Proposition B: Community Health and Medical Facilities, Street Safety, Public Spaces, and Shelter to Reduce Homelessness Bond

Digest by the Ballot Simplification Committee

The Way It Is Now:

  • The City provides and maintains public facilities and infrastructure.
  • The City can issue voter-approved general obligation bonds to help fund these projects.
  • The Citizens' General Obligation Bond Oversight Committee reviews how the bond proceeds are spent.
  • City policy is to limit the amount of money it borrows by issuing new bonds only as prior bonds are paid off.

The Proposal:

Proposition ___ would authorize the City to borrow up to $390 million by issuing general obligation bonds for the following purposes:

  • Acquire or improve community health centers:
    • Up to $99.1 million total
    • Up to $71.1 million to seismically retrofit and renovate the Chinatown Public Health Center
    • Up to $28 million to relocate the City Clinic
  • Repair and renovate hospitals:
    • Up to $66 million for Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (General Hospital) and Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center
    • Up to $40 million to seismically retrofit General Hospital
  • Improve street and public spaces:
    • Up to $63.9 million for street and sidewalk safety projects
    • Up to $41 million to improve and modernize public spaces in downtown San Francisco
    • Up to $25 million for Harvey Milk Plaza
    • Up to $5 million for parks and recreation centers
  • Address homelessness:
    • Up to $50 million for shelter or interim housing sites to reduce family homelessness

The Citizens' General Obligation Bond Oversight Committee would be required to review how this bond money is spent.

Note: Proposition ___ may require an increase in the property tax rate. Landlords would be permitted to pass through up to 50% of any resulting property tax increase to tenants.

What Your Vote Means:

  • A "YES" Vote: You want the City to issue up to $390 million in general obligation bonds to fund projects related to community health and medical facilities, street safety, public spaces and interim housing to reduce family homelessness.
  • A "NO" Vote: You do not want the City to issue these bonds.

How We Fund This

  1. A $390 million general obligation bond is proposed for community health, medical facilities, street safety, public spaces, and shelter to reduce homelessness in San Francisco.

  2. If approved, the estimated property tax rate to fund this bond would peak at $0.0101 per $100 of assessed valuation in FY 2029-2030.

  3. The total debt service, including principal and interest, is estimated to be approximately $737 million over the life of the bond.

  4. For a home with an assessed value of $700,000, the highest estimated annual property tax cost for these bonds would be about $70.00.

  5. As of June 30, 2024, the city had $2.2 billion in outstanding general obligation bonds, and if this new bond is approved, the total outstanding and authorized but unissued bonds would be $4.2 billion, or about 1.2% of the city's taxable property assessed value.