His executive directive provides the most comprehensive plan to date about how the mayor's team will use those tools and a timeline for accomplishing specific goals.
The executive action, called "Breaking the Cycle," expands on Lurie's fentanyl ordinance that gives his office new powers for addressing the city's drug epidemic. The Board of Supervisors passed the ordinance 10-1 last month, temporarily relinquishing some of their oversight powers for the city's contracts and lease agreements related to the issues of homelessness, mental health and drugs.
At a Monday press conference, Lurie said the overarching objective is to more effectively get people off the street and connected to recovery services while preventing more people from becoming unhoused.
"I believe our city must be judged by how we care for our most vulnerable residents," Lurie said. "Breaking the cycle includes immediate steps and long-term reforms that will allow us to coordinate more effectively across departments make policies rooted in evidence and reliable data, and hold ourselves accountable for outcomes."
MORE: With new powers, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie announces 1st project to address fentanyl crisis
SF Mayor Lurie announces 1st project to address fentanyl crisis
This comes as more than 8,000 people experience homelessness nightly in San Francisco, according to 2024's "point-in-time" count, and 51% of those individuals self-report behavioral health challenges.
Lurie's executive directive is broken up into three stages: goals within the next 100 days, six months and one year.
In the first 100 days, the plan includes restructuring its various street outreach teams, which are run by several different city departments, in order to consolidate the teams and increase coordination. According to his office, the street teams will become more strategically focused on certain neighborhoods and will focus on enforcement, treatment and cleaning.
Lurie also wants a reassessment of policies for handing out drug paraphernalia, such as items used for smoking fentanyl. This does not include clean needle exchange programs, which the mayor's office says are supported by "longstanding evidence-based public health interventions."
Within six months, the mayor is vowing to add 1,500 interim housing and treatment beds, increase and improve case management services, and establish new accountability standards for existing health and homelessness services; those will include minimum qualifications, clear objectives and performance tracking.
POLL: 43% of San Franciscans say things in city are headed in 'right direction'
"We will take a hard look at our funding streams and our relationships with nonprofit providers to make sure we are getting the most from the $1 billion we spend on this crisis every single year," Lurie said. "If we don't at least try to fix those failing systems, we can't point the finger at someone else when nothing changes."
And after one year, the mayor's office has the goal of maximizing state, federal and local funding sources, improving technological systems for data tracking of efficacy, and examining the organizational structure of the city's programs that deal with these issues. He also wants to use it to bolster workforce development and economic self-sufficiency programming to help more people become independent.
San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey applauded the strategy at Monday's press conference.
"Make no mistake, Mayor Lurie's directive is taking aim at some sacred cows including harm reduction and homeless spending," he said. "What we're prioritizing frankly deserves scrutiny because this is these are approaches that need to be held to account for why they're not producing better outcomes."
ABC7 News asked Lurie how these initiatives will be funded, considering his fentanyl ordinance also allows the mayor's office to solicit donations from philanthropies and individuals in the private sector.
"We have to take a fine tooth comb and look at every dollar that we spend. And that's what we're going to do. It's not a matter of resources. It's a matter of how we're spending our dollars. We're going to get more effective and efficient at how we spend those dollars. So, no, this shouldn't cost us more," he said.
Reaction to Lurie's plan
Community reacts to SF Mayor Lurie's homelessness plan
Before his announcement, Mayor Lurie visited The Salvation Army Harbor Light Center where they offer a 6-month program with over 50% success.
"Having focus on recovery-based options, I think it's long term, a better solution and a better policy directive. I think it's better for the community when we see people succeeding and doing well and reaching for the best of themselves as opposed to maintaining some status quo of survival," said Adrian Maldonado, program director for Salvation Army's Harbor Light.
Mothers Against Drug Addiction and Deaths support the city's new initiative that will not only aim at keeping people alive but lead them to help.
"That is what every mother wants for their kid. If they happen to be homeless and addicted to get them into recovery and so they can exist into independence," said Ellen Grantz of Mothers Against Drug Addiction and Deaths.
It's still unclear what the time limit will be for people to accept or deny help. Stanford University professor Humphrey is hopeful about this plan but knows that's an issue that will come up.
"We've had a hard time finding that balance in the city of San Francisco many people feel ideologically it's just uncomfortable to put pressure on people but on the other hand if you contrast that with letting them live in a tent using meth and fentanyl all day we know where that ends that is not particularly compassionate either," said Professor Humphreys.