Housing pandas, not families: Fielder demands action on shelter crisis
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Hamilton Families Shelter in San Francisco. Photo: Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Supervisor Jackie Fielder is calling on San Francisco to harness its "political will" to tackle the issue of homeless shelter stays the same way it has the issue of fundraising for giant pandas.
Why it matters: The San Francisco Homelessness and Supportive Housing Department (HSH) tightened eligibility requirements for the family shelter system waitlist in December. Around the same time, it began imposing a 90-day limit on stays, though providers can grant and families can gain multiple extensions if they meet certain requirements.
Friction point: At the same time, city officials are "pressed to find $25 million" to house two pandas at the zoo, Fielder posted on X Monday. That same amount of money could house the roughly 500 families who were on the shelter waitlist for a year, she said, before the city changed its eligibility rules.
- "Welcome to San Francisco, where if you're a panda we will find you housing," she added. "If you are a homeless family, you are [out of luck]."
State of play: The city saw a 94% increase in family homelessness between 2022 and 2024, a trend experts warn can perpetuate cycles of poverty between generations.
- San Francisco is one of the wealthiest cities in the world, Fielder said.
- "That's why I pointed out the panda situation," she told Axios. "We are somehow finding $25 million … to make the pandas happen. And why can't we find the same will for homeless families? The numbers are not that different."
What they're saying: "No one wants to raise their kids in shelters," Fielder noted. "It's just that there are a lot of barriers outside of their control that … we can as a city government help with, especially when we have a mayor who has really unprecedented connections to philanthropy, to wealthy individuals."
- Children "should not be bearing the brunt for our own failures to house and shelter them," she added. "And that's what I see this 90-day policy doing."
- One resident who has a son with special needs told the Government Audit and Oversight Committee hearing last week that she's been sleeping in her car for two months and hasn't been given any information on how to navigate the shelter system.
Between the lines: Former Mayor London Breed touted the giant panda deal with China as one that will contribute to a tourism boom and sought philanthropic funds to pay for the needed $25 million enclosure.
Reality check: A San Francisco Zoo internal report obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle in December proposed that funding come primarily from a zoo contractor and a city-run fund for organizations that help low-income communities.
- It's unclear whether that is the final proposal.
The big picture: Fielder introduced a proposal to roll back the 90-day cap at last week's hearing but faced steep opposition from the other two committee members, who said no one is being forced out.
- She told Axios she's working with Mayor Daniel Lurie's office and HSH to shore up the city's case management infrastructure to make sure people aren't wrongfully denied extensions.