DOZENS OF ADVOCATES for the unhoused showed up to the San Francisco Commission Streamlining Task Force meeting Wednesday to speak out against a plan to eliminate several committees related to homelessness.
“Many of these bodies were created over time with a ton of input,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness during public comment. “A lot of social change has come out of them, like a lot of oversight and accountability that, frankly, would not be there if it wasn’t for these bodies’ existence,” she said.
The Coalition on Homelessness is an organization that advocates for the city’s unhoused population. Representatives of the group and members of the public urged the task force not to abolish three committees — the Shelter Monitoring Committee, the Shelter Grievance Advisory Committee, and the Our City, Our Home Oversight Committee.
“I’m here to implore you to please keep the Shelter Monitoring and Shelter Grievance committees intact,” said resident Evelyn Posamentier during public comment. “Oversight of all the homelessness services is critical, urgent and cannot be eliminated.”
As part of Measure E, which voters approved in November 2024, the Commission Streamlining Task Force was established to evaluate the efficacy and necessity of each of the city’s 152 commissions and take actions accordingly, such as eliminating, consolidating, or modifying the functions of certain bodies.
Of the 152 bodies, 115 are active. Others have not met in several years, according to the task force.
After a year of meetings and more than 20 hours of public comment, the task force compiled a list of recommendations of which ones to cut.
In its draft report, the task force is recommending abolishing 65 commissions, including the Shelter Monitoring Committee, the Shelter Grievance Advisory Committee, and Our City, Our Home Oversight Committee.
The Shelter Monitoring Committee, established 20 years ago, inspects shelter conditions and investigates shelter complaints. It holds at least one meeting a month. Its members, who are appointed by the Homelessness Oversight Commission, include people who are currently or have previously experienced homelessness, those who provide services to unhoused communities, and representatives of organizations that advocate for unhoused people.
The Shelter Grievance Advisory Committee advises the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, or HSH, on the city’s Shelter Grievance Policy, a system that allows people who were evicted from homeless shelters to contest the shelter’s decision. The independent committee is made up of shelter client advocates, shelter providers, an attorney, and people who are currently unhoused or formerly unhoused.
“A lot of oversight and accountability … would not be there if it wasn’t for these bodies’ existence.”
Jennifer Friedenbach, Coalition on Homelessness executive director
The committee is supposed to have quarterly meetings, or four a year. It only held one meeting in 2025.
The Our City, Our Home Oversight Committee assesses the needs of the city’s unhoused population and makes budget recommendations to the mayor and the Board of Supervisors. Meetings are scheduled to occur monthly. In 2025, it held seven meetings.
The task force is considering eliminating these committees because their functions overlap with those of city staff and other bodies, specifically the HSH, according to the task force’s second draft of the final report.
Because the HSH administers some of the functions of these committees, the task force thinks they “may have outlived” their purpose, according to the report.
Friedenbach disagreed.
“The homeless bodies are both active and useful, and they add significant value,” she said.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the five-member task force reviewed the report’s second draft for updates mostly on language and formatting. A final draft of the report needs to be approved by February 1.
But advocates for the unhoused population and some members of the very committees slated for elimination made a last-ditch attempt to save the three bodies.
“Let’s be clear,” Friedenbach said. “Under this set of recommendations, shelter monitoring will not take place.”
Isaac Langford, who holds a seat on the Shelter Monitoring Committee, thinks that removing the committee will diminish trust between the city and its unhoused population.
Shakema Straker, a community organizer with the Coalition on Homelessness, read a statement from Langford during public comment.
“An independent Shelter Monitoring Committee strengthens the system and protects its residents,” Straker said. “Removing that independence reduces transparency and erodes public confidence. Streamlining should not come at the cost of accountability.”
The members of the task force declined to reconsider its recommendations for the three committees related to homelessness. It had already made its recommended changes to homelessness bodies at a previous meeting.
A meeting to approve a final draft of the recommendations report will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 28.