A NEW $37.5 MILLION FUND started by a consortium of nonprofit organizations is partnering with the city and county of San Francisco to build more transitional housing.
Dubbed the “Breaking the Cycle Fund,” to finance projects under a mayoral plan of the same name, the money raised from five main partners will be used to bring more beds to the city that will be reserved for people with substance abuse and mental or behavioral health issues.
The city has a nightly homeless population of about 8,000 people, about half of whom self-reported either a mental or behavioral health issue, substance abuse, or both, according to the city’s 2024 homeless point-in-time count.
Mayor Daniel Lurie’s “Breaking the Cycle” plan, introduced in March, includes short and long-term goals, which include building 1,500 new transitional housing beds in his first six months in office.
The new fund was created as part of Lurie’s strategy of partnering with the private sector to tackle the city’s ongoing street problems as a component of his fentanyl state of emergency ordinance passed in February. The ordinance allowed certain staff members from the mayor’s office to raise money from private contributors, including nonprofits.
The nonprofit organization Lurie founded in 2005, Tipping Point Community, is the largest single contributor to the fund, with an $11 million donation.
The Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation and the grant giving nonprofit foundation Crankstart each contributed $10 million, while Keith and Priscilla Geeslin gave $6 million to the fund. The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation contributed another $500,000, according to the mayor’s office.
The fund will be maintained by the San Francisco Foundation and spent at the city’s discretion.
The money creates a dedicated source of funding for some of the city’s most urgent challenges at a time of fiscal uncertainty. The city is facing a budget shortfall of about $875 million in the 2025 fiscal year, according to the city’s Ethics Commission.
Today I am proud to announce the launch of the Breaking the Cycle Fund, with $37.5 million in initial private funding commitments. These funds will be used to:
– Rapidly increase interim and treatment bed capacity
– Bring people indoors and connect them to care
– Reform our… pic.twitter.com/TMDnjtZ2qT— Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 (@DanielLurie) May 8, 2025
Lurie announced the launch of the fund Thursday during a press conference at an interim housing site at 33 Gough St. that hosts 70 transitional housing units that each have private space with a door that locks.
“It’s not enough just to build more beds,” Lurie said. “We need to build the right kind of beds. We need to offer a range of interim housing that works better for more people,” he said, later saying that the city could no longer afford to invest in the same solutions and expect different outcomes.
Unlike traditional homeless shelters that have cots in common areas for sleeping, transitional housing consists of units that afford some privacy and are paired with services meant to help transition a client out of homelessness through on-site counseling, healthcare and job services.
Mark Mazza, a member of the Department of Emergency Services’ Homeless Outreach Team, said securing beds was still the biggest challenge the city’s street teams face.
“It’s not enough just to build more beds. We need to build the right kind of beds. We need to offer a range of interim housing that works better for more people.”
Mayor Daniel Lurie
“Each morning, we meet with our teams, and we hear the same request: we need more beds. Every day,” he said.
Mazza said that most days, the beds the city has to offer are filled by lunchtime.
“Getting people into shelter is the first step towards housing,” he said. “Housing resolves homelessness. But what if homelessness is not our only problem? What if the barrier to shelter and housing is mental illness or substance use?” Mazza said, calling the launch of the Breaking the Cycle Fund a step in the right direction.
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