Budget and Finance Committee Meeting – November 12, 2025
Budget and Finance Committee Meeting – November 12, 2025
The San Francisco Budget and Finance Committee met on November 12, 2025, at 6:15 PM under Chair Supervisor Connie Chan, joined by Vice Chair Supervisor Matt Dorsey and Member Supervisor Beya Alcaraz (substituting). The committee considered a single item: an ordinance appropriating $3.5 million from the General Reserve to the Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD) to expand coordinated immigrant legal defense and community response services for fiscal year 2025-26. After presentations, public testimony, and discussion, the committee voted unanimously to amend the ordinance and forward it to the full Board of Supervisors with a recommendation.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Omar Delacruz (Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, SF Immigration Legal Defense Collaborative): Urged support for the supplemental, highlighting the need to sustain legal services that protect families, support rapid response, and help immigrants access work permits and stay in the country.
- Zeta Blottner (Pangea Legal Services): Stressed that there is no right to counsel in immigration proceedings, and that funding is essential for outreach and organizing. Argued that disengagement from the system would be costlier in the long run.
- Andrew Craycroft (Immigrant Legal Resource Center): Expressed support for the collaboratives, noting they provide vital legal defense, safety planning, and ensure immigrants can participate in civic life despite federal enforcement.
- Victoria Hartanto (API Legal Outreach): Thanked the committee for support, noting that additional funding would increase capacity for urgent consultations, habeas petitions, and responses to ICE detention.
- Claire Deck (USF Law Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic): Stated that demand on their program is increasing daily and that more funding would allow them to file habeas petitions to secure release for unconstitutionally detained clients.
- Katie O'Neill (Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights): Urged passage of the supplemental, emphasizing that existing collaboratives already have the expertise to meet the moment but need more resources.
Discussion Items
- MOHCD Presentation: Staff presented a brief overview of the division, noting investments in homelessness prevention, housing stability, and community safety. They reported that the immigrant legal services hotline received over 1,400 calls in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, a 350% increase over the same period last year and 20% above the annual goal of 1,200 calls. The supplemental would fund additional attorneys, paralegals, technology upgrades, and multilingual outreach.
- Budget Legislative Analyst (BLA) Report: Nick Renard from the BLA office summarized that the $3.5 million represents a one-time 28% increase over the current $12.3 million budget. He noted that taking from the General Reserve would require replacement next year under city reserve policy. The BLA offered policy considerations: assessing linguistic barriers, identifying disproportionately impacted communities, evaluating provider performance and capacity, and comparing unit costs across providers.
- Committee Discussion:
- Chair Chan asked about long-term strategy for immigration legal services, noting the need for a sustainable budget approach and prioritization of work permits and citizenship applications. MOHCD responded that immediate focus is on defenses against detention, but with supplemental funding, they could look toward affirmative strategies.
- Vice Chair Dorsey echoed the importance of accountability and stated that the city has a moral imperative to support immigrant and transgender immigrant communities, especially as philanthropic support diminishes.
- Supervisor Alcaraz inquired how MOHCD would assess which organizations are best positioned to expand capacity. MOHCD replied that they have completed a procurement process and will perform due diligence once the ordinance passes, and offered to provide future briefings.
Key Outcomes
- Amendment: Chair Chan introduced an amendment (to page 1, lines 5–6) to clarify that the funds are for “services for immigration legal defense” and to allow MOHCD flexibility in disbursement. The motion passed 3-0 (Dorsey aye, Alcaraz aye, Chan aye).
- Forward to Full Board: The committee voted 3-0 to forward the amended ordinance to the full Board of Supervisors with a positive recommendation. The item is expected to appear on the Board’s agenda on November 18, 2025.
- Adjournment: No other business; the meeting adjourned.
Meeting Transcript
Oh, hello. Good morning. The meeting will come to order. Welcome to the November 12, 2025 meeting of the board meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee. I'm Supervisor Connie Chan, Chair of the Committee. I'm joined by Vice Chair Supervisor Matt Dorsey. Our clerk is Monique Craighton. I would like to thank Eugene Labatia from SFGov TV for broadcasting this meeting. Madam Clerk, do you have any announcements? Yes, just a friendly reminder to those in attendance to please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices to prevent any interruptions to our proceedings. Should you have any documents to be included as part of the file, they should be submitted to myself the clerk. Public comment will be taken on each item on this agenda. When your item of interest comes up and public comment is called, please line up to speak on the west side of the chamber to your right, my left along those curtains. While not required to provide public comment, we do invite you to fill out a comment card and leave them on the tray by the television to your left by the doors. If you wish for your name to be accurately recorded for the minutes, alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways. Email them to myself, the budget and finance committee clerk at BRENT.j at SFGO V dotorg. If you submit public comment via email, will be forwarded to the supervisors and also included as part of the official file. You may also send your written comments via U.S. Postal Service to our office in City Hall. One doc one, Dr. Carlton B. Goodlit Place, room 244 San Francisco, California 94102. And finally, the item acted upon today is expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors agenda of November 18th unless otherwise stated. Thank you. And Madam Clerk, have we received a memo from President Amendelman about the substitution today? Yes. Wonderful. And so I want to acknowledge a substitution for this committee and welcome Supervisor Beya Alcaraz. Thank you. And then with that, just a general reminder for the public that for any item that when we have a budget and legislative and analyst report, we will go to the department presentation, and then we will go to the budget and legislative analysts, and then we will have comments and questions from this body, and then we'll go to public comment. So with that, Madam Clerk, please call item number one. Yes, item number one is an ordinance appropriating $3.5 million from the General Reserves, the mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development to expand access to existing coordinated immigrant legal and community response services in fiscal year 25-26. Thank you. And today we have wonderful. We have the presentation from the mayor's office of housing and community development. Today I'll provide a brief overview of our division, highlight our key program investments, and share how this supplemental could strengthen coordinated services for immigration, legal defense, and coordinated response services to the immigrant community. Our community development division takes a holistic and equity focused approach to managing city grants and community programs. We manage funding that supports homelessness prevention, housing stability, as well as community safety and vitality. These efforts ensure that our investments create measurable lasting impact for San Franciscans. We fund both individual legal providers and collaboratives of multiple organizations that coordinate to serve residents across the city. The growth you see in the chart on the right reflects a shift in the federal landscape, an increase in community need, and the city's commitment to increasing access to legal services for immigrant communities. With this supplemental, we're proposing to expand the coordinated services for immigration legal defense and coordinated response services to the immigrant community. This investment would grow staffing, improve technology systems, and expand outreach so that services maintain access remain accessible and well coordinated citywide. The goal is a more connected and efficient system that meets the needs of immigrant communities in real time. This funding would allow us to fund additional full-time attorneys and paralegals to meet rising caseloads. It would also expand local legal representation within the immigration court and strengthen the technical capacity of existing providers. Through these efforts, we would be better equipped to support San Franciscans who are facing immigration challenges. The second component would strengthen the coordinated response services, ensuring that residents receive timely and coordinated help in urgent situations. We would expand staffing, improve technology for real-time communication, and develop web and mobile tools for coordinated intake and tracking. There would also be an increase in outreach through multilingual know your rights workshops and enhance collaboration across San Francisco.
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