The Facts

San Francisco will re-bid all homelessness-service contracts over several years and tie funding more closely to results, reports Alyce McFadden at the Chronicle. Currently, most contracts reimburse providers for expenses without clearly connecting costs to outcomes.

The Context

City audits have identified this problem for years. A 2023 Civil Grand Jury report found that 40% of contracts reviewed mislabeled activities as outcomes. A 2024 performance audit found $73 million of $180.6 million in supportive-housing contract budgets went unspent in fiscal year 2021–22, while performance measures were applied inconsistently. We have previously documented how nonprofit spending doubled while oversight lagged.

The GrowSF Take

This is such an obviously good move that we wonder why it has taken this long to get here. Every city contract should have clear deliverables, and if we aren't getting what we're paying for, then we should end the contract.