Jennifer Friedenbach, a homelessness advocate and nonprofit leader who was the main architect of the 2018 Proposition C to increase funding for homeless services, lost a vote on Monday to retain her seat at the table.
Proposition C, dubbed “Our City, Our Home,” created a new tax on businesses with more than $50 million in annual gross receipts to fund the city’s homelessness services and housing programs.
The measure, spearheaded by Friedenbach and largely funded by Marc Benioff and Salesforce, was approved citywide with 61 percent of the vote in November 2018 and has generated more than $1 billion toward homeless and housing services. The funds are overseen by the Our City Our Home Oversight Committee, which Prop. C created.
Supervisors Rafael Mandelman, Shamann Walton, and Stephen Sherrill today voted unanimously at the Rules Committee to recommend that Billy Lemon, an ally of Mandelman and the executive director of the Castro Country Club, a sober space in the Castro, take her place. If approved by the full Board of Supervisors, Lemon will take over the seat from Friedenbach, who already termed out in April 2025 but has remained on the body pending a final vote on the Board of Supervisors on Nov. 11.
Friedenbach said she is holding out hopes she’ll retain her post. “We’ll see,” she said. “It still has to go to the full board.”
Friedenbach is one of the four Board of Supervisors appointees on the nine-member committee. She was originally tapped for the post on Sept. 7, 2021, and reappointed with a term ending April 22, 2025.
At the Prop C campaign party in November 2018, the crowd recognizes the efforts of Jennifer Friedenbach, director of the Coalition on Homelessness for her efforts in kickstarting Prop C. Friedenbach is in the center with red hair. Photo by Jennifer Cortez.
In June, Mayor Daniel Lurie proposed changes to the Our City, Our Home fund to redirect about $34 million away from permanent homeless housing to temporary shelter. At the time, Friedenbach was one of the most vocal opponents of that change, which eventually passed as part of Lurie’s budget proposal.
Supervisor Matt Dorsey, a supporter of Lurie’s changes to the fund, attended the hearing — even though he is not on the committee — and gave a speech in support of Lemon. “It is no exaggeration for me to say that it [the Castro Country Club] has helped to save lives,” said Dorsey, who is a recovering addict. Dorsey did not mention Friedenbach in his speech.
Walton, the only member on the Rules Committee who supported Friedenbach, voted with the majority in the end.
Of 23 people who gave public comment, 15 spoke in favor of Friendenbach, including a representative for Public Defender Mano Raju. “Prop. C would never have been drafted or passed without Jennifer Friendenbach, which means this committee would not exist without Jennifer Friendenbach,” the representative said.
Bevan Dufty, a former supervisor and homelessness czar who now serves on the Homelessness Oversight Commission, said if Lemon were to take the seat, he would consider leaving the body.
“I recognize how singularly Jennifer made the difference for Prop. C,” Dufty said. “She is the golden mother hand for ‘OCOH’ [Our City, Our Home].”