San Francisco mayor wants homeless people to take drug tests before they can get assistance

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced a plan on Tuesday to require homeless people in the liberal city to undergo drug testing and treatment in order to receive county-funded cash assistance.

Breed said that accountability was necessary for homeless people seeking cash assistance because the city faces pressure to handle the fentanyl and homeless crises. However, the proposal will still need approval from the City Council.

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“San Francisco is a city of compassion, but also a city that demands accountability,” Breed said in a statement. “We fund a wide range of services, and we want to help people get the care they need. But under current state law, local government lack tools to compel people into treatment. This initiative aims to create more accountability and help get people to accept the treatment and services they need.”

(Eric Risberg/AP)

The screening for substance abuse would be done by the San Francisco Human Services Agency, which would also fund the treatment programs for those who test positive for illegal drug use. Those who test positive would not be forced into the treatment, but their request for aid through the County Adult Assistance Program would be denied. Those already in the cash assistance program would see their funds discontinued if they do not receive treatment.

The mayor’s office said the treatment programs would be based on the needs of the applicant but would include residential treatment, medical detox, medically-assisted treatment, abstinence-based treatments, and outpatient options, among others.

Supervisor Matt Dorsey, a recovering substance user and former spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department, praised the proposal in a statement Tuesday, admitting the city is seeing an “unprecedented” loss of life from drug addiction, fueled in part by the fentanyl crisis.

“I strongly support Mayor Breed’s initiative, which will better incentivize treatment and recovery for a population that’s at wildly disproportionate risk for drug addiction and overdose fatalities,” Dorsey said. “We’re facing an unprecedented loss of life in San Francisco, and we know coercive interventions can work.”

The proposal occurred on the same day Breed saw a new Democratic challenge for the 2024 mayoral election. Daniel Lurie, a nonprofit executive and one of the heirs to the Levi Strauss & Co. fortune, announced his campaign Tuesday, claiming it was time for a “new era of leadership” for the city.

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“What we are seeing on the streets of San Francisco is not progressive,” Lurie said in his announcement video. “We have too many people who have been in power for far too long doing things the same way they’ve always been done. We need the courage to try to do things differently. I’m running for mayor to provide a different type of leadership. A new era of leadership from the outside.”

The general election for the city’s mayor will take place on Nov. 5, 2024, to coincide with the presidential election. Breed is running for a second term in office.