San Francisco, CA
SF supervisors grill health dept. on 400 mental health treatment beds promised in 2021
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The San Francisco Board of Supervisors budget and finance committee on Wednesday questioned the health department on the effectiveness of their planned treatment bed expansion plan.
For two hours, San Francisco supervisors questioned the city’s public health department for two hours mostly asking where the treatment beds were.
“It sounds like for most of the beds for people with severe behavioral health needs – those are ‘as needed’ beds and we have no idea. In school they talk about butts in seats. We have no idea based on the numbers we are looking at today, how many San Franciscans with several health needs are in those ‘as needed’ beds?,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman during the budget and finance committee on Wednesday.
In 2021, San Francisco announced a plan to add 400 new treatment beds for mental health and addiction treatment. On Wednesday, the city’s health department said they expansion has led to a total of 2,550 treatment beds, but Supervisor Mandelman said their numbers may not be accurate.
“They had a plan to add 400 additional beds. They believed and they are telling us that they are close to having added those beds but they have some key foot notes that are concerning to us. One is 15-20% of those beds may be unavailable because of staffing challenges,” said Supervisor Mandelman.
MORE: SF to implement state’s CARE Court program to treat severe mental health disorders
The public health department said the staffing shortage is part of a nationwide staffing crisis for mental health professionals.
“In terms of the intersection between impact of staffing on ‘as needed’ beds – we don’t know that. Meaning we apply for a placement. The facility accepts or doesn’t accept and we don’t track if they are not accepting,” said Hillary Kunins, director of San Francisco’s Behavioral Health Services during the meeting.
When it comes to getting treatment beds San Francisco competes with other counties for access.
“Particularly for the highest levels of beds the competition is fierce. We have never replaced the state mental health hospitals that have been closed. There are these private facilities that are sort of providing but there are not nearly enough beds for the needs of all the counties, and San Francisco has a lot of need,” said Supervisor Mandelman.
The Salvation Army’s Harbor Light Center has 136 beds. The city funds 65 of those beds. They are urging the public health department to pay for more treatment beds within the city.
MORE: Why accessing drug addiction treatment is so hard in San Francisco
“We have basically 50 to 60 beds open that the city can purchase today,” said Adrian Maldonado, director of the Salvation Army’s detox facility, called the Harbor Light Center.
Luz Pena: “You are saying they are empty?”
Adrian Maldonado: “They are empty. If they chose to do thatm we can then fill up harbor light. If people stop using dope, they are not in crisis in the street. They don’t go to the emergency room. They don’t have the police coming to arrest them.”
Supervisor Mandelman wants the city to change its plan for treatment beds
“I think we need to own more of those buildings ourselves and if we have excess we share them with other counties,” said Supervisor Mandelman.
MORE: Will Prop. 1 help solve CA homelessness? Experts weigh in on $6B bond for mental health facilities
The need for treatment beds in San Francisco is climbing and according to experts mental illness among the unhoused population across California is as high as 80%.
“I talk to my colleagues across the country and we are seeing really substantial demand for resources that include medical but go well beyond medical particularly those who are experiencing homelessness. Those who are experiencing behavioral issues and even more so perhaps when they overlap,” said Dr. Christopher Colwell, chief of Emergency Medicine at Zuckerberg SF General Hospital.
After Wednesday ‘s committee meeting, supervisors are planning to request a follow up with the department of public health for more clarity.
We asked the San Francisco Public Health Department how many beds are “empty.” In an email, they said:
“To view bed capacity and availability for someone seeking substance use or mental health treatment, please visit at: https://findtreatment-sf.org/.
The majority of beds are utilized. However, Behavioral Health staffing challenges are a federal, state, and local issue and we know that staffing has intermittent impacts on service availability. However, we have seen increases in clients served in our bed expansion in a number of areas including substance use disorder residential, substance use disorder residential step-down, and in withdrawal management, psychiatric respite, drug sobering programs and facilities.”
In their presentation, the health department broke down the bed expansion:
“Additional bed expansion projects in progress include:
– Additional Enhanced Dual Diagnosis (18 beds)
– Transition-Age Youth Residential (10 beds)
– Crisis Diversion (16 beds)
– Dual Diagnosis Women’s Therapeutic Residence for Justice-Involved
– Women (33 beds)
– SUD Stabilization (20 beds)
– Other projects pending approval of Behavioral Health Bridge Housing spending plan”
If you’re on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live
Copyright © 2024 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Pride kicks off with rainbow lasers, ValQueeries celebrate at Valkyries Pride Night
San Francisco kicked off Pride weekend with the return of the Market Street Pride lasers, while the Golden State Valkyries celebrated Pride Night alongside the ValQueeries, an LGBTQ fan group building community through basketball.
San Francisco, CA
Newlyweds celebrate Pride-themed weddings inside SF City Hall as parade preparations underway
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — On Friday in San Francisco, hundreds of newlyweds began the next chapter of their love story at City Hall.
As they got married inside, Pride preparations were also underway outside of City Hall.
These Pride-themed City Hall weddings were all happening as the setup for the Pride celebration at Civic Center were wrapping up in preparation for Pride Saturday and Sunday.
More than 250 couples arrived for Pride Friday, some of them getting commemorative Pride marriage licenses.
2026 SAN FRANCISCO PRIDE PARADE: How to watch exclusively on ABC7, what to know
Couples like Chris Parker and Jared Duensing got a very special officiant: San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.
“This is such a wonderful day, and so happy to finally be married after four years of knowing each other in such a wonderful location. Being married by the mayor was so special,” said newlywed Chris Parker.
“Just happy and excited for those couples, and I’m happy and excited for our city to show off what makes San Francisco so great — and our LGBTQ+ community is a huge part of why San Francisco is so special,” Lurie said.
All of this leads to a huge weekend in San Francisco.
The stage being set up just outside of City Hall will mark the end of the parade route — but there’s a lot happening before that.
MORE: San Francisco Pride insiders reveal their must-know tips for the weekend
On Friday afternoon, the annual Trans March takes place at Dolores Park.
On Saturday, both the Trans Ally March and Rally and the Dyke March will take place.
On Saturday, performers will start taking the stage at Civic Center Plaza starting at noon.
All of this, of course, is leading up to Sunday’s big parade when thousands will line Market Street.
Zach Fuentes will be hosting SF Pride Parade coverage only on ABC7 Eyewitness News this Sunday with Drew Tuma, Cameron Bopp and Tara Campbell — as well as with our community guest hosts.
Copyright © 2026 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.
San Francisco, CA
I own a Turkish Restaurant in San Francisco. Turkey’s World Cup match here has changed my business.
This as-told-to essay is based on an interview with Aziz Aslan, 45, the owner of Turquaz, a Turkish restaurant on Mission Street in San Francisco. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I opened my Turkish restaurant, Turquaz, in San Francisco in February 2025. Typically, most of our customers are locals, and Turkish diners make up a small minority.
But Turkey’s World Cup appearance in San Francisco has brought a different type of customer through our doors.
Over the past week, we’ve had far more Turkish customers dine with us. Reservations are up, walk-in traffic has increased, and we’ve hired additional staff to keep up with demand.
Gabriela Hasbun for BI
Turkey qualifying for the World Cup changed my business
As soon as we heard that San Francisco would be one of the World Cup host cities, we were thrilled. We knew it would bring visitors to the city, and potentially new customers to our restaurant.
At that point, we didn’t yet know whether Turkey would qualify.
Gabriela Hasbun for BI
In March, Turkey secured its place in the tournament, and we later learned the team would be playing at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on June 20. That’s when I knew we needed to start preparing for the tournament.
Over the last few weeks, we launched targeted advertising campaigns on social media. One Instagram post was written in Turkish. In another, we told visitors that wherever they were traveling from, if they were looking for good food, they should come to us. It helped spread the word about our restaurant.
Gabriela Hasbun for BI
Most of my customers aren’t usually Turkish
I’m originally from Istanbul, although I’ve been in the Bay Area for about 10 years. Compared with places like New York and New Jersey, there aren’t as many Turkish people in this part of California.
Usually, our customers come from a wide range of backgrounds, with Turkish people making up only 5% to 10% of those who dine with us.
With our usual customers, our most popular dishes are chicken kebabs and lahmacun, a flatbread topped with minced meat, vegetables, and herbs. We’re a traditional Turkish kitchen, and our pastry section is popular as well, especially our fresh baklava.
Gabriela Hasbun for BI
In recent weeks, however, we’ve had a lot of Turkish customers, which is unusual for us. Some have come from places like New Jersey and Texas, while others have flown in from Istanbul, all to watch Turkey play.
Turkey’s World Cup match in San Francisco has changed who our customers are and what they’re ordering. Dishes like beans and braised meats aren’t as popular with our usual clientele, but we’re selling a lot more of them now because of our Turkish customers.
Gabriela Hasbun for BI
They’ve been ordering foods like white beans with pilaf, braised meat with pilaf, and salads, all of which are really traditional dishes. Turkish customers can be tough critics because they’re comparing our food to what they have back home, but I feel confident in our food, and we’ve received compliments so far.
It hasn’t really affected our stock, thankfully. We have good inventory management, and my warehouse for the wholesale food business is only a short drive away, so we can pick up products whenever we need.
We’ve hired extra staff to meet demand
To prepare for the World Cup, we’ve had to hire additional employees. On top of the 24 staff members we already had, we added three more because of increasing demand. The staff is also working longer hours than usual.
Gabriela Hasbun for BI
For Turkey’s first match, against Australia, we didn’t do anything special, other than create a football-shaped cake. We decided to host watch parties for Turkey’s second and third matches because customers kept asking for them. We set up a big screen for fans to watch together.
I think the World Cup is giving Turkish people a reason to gather, reconnect, and talk about soccer.
I hope the World Cup leaves a lasting impact
The first few months of opening a restaurant are never easy. We spent them getting things set up, perfecting our recipes, and building awareness. We’re still a relatively new restaurant, so it’s been encouraging to see this positive momentum from the World Cup.
Gabriela Hasbun for BI
The city feels busy. You can see it on the streets. There’s an energy in San Francisco right now that’s having a positive effect on businesses like ours, and I hope we can keep that going.
Of course, the World Cup is a one-time event, but we’ll do our best to serve these customers well. If we can meet their expectations, I hope they’ll come back.
And who knows? Maybe the Turkish national team will stop by for a meal before the tournament is over. I’m still holding out hope.
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