Mayor Lurie Launches Family Opportunity Agenda to Make San Francisco More Affordable for Families

SAN FRANCISCO – Mayor Daniel Lurie today launched his Family Opportunity Agenda—a wide-ranging action plan with steps to make housing, child care, education, food, health care, and transportation more affordable for San Franciscans and alleviate some of the largest expenses for families, young people, and workers. As part of the Family Opportunity Agenda, Mayor Lurie will launch a major expansion of child care assistance, ensuring that every family in San Francisco has access to child care, and introduce a new pilot program allowing high school students to earn associate degrees and industry certifications for free. 

The Family Opportunity Agenda builds on the progress made under Mayor Lurie’s administration to make San Francisco more affordable for working families. In December, the mayor signed his Family Zoning plan—a generational roadmap to create more housing so that the next generation of San Franciscans can afford to raise their children in the city they love. Last fall, when a federal shutdown threatened Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, Mayor Lurie partnered with the Board of Supervisors and philanthropic partners to ensure the 112,000 San Franciscans who rely on SNAP could still put food on the table and filled the gap in seven days. Since the start of his administration, the mayor has repeatedly taken steps to make the permitting process faster and simpler—saving homeowners and small business owners time and money. 

“Today marks the beginning of a powerful effort to reduce the cost of living for San Francisco families by tens of thousands of dollars each year. Our Family Opportunity Agenda takes on the biggest costs families face: housing, food, health care, transportation, education, and child care. We are launching an effort to make sure every family in San Francisco has access to child care,” said Mayor Lurie. “Our plan also expands opportunities for our students. In partnership with SFUSD, we’re launching a new pilot that allows high school students to earn associate degrees or industry certifications at City College—with a guaranteed transfer to SF State University. This will help them become nurses, police officers, Pre-K teachers, auto technicians, chefs, and more. We are going to empower San Francisco students with the tools and trade skills to earn good paying jobs and fulfill our city's most important workforce needs of the future. We’re committed to making San Francisco a place where families can stay, grow, and build their future.” 

Child Care and Education 

Under Mayor Lurie’s Family Opportunity Agenda, every San Francisco family with children under five years old will have access to child care—saving families as much as tens of thousands of dollars every year. The city will leverage unspent 2018 Proposition C (“Baby C”) dollars to expand free child care for low- and middle-income families at more than 500 high-quality providers across the city. A family of four making less than $230,000 a year will qualify for free child care, while those earning up to $310,000 a year will receive a 50% subsidy. The city has implemented quality standards for providers and introduced first-in-the-nation investments into educator wage subsidies that help attract and retain the talent essential for student success—leading to better outcomes for San Francisco kids, including an 11% increase in kindergarten readiness since 2021.

The city will continue to provide low- and no-cost after-school and summer enrichment programs at locations around the city through partner organizations funded by the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) and city departments like Recreation and Parks, helping working parents who need child care coverage that extends beyond the school day and year. 

To support San Francisco’s young people from their earliest years into their education and careers, the city will maintain its critical investments into the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and City College of San Francisco (CCSF). 

In partnership with SFUSD, San Francisco will launch a new pilot program enabling high school juniors at SFUSD schools to earn associate degrees and industry certifications through CCSF by graduation, with a guaranteed transfer to San Francisco State University for students wishing to continue their studies. While SFUSD students are currently able to dual enroll in CCSF to take courses, this expansion will initially allow roughly 100 rising SFUSD juniors to complete their degrees or credentials in fields that could range from construction to biotechnology and health care—preparing them for their next step, whether that is full-time college or a career. 

The city will continue to support tuition-free CCSF, opening doors to higher education and economic mobility without forcing students to take on debt. 

Housing and Transportation 

As rents rise and homeownership grows increasingly out of reach, Mayor Lurie’s Family Zoning plan creates capacity for more than 36,000 new homes in neighborhoods across the city—expanding supply by nearly 10% and giving more families access to San Francisco neighborhoods. 

San Francisco will also continue to build affordable housing, completing more than 1,000 affordable housing units and starting construction on over 700 more in 2025 —with 90% of those units for low and very low-income families. The city will aim to have affordable homes for an additional 2,800 San Francisco households complete or under construction by 2030. Under the Family Opportunity Agenda, San Francisco will maintain its nation-leading rent control and tenant protection laws. 

To assist those striving to build generational wealth and become homeowners, San Francisco will maintain a range of down payment and loan support programs serving educators and first responders who want to live in the communities they serve. The city will also continue to fight to bring down the cost of utilities and provide rental assistance for families experiencing displacement due to emergencies. 

After launching PermitSF to improve the permitting process and make it easier to open and grow a business, San Francisco will continue its work to cut red tape and ease bureaucratic burden as homeowners and business owners work with the city. San Franciscans will soon be able to apply for permits on the new cross--departmental permitting platform, enabling the city to work seamlessly and with greater transparency. 

Muni and BART are critical resources for San Francisco workers, students, and families going to school, to work, and home. Mayor Lurie’s Muni funding plan protects tenants, homeowners, and small businesses—ensuring that Muni not only survives this financial crisis but thrives for generations to come. It will also allow the SFMTA to improve and expand Muni service—building on high customer satisfaction rates to build ridership and maintain safe, reliable service citywide. 

The city will preserve free Muni for qualifying seniors and people with disabilities and continue to allow kids under the age of 18 to ride Muni for free, reducing commuting costs while supporting school attendance.  

Food and Health Care

Despite new federal work requirements and administrative hurdles, the city will implement programs aimed at helping vulnerable residents maintain access to critical benefits like CalFresh and Medi-Cal—including testing proactive outreach tools to make sure residents are aware when action is needed to renew their eligibility. 

The city will continue to provide access to high-quality food through community partners, especially in neighborhoods that are food deserts. And to keep San Franciscans safe and healthy, the city will streamline transitions to Healthy SF for families priced out of private insurance and use every tool available to make sure San Franciscans know that supports are available and can understand how to access them.  

“Investments in educators and child care subsidies are critical to our ability to offer a high-quality education to early learners that is accessible to families across San Francisco,” said Ilsa Miller, Pacific Primary Executive Director. “These expansions will make a meaningful difference to the families we serve.” 

“For families in the middle-income range, childcare costs are an enormous burden. This investment offers real relief,” said Sara O’Neill, Founder and Director of Slippery Fish Preschool. “Increasing tuition support and expanding eligibility means more children can access quality early learning environments like Slippery Fish, and we're grateful to the mayor and the city for making it happen.” 

“This continued investment is exactly what our childcare system needs. Families earning below 110% AMI have long relied on these supports, and expanding access shows that San Francisco is committed to building a system that works for everyone,” said Mark Ryle, Wu Yee Children’s Services CEO. “We’re thrilled to see the city make investments in our youngest learners—because when we invest in children and educators, we invest in the future of our communities.” 

“Affordable, high-quality child care is essential for families to stay in San Francisco, but the cost can make it really challenging. With the Family Opportunity Agenda, Mayor Lurie is making it possible for every family with young children to access care, supporting over 500 providers, and helping parents save money each year,” said Ingrid X. Mezquita, San Francisco Department of Early Childhood Executive Director. “The initiative also puts resources into early educators, so kids are better prepared for kindergarten, and families have more stability to stay and grow here. This is a big step toward making San Francisco a place where families can thrive.” 

“We are deeply grateful to Mayor Lurie for his leadership and continued support of San Francisco’s public schools,” said Dr. Maria Su, SFUSD Superintendent. “This partnership reflects our shared commitment to preparing students for college and careers, aligned with SFUSD’s student outcome goals. By expanding access to dual enrollment, associate degrees, and industry certifications, this initiative helps set students and families up for generational success. We look forward to continuing this collaboration to prepare San Francisco students for the future.” 

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