SAN FRANCISCO — Dozens of San Francisco residents rallied at City Hall on Tuesday, protesting a move by the Board of Supervisors to grant Mayor Daniel Lurie expanded authority over Proposition C funds and to pass a controversial RV parking ban, according to a press release from The Coalition on Homelessness.
Proposition C, approved by voters in 2018, levied additional taxes on individuals and businesses earning more than $50 million annually, with the revenue earmarked for housing and services for unhoused residents, according to a voter guide by SPUR.
Protesters staged a silent procession through City Hall, described in the release as “a somber wake for democracy.”
The demonstration came in response to last week’s 8-3 vote by the Board of Supervisors to allow the mayor to reallocate Prop C funds without the previously required supermajority. The Coalition on Homelessness characterized the vote as “the death of voter intent and democratic safeguards.”
The funds in question had been designated for long-term solutions to homelessness, such as permanent supportive and family housing. The Coalition on Homelessness said Mayor Lurie plans to redirect that funding toward temporary shelter beds, which critics argue do little to address housing insecurity and may worsen cycles of crisis.
“The vote to overturn the supermajority requirement to move funding in Prop C not only represents a broken promise to voters, but it puts child and youth housing in serious peril,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, in a statement to The Worker Agency.
“Historically, the supermajority vote has protected against attempts to cut essential homeless family funds,” Friedenbach added. “All in all this is a gut punch to poor families, immigrant communities, and working class San Franciscans.”
The Coalition on Homelessness said the Board’s decision will most deeply affect mothers, youth, and immigrant families.
“It’s really hard to give stability to my children,” said Maria Guerra, a mother experiencing homelessness, in a statement to The Worker Agency. “We’re living in a car, sometimes on the street. I’m suffering emotionally, and my family as well. I’m asking for the city to restore and protect the money for Prop C, because we need real housing for families, for everyone.”
The Board also passed a citywide RV parking ban, limiting parking to two hours. The Coalition on Homelessness said the measure will forcibly displace hundreds of residents who rely on their vehicles for shelter.
The agency warned that the RV ban could worsen conditions for immigrant communities, especially amid ongoing deportation raids and criminalization under the Trump administration. With over 280,000 immigrants in San Francisco, the group said the ban “undermines San Francisco’s status as a sanctuary city” and forces families into greater risk of law enforcement and ICE encounters.
“Rather than offering protection, city leaders chose to compound the dangers and harms experienced by the very people they claim to protect,” the agency said.
One RV resident, Armando Bravo Martinez, addressed the crowd during the rally.
“All they want to do is make us disappear,” Martinez said. “I almost died in a shelter. We’re demanding that we have safe parking, safe housing for everyone. We’re demanding that San Francisco once again become the compassionate, safe place that it once was.”
The Coalition on Homelessness noted that Supervisors Connie Chan, Dean Preston, and Shamann Walton opposed the Prop C power shift. Walton and Preston also voted against the RV parking ban, which passed 9-2.
The Coalition on Homelessness said both measures threaten critical funding for housing, family services, and eviction prevention, calling the board’s actions “the death of democracy” and a “mayoral power grab.”
