by Jordan Davis
Within the past year, there have been several scandals involving nonprofits who contract with the City. Kyra Worthy is facing federal charges for misusing over $700,000 in funds from the public safety nonprofit SF SAFE. More recently, Sheryl Davis, the head of the Human Rights Commission and the Dream Keeper Initiative, had to resign her post over allegations of fiscal improprieties.
Why does this matter, particularly for homelessness and permanent supportive housing? Unlike most City departments, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) contracts out a vast majority of its functions to nonprofit organizations. Last year, I had a conversation with a current member of the Homelessness Oversight Commission, which oversees HSH, about contracting. That person, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, said that HSH contracts with over 80 nonprofit entities, large and small, but “bigger hasn’t always meant better.” This creates challenges for oversight and rooting out waste, ensuring that rules meant to protect permanent supportive housing tenants and shelter residents are adhered to, and getting the most value of the City’s funding.
The Tenderloin Housing Clinic (THC) is a textbook example of how bigger is not always better. THC was the focus of the San Francisco Chronicle’s investigation concerning its buildings’ substandard conditions, and has been under fire for frivolous evictions or threats of eviction. Not only is that organization awarded contracts from HSH to run permanent supportive housing, it is also tapped by the Department of Building Inspection (DBI) to run the Central City SRO Collaborative, which is supposed to help SRO tenants advocate for better living conditions. Full disclosure: I am a tenant in a THC building.
There are other examples where greater oversight is needed. For one, a DBI-sponsored program weighs in on issues clearly outside of its focus, such as street conditions and public safety. Or tenant organizing positions left vacant for months because they can’t find someone who is willing to toe the line with Tenderloin Housing Clinic director Randy Shaw.
It should also be pointed out that race figures heavily in Worthy and Davis’ cases. Both are Black women: While that does not excuse fiscal malfeasance, such wrongdoing could harm the same community that could benefit from these programs. At the same time, white nonprofit leaders don’t face the same level of scrutiny.
There also have been calls for getting tough on nonprofits from various right-wing influencers, who favor cracking down on nonprofits in the name of accountability. I’m concerned that they are not making these calls in good faith. These crackdowns could lead to housing and service cuts. Furthermore, if impropriety is proven, and if the contract is severed, we need to ensure that it wouldn’t adversely affect people who depend on nonprofit housing and supportive services.
Furthermore, when several tenants and I presented to the Homelessness Oversight Commission in August 2023 on solutions to the PSH eviction crisis, one of the challenges commissioners cited was a possibility that provisions in contracts would need to be amended so they could take effect.
I’d like to know why 80 nonprofits are involved in providing services under HSH, and whether the department could eliminate redundancies without cutting services. Also, any audit of a nonprofit must be done in good faith, not for political purposes, and any cutting ties with nonprofits must be accompanied by a just transition for tenants and clients must follow if the nonprofit is separated from a City contract. We need to make sure when the City funds nonprofits that the money is used wisely and not for nefarious purposes.
