The Facts

New city-funded supportive housing must be drug free after the Board of Supervisors voted 7-4 to pass Supervisor Dorsey's "Drug Free Housing" ordinance, reports Delilah Brumer at the Chronicle. Until now, the city followed the state's Housing First rules, under which illicit drug use could not be grounds for eviction.

Of the city's roughly 8,500 supportive housing units, only 42 are drug-free today. The ordinance allows for relapse and requires that anyone facing eviction be offered shelter.

The Context

The old rule meant someone could leave treatment determined to stay sober, and the city would house them in a building where drug use was protected. Amber Richmond, a formerly homeless housing coordinator, told the Chronicle her clients ask for housing insulated from drug use and she has nothing to offer them: "By forcing them into drug-tolerant buildings, we're just setting them up to fail."

The Civil Grand Jury found that 26% of San Francisco's accidental overdose deaths in 2024 happened inside permanent supportive housing, while the city's first fully sober shelter, Hope House, filled up almost immediately.

The GrowSF Take

Drug-free housing for people trying to escape drug addiction should have been the default decades ago, and Supervisor Dorsey, in recovery himself, deserves enormous credit for getting it done.

Connie Chan voted against this, attempting to force everyone receiving housing assistance into a one-size-fits-all solution that put children and people in drug recovery into housing with easy access to drugs. We think people should be able to choose a drug-free or a drug-tolerant environment.

This November Chan faces Scott Wiener for Nancy Pelosi's seat in Congress, author of the state's Recovery Incentives Act. We endorsed him in June, and votes like this are exactly why.