§ 20.19

(a) Over the course of almost two decades, approximately 11,000 individuals have left a state of homelessness in San Francisco and been reunited with friends or family in other locales at the City’s expense through relocation and reunification services, formerly called the Homeward Bound program. By providing this option, the City has helped connect these individuals with support networks that are best positioned to care for and support such individuals, and at a fraction of the cost of providing a permanent supportive housing unit in San Francisco.

(b) According to the San Francisco Chronicle, each year from 2006 to 2018, the Human Services Agency (“HSA”) and its predecessor department reunited between 800 to 1,000 individuals with their families through Homeward Bound, demonstrating the program was a key part of the City’s strategy to address homelessness.

(c) Under the Homeward Bound program, when individuals applied for County Adult Assistance Programs (“CAAP”) benefits, HSA simultaneously offered paid travel and relocation support, which helped eligible individuals utilize the program as a strategy to end homelessness. Through the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (“HSH”), the City continued to offer paid travel and relocation support for individuals interacting with HSH’s community-based coordinated entry access points, which allow individuals experiencing homelessness the opportunity to access housing opportunities.

(d) Despite the success of Homeward Bound, previous iterations of the program have not been codified in the Municipal Code.

(e) Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition in program leadership from HSA to HSH and with Homeward Bound’s dissolution as a stand-alone program, fewer people are using the service to reunite with their friends or family. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, in the first 10 months of Fiscal Year 2021–22, 271 individuals utilized the program, compared with 447 individuals in 2020 and 628 individuals in 2019.

(f) The purpose of this Article XIX is to codify the City’s paid travel and relocation support for homeless individuals, individuals at risk of homelessness, or formerly homeless individuals who are living in supportive housing.

(Added by Ord. 69-24, File No. 231226, App. 4/4/2024, Eff. 5/5/2024)

(a) The Homeward Bound Program (“Program”) is hereby established to provide eligible individuals the opportunity to receive travel and relocation support paid by the City to a destination where the individual has a family member, friend, employer, or other individual who is willing to receive and support the Program participant. The Program includes City relocation and reunification programs and allows flexibility for HSA and HSH to design such programs to meet the needs of different communities. HSA shall be the primary agency to oversee coordination and reporting for the Program. HSH, in coordination with HSA, may offer the Program through any of its services and programs, and is responsible for managing referrals and reporting requirements from non-profit community-based organizations. The Executive Director of HSA and the Executive Director of HSH each may adopt such rules and regulations as the Executive Director deems necessary and proper for the administration of the Program for their respective department.

(b) The following individuals shall be eligible to participate in the Program:

(1) Individuals experiencing homelessness in San Francisco.

(2) Individuals who recently experienced homelessness or are experiencing housing instability, such as individuals residing in permanent supportive housing.

(3) Recipients of, or applicants for, any County Adult Assistance Program provided by HSA.

(4) Individuals at risk of homelessness.

(c) The following individuals shall not be eligible to participate in the Program:

(1) Individuals on parole or probation, unless they have received approval from their parole agent or probation officer and the individual is authorized by law to move to a different jurisdiction.

(2) Individuals who are not otherwise qualified as persons with disabilities afforded reasonable modification to policy under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or who are unable to travel alone because they pose a direct risk to themselves or others.

(3) Individuals who are not sober at the time when the individual will begin travel and, to the extent known by HSA or HSH staff or contractors of HSA or HSH, individuals who are unable to abstain from drinking alcohol or using illicit substances while traveling to their destination. HSA or HSH staff or contractors of HSA or HSH may delay travel until the individual is sober or refer individuals with serious alcohol or illicit substance use to a sobering center or medically-supported detoxification before such individuals can participate in the Program.

(4) Individuals who have used the Homeward Bound Program, or any similar relocation and reunification program offered by HSA or HSH, within the previous two years. To prevent an individual at risk of homelessness from becoming homeless, the Executive Director of HSA and the Executive Director of HSH each have the discretion to waive this requirement on a case-by-case basis.

(5) A minor traveling with an adult, unless the adult is the parent or guardian of the minor and the adult has photo identification and birth certificate or other legal verification for the minor proving that the adult is the minor’s parent or guardian.

(Added by Ord. 69-24, File No. 231226, App. 4/4/2024, Eff. 5/5/2024)

Before providing transportation to a destination, the HSA or HSH staff or contractors of HSA or HSH administering the Program must make direct contact with the family member, friend, employer, or other individual who is willing to receive and support the Program participant. HSA or HSH staff or contractors of HSA or HSH shall document the fact that the Program participant has someone at the destination willing to receive and support the Program participant. Within 90 days following the date of a Program participant’s departure, HSA or HSH staff shall attempt to contact the Program participant to determine whether that individual has retained housing.

(Added by Ord. 69-24, File No. 231226, App. 4/4/2024, Eff. 5/5/2024)

(a) By October 1 of each year, HSA shall submit a written report to the Human Services Commission and the Homelessness Oversight Commission containing the information in subsections (b) and (c) for the prior fiscal year.

(b) The written report shall provide the following aggregated and de-identified information:

(1) The number of individuals served by HSA and HSH, respectively, through the Program;

(2) The number of individuals who, at the time of departure: (A) were experiencing homelessness and were unsheltered, (B) were experiencing homelessness and residing in a shelter, (C) were formerly homeless individuals living in permanent supportive housing, or (D) were at risk of homelessness;

(3) The total cost of travel services provided under the Program and the average cost to the City for an individual to utilize the Program;

(4) The number of Program participants who, 90 days following their date of departure, retained housing at their destination;

(5) The number of referrals for substance use disorder treatment or a sobering center to individuals eligible for, and interested in utilizing, the Program, as provided in Section 20.19-2(c)(3); and

(6) the number and circumstances of the use of the waiver authority provided in Section 20.19-2(c)(4).

(c) In addition to the information required in subsection (b), HSH shall require each of the entities with whom it may contract to provide information on referrals to the Program by program type and service provider.

(Added by Ord. 69-24, File No. 231226, App. 4/4/2024, Eff. 5/5/2024)

If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this Article XIX, or any application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions or applications of this Article. The Board of Supervisors hereby declares that it would have passed this Article and every section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, and word not declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any other portion of this Article or application thereof would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional.

(Added by Ord. 69-24, File No. 231226, App. 4/4/2024, Eff. 5/5/2024)

In enacting and implementing this Article XIX, the City is assuming an undertaking only to promote the general welfare. It is not assuming, nor is it imposing on its officers and employees, an obligation for breach of which it is liable in money damages to any person who claims that such breach proximately caused injury.

(Added by Ord. 69-24, File No. 231226, App. 4/4/2024, Eff. 5/5/2024)