.

Her own words reflect the persistent tension at the center of that work. "While we know that we've got more people who are on the street than we always have resources for," McSpadden said in remarks to the Felton Institute, "we can say every day that we are housing people and that we are providing or helping them on their road to success through our interventions."

In the weeks before her retirement announcement, McSpadden appeared alongside Compass Family Services CEO Erica Kisch at a community gathering at Manny's, the Valencia Street civic space, where the two discussed the scale of family homelessness in San Francisco and the role of public-private partnerships in addressing it. Compass, which serves thousands of families facing homelessness each year, has been one of HSH's core nonprofit partners.

No interim director or successor has been publicly named as of her announcement. The Mayor's Office and HSH have not issued a formal statement on transition planning. With more than three months remaining before McSpadden's departure, the search for her replacement and any continuity plans for the department's contracts and programs remain open questions for city leadership.