Just When We Thought San Francisco’s Taxpayer Waste Problem Was Bad They Totally Outdo Themselves

How many commissioners does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Depends on how much taxpayer money is on the table.

A team of San Francisco city officials recommends “culling five homelessness oversight commissions that collectively cost taxpayers $2 million annually to operate,” in a report submitted Friday, according to The San Francisco Standard. (RELATED: San Francisco Opens First-Ever Sober Homeless Shelter, And The Results Are Exactly What You’d Expect)

The recommendation comes from five senior staffers at the city administrator and controller’s office, the Standard reports, and was sent for consideration to the Commission Streamlining Task Force.

“It’s not clear that having multiple public bodies overseeing homelessness is making the city’s homelessness work more effective,” the report says, according to The Standard.

Duh.

You can’t solve “homelessness” if you think of it in those terms. 

Last November, Gov. @GavinNewsom cleaned up San Francisco for Chinese President Xi. Now, Newsom is cleaning it up for Kamala Harris. Everyone knows it won’t last because Newsom doesn’t actually care about anyone who lives here. pic.twitter.com/yayjWJB5dF

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) July 26, 2024

“Very few people are on the street simply because they can’t afford the rent,” writes Michael Shellenberger, journalist and author of “San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities.” 

“The evidence is overwhelming that the majority of people on the street are there because of untreated mental illness or addiction, which leads people to use all their money to support their drug habit and be high, rather than work,” Shellenberger continues. “People who can’t afford the rent but are able to work and aren’t in the grip of addiction or untreated mental illness find a cheaper place to live, move somewhere cheaper, or live with family and friends.”

There are 52 “politically appointed commissioners” on San Francisco’s five homelessness oversight commissions, according to The Standard.

The report alleges that those commissioners failed to discover “several recent high-profile cases” in which homelessness nonprofits “either misused funds or mismanaged service delivery.”

The Standard links to their own reporting on such mismanagement. 

San Francisco spends over $100,000 per year per homeless person to keep them addicted to fentanyl for as long as they can until they die. It’s a good deal for the nonprofit leaders who earn $350 – $679k/year in salaries to run the city’s program of murdering the mentally ill. pic.twitter.com/KULuHF0TgT

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) July 7, 2025

Baker Places and Positive Resource Center asked San Francisco for millions in emergency funding months after receiving $1.2 million in emergency funding, the Standard reported in October 2022, citing sources inside city hall. 

Then there’s the United Council of Human Services, under investigation for alleged mismanagement of funds. San Francisco reportedly wasn’t aware that the homeless nonprofit had its nonprofit status suspended. 

San Francisco was set to spend $1.7 million on a single public toilet, the San Francisco Chronicle reported in Oct. 2022.

The toilet opened in April 2024, according to NBC Bay Area, and “actually only cost the city around $300,000 after two companies donated materials and installation.”

Nevertheless, plenty of San Francisco residents prefer to do their business on public sidewalks.

The city also shelled out more than $8,500 per park bench, according to the Chronicle. At least those funds came from a donation.

A 2024 statewide audit concluded that two of California’s five homelessness programs were cost-effective. Auditors were “unable to fully assess” the other three programs because California “has not collected sufficient data on the programs’ outcomes.”

California allocated $24 billion for “homelessness and housing” from 2018-19 through 2022-23, according to the report. 

Hey, who hasn’t lost a billion or two between the couch cushions?

California funds Continuums of Care (CoCs), public and private organizations which are “charged with promoting and implementing evidence-based, best, promising, and emerging practices for preventing and ending homelessness.” 

“In multiple CoCs statewide we found a small number of likely fictitious clients,” auditors reported.

“We identified more than 100 enrollment records with client names such as ‘Mickey Mouse,’ ‘Super Woman,’ or a name indicating it was a test client, such as ‘Test Participant.’”

Poor Mickey. Fame is a cruel mistress.

Gavin Newsom’s lawless California: Beloved social worker is executed by crazed homeless dude after he was asked to stop openly smoking fentanyl in front of families at the San Francisco library https://t.co/Gs7dgYgWLy pic.twitter.com/jeBGSE2n3F

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) October 8, 2025

San Francisco lists about 116 active commissions and boards, as of Aug. 15. Those include the LGBTQI+ Advisory Committee, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission on Aging Advisory Council, the Food Security Task Force, the Immigrants Rights Commission, and the Sugary Drinks Distributor Tax Advisory Commission. (RELATED: ‘No More Excuses’: Gov. Newsom Asks California Cities To Ban Homeless Encampments)

The Commission Streamlining Task Force is tasked with evaluating the other commissions on the list.

A place to start?

The Access Appeals Commission cancelled 19 meetings in 2024. They held 5.

Follow Natalie Sandoval on X: @NatSandovalDC