San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey asked the Board of Supervisors to delay voting on his legislation to create more drug-free permanent supportive housing in the city because it needs to be reevaluated for new proposed changes to the ordinance. 

“The amendment is going to be substantive,” Dorsey said to his colleagues at the Board meeting. “The item will need to go back to committee for a rehearing and amendment.”

Dorsey had originally proposed an ordinance that would prevent the city from funding new “site-based” permanent supportive housing that prohibits eviction solely due to on-site drug use. Site-based permanent supportive housing is subsidized rental housing where all of the units are for those with a history of homelessness.

Most of San Francisco’s permanent supportive housing, or PSH, follows the state’s “Housing First” model, which states that drugs or alcohol on the premises cannot be a sole cause for eviction. Funding conditions for PSH under the Housing First policy do not allow for evictions on the basis of drug use. 

Dorsey has said his legislation was modeled to provide an alternative funding pathway to get more drug-free housing in San Francisco.

But the San Francisco Marin Medical Society, an association representing thousands of doctors and medical professionals in San Francisco and Marin counties, wrote a letter to Dorsey last month outlining its issues with his ordinance. SFMMS viewed the ordinance as adding more barriers to funding other types of PSH and criticized what is saw as lackluster provisions for ensuring that those evicted don’t end up on the streets. 

SFMMS said it would oppose the legislation unless amended. 

Dorsey announced Tuesday that he and SFMMS had reached an agreement on how to change the legislation, including adding more protections against eviction.

“After a lot of back and forth between us over the last month, we have reached an agreement, at least in principle, on clarifying language for eviction protections that I am very comfortable with,” Dorsey said. 

The language of the proposed amendments to the legislation has yet to be finalized, he said. It will return to the Board’s Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee on May 28 to be reexamined and then likely head back to the Board a month from now.

“We should see you back here in a month,” Dorsey said. 

Alise is a general assignment reporter with a focus on covering government, elections, housing, crime, courts and entertainment in San Francisco and on the Peninsula. Alise is a Bay Area native from San Carlos. She studied history at University of California, Santa Cruz and first started journalism at Skyline College’s school newspaper in San Bruno. She has interned for Bay City News and for Eesti Rahvusringhääling, or Estonian Public Broadcasting. She has covered everything from the removal of former San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus to the divisive battle over the Great Highway on San Francisco’s west side. Please send her any tips.