Voters approve Prop C plan to tackle homeless crisis in SF

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Voters approve Prop C plan to tackle homeless crisis in SF

A plan to tackle San Francisco's homeless crisis, that became one of the Bay Area's biggest battles in the November elections, has been approved.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A plan to tackle San Francisco's homeless crisis, that became one of the Bay Area's biggest battles in the November elections, has been approved.

>>> California and Bay Area election results here

>>> National election results here

Prop C will impose a tax on the gross receipts of companies with more than $50 million in annual revenue and use that money to expand homeless services. It will help collect $300 million a year, nearly doubling what the city now spends on homeless services.

The debate of this proposition divided city leaders and even sparked social media showdowns between some of the most prominent tech CEO's, including Salesforces's Marc Benioff, Twitter's Jack Dorsey, and Zynga's Mark Pincus.

Benioff has been the most outspoken supporter of Prop C in the business community.

"Unfortunately, some CEOs still are myopic & believe that they have a fiduciary duty to shareholders alone, with little or no responsibility to the communities in which they do business," he tweeted on Friday. "I see business as the greatest platform for change."

Salesforce would pay $10 to $11 million a year under the proposition, according to Benioff.

The criticism of Prop C centered on two main issues -- that it would impact companies in different ways and that it just throws money at an issue without a good framework to make sure the money is managed and spent in a responsible way.

Mayor London Breed spoke openly about that latter issue and is against the proposition.

Twitter's Dorsey backed the mayor's position in a tweet last month.

"While I understand an influx of cash is attractive, the mayor has said she doesn't have the accountability or controls she needs to manage it well. Ultimately, she is the only one on the hook to make this work. If she doesn't feel she can, we need to listen and understand why," he tweeted.

One of Dorsey's other companies, Stripe, explained their opposition this way:

"We're happy to pay higher taxes as part of doing so, a position we've made clear from the start. If homelessness was just a question of money, this issue would already be solved. While well-intentioned, it is San Francisco's largest-ever tax increase, and comes with no systemic changes or effective accountability."

Zynga Pincus was a bit more blunt.

"Prop C is the dumbest, least thought out prop ever."

Pincus & Benioff have been going at each other over Twitter for the last several weeks, including this latest exchange on Monday:

The question that many have speculated about Prop C: if voters approve it, how will the business community respond?

There's been speculation that some businesses may leave the city, but one of the biggest Prop C opponents, Dorsey, does not seem to be mulling that option.

"Wow, would really hate to leave SF. I'd like us to stay here and help fix the crisis," he said.

Take a look at full coverage on the 2018 election here.

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