Tech Workers Speak Out in Support of Prop C!

When: Tuesday, 10/9 at 12pm

Where: Chamber of Commerce, 235 Montgomery St

San Francisco, CA – Tech workers are gathering for a rally and press conference in front of the Chamber of Commerce to speak out in support of Our City, Our Home and to demonstrate their disappointment at Mayor Breed’s opposition to this proposal to address the homeless crisis. They will be joined by formerly or currently homeless community leaders to speak on why Prop C is the solution that San Francisco needs for homelessness.

“This measure will help tech companies and their employees,” said Dana Sniezko, an engineer in San Francisco. “The revenue raised will make the city a better place to live and work by reducing the number of people living on the streets, addressing mental health needs, and creating public bathrooms and showers. Prop C also invests heavily in rental assistance, preventing homelessness before it starts.”

Sam Heft-Luthy, a product manager at a company affected by the measure, also expressed concern at corporations and big businesses putting profit margins over people.

“The goal of Prop C isn’t to drive business away, but rather to say that investing in San Francisco means investing in the whole city — and that includes not just affluent tech workers, but also our most vulnerable residents. Major companies should feel proud that the cost of doing business here includes helping to really, meaningfully, address the homelessness crisis,” said Sam Heft-Luthy. “Any corporate representatives putting resources forward to stop this measure should take a moment to reflect on what you’re doing. Think about how you’re coming across and whether this is the fight you really want to have.”

Prop C takes a multifaceted approach with a major focus on housing and shelter. It would create 4,000 units of supportive housing and 1,000 shelter beds, effectively ending our city’s wait list for shelter. New mental health and substance abuse treatment services will help to stabilize thousands of people. New bathrooms and drop-in hygiene services will clean up our streets will help clean up our streets, and rental assistance programs will prevent 7,000 people from ever having to experience homeless.

“If we’re going to meaningfully address homelessness, we must spend money on building more housing,” said Darby Thomas, a product designer in San Francisco. “San Francisco has more than 7,500 homeless people but about 2,300 shelter beds — less than one for every three needed. The majority of our current homeless budget supports permanent housing keeping people off the streets, but we just don’t have the resources we need.”

This rally and press conference will happen in front of the Chamber of Commerce