Kunal Modi

Chief of Health & Human Services for San Francisco

[The New York Times @nytimes]

In @nytopinion

San Francisco was a model of Democratic governance gone wrong, but under a new mayor, it seems to have turned a corner, writes German Lopez. “The transformation is in its early stages, but what I saw in San Francisco was promising.” https://t.co/DbH1BFXVOQ

[Kunal Modi @kunalmodi]

The RESET Center is our first performance based contract for public health or homeless services. It will fill the gap between jail and emergency rooms, to tackle public drug use and create a new assertive treatment path.

Our new contractor, Arizona-based Connections Health Solutions, will be paid based upon performance against clear metrics:
1. Officer turnaround time
2. Operational staffing levels
3. Retention and conversion to treatment

We need more accountability and better results in our contracted spend. This is a start, and a preview of more to come.

[San Francisco Chronicle @sfchronicle]

That contract ties the center’s funding to the speed and outcome of its services, in an attempt to make the city’s public health and homelessness services more effective and accountable. https://t.co/YNbyyKn9tw

[Kunal Modi @kunalmodi]

Recovery is possible with high quality programs like Hope House, run by our partners at @salvationarmysf @TheWayOutSF. It’s just one example of the changes SF is making to help people break cycles of addiction and homelessness, and reclaim their lives.

[Salvation Army SF @salvationarmysf]

Hope House is the only abstinence-based shelter in SF history. On days like this, seeing participants enjoying the park together is a beautiful reminder that recovery, new beginnings, and brighter futures are possible. Recovery 1st! @TheWayOutSF

[Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 @DanielLurie]

Today we launched reforms to Journey Home, turning it into a 24/7, citywide reunification and relocation program.

Journey Home helps people experiencing homelessness reconnect with family or relocate to a stable destination outside San Francisco—safely, voluntarily, and with real support.

This program brings together what were once separate efforts into one unified, citywide system that works when people are ready—any time, day or night. With 24/7 relocation assistance, travel planning, and follow-up support, we’re moving people off the streets and onto a path toward true stability.

[Kunal Modi @kunalmodi]

We are opening the Rapid Enforcement, Support, and Triage (RESET) Center this spring. This joint @SheriffSF @SF_DPH center has 3 goals:
(1) disrupt public drug use
(2) enable 15 min PD officer turnaround time
(3) offer drug addicts a real shot at treatment

The RESET Center will work alongside a new continuum of addiction, mental health, and recovery beds we have stood up: 822 Geary crisis 24/7 crisis stabilization center, high acuity shelter for post 5150 discharge, 14 day RESTORE shelter beds that mandate medicated treatment initiation, and over 200 drug free recovery beds. The Center is informed by learnings from the mobile triage center. Thanks to @mattdorsey for your partnership.

There are no silver bullets in the fight against fentanyl, but we are making progress. Tent encampments, overdose numbers, treatment starts, and drug seizures are all moving in the right direction. The RESET will add to that progress.

https://t.co/aQLa61kAHT

[Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 @DanielLurie]

In San Francisco, we are doubling capacity to care for people with severe mental health and behavioral health challenges, helping them get on a path to stability. 

These new locked beds at San Francisco’s General Hospital will give people the treatment and support they need, helping us move faster to connect individuals to the right level of care. This is a major step in strengthening our behavioral health system, and I’m grateful to @SF_DPH Director Dan Tsai, our partners, our frontline workers, and everyone helping us bring this expansion to life.

[Kunal Modi @kunalmodi]

We’re filling the gaps in our streets-to-care flow so people in visible crisis get connected to treatment — instead of cycling between the ER, jail, and our streets. There’s much more work ahead, but this new site is working — an example of how we’re tackling a long-standing problem with new solutions. More to come.
https://t.co/nGFc4zIOmn

[Kunal Modi @kunalmodi]

The State of California has allocated more than $24 billion to homelessness and housing programs since 2019, and none of it went to recovery housing. If someone is breaking their fentanyl addiction, and we as taxpayers are investing to house them and support their recovery, we shouldn’t force them to live in a building that allows illicit drug use and increases the risk of relapse. It’s just common sense.

Right now, California Housing code 8255 says that no state funded homelessness housing program can prohibit illicit drug use as a condition of housing. Today, 26% of overdose deaths in SF happen in publicly funded Permanent Supportive Housing for formerly homeless. Through AB255, we sought a very modest, common sense change to allow up to 10% of our state funded housing to go towards program participants who are committed to not using illicit drugs.

We are trying to invest in recovery housing in SF, and we need Sacramento’s support. The Governor’s veto letter, while disappointing, indicates an openness to additional guidance to allow recovery housing under 8255. We will keep working constructively with state partners to make recovery housing a reality in SF - it’s what our crisis demands.

https://t.co/DC9NZBkvo1

[Keith Humphreys @KeithNHumphreys]

SF ‘trying to diversify’ opioid response with recovery emphasis https://t.co/nAJC608KVk via @sfexaminer

[TheWayOutSF @TheWayOutSF]

We are proud to announce that Hope House, San Francisco’s first clean and sober shelter is now open and taking participants. @salvationarmysf is leading the recovery movement in San Francisco. @DanielLurie @kunalmodi @SteveAdami @Twolfrecovery
https://t.co/RPD4klQDvY

[Kunal Modi @kunalmodi]

This op-ed by @KeithNHumphreys on mandatory treatment for those most acutely unwell on our streets isn’t provocative, it’s pragmatic. Leaving people to die on our streets in the grips of addiction is not compassionate or in anyone’s public health interest.

Mandated treatment means caring enough about those who are folded over, confused, or running into the street to compel them into treatment, and feeling the responsibility to ensure that treatment is available and works.

It also means caring enough about the children who walk by those people in crisis and are observing how the adults in our community respond.

Public health must focus on the whole public, both how we care for those in crisis, as well as the lessons we teach, or the trauma we inflict upon, the young children watching.

The crisis on our streets was decades in the making and we are trying to bring much together to turn it around. That includes: Enforcement on drug markets, capital funding for new facility infrastructure, operators who can support the right programming, and policy reform to enable pathways into treatment. But that’s the work ahead, because the status quo isn’t working and everyone deserves better.

[Keith Humphreys @KeithNHumphreys]

https://t.co/YBqcsmJygg

[Kunal Modi @kunalmodi]

We are proud to partner with the @salvationarmysf @TheWayOutSF to help more people break cycles of homelessness and addiction and achieve lasting recovery and stability

[TheWayOutSF @TheWayOutSF]

We are excited to announce that in the next few weeks in conjunction with @salvationarmysf, we will be opening "Hope House." San Francisco’s first abstinence based shelter for the homeless. Leaving your addiction behind is a huge first step to recovery! @SteveAdami

[Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 @DanielLurie]

Today I signed legislation that will address RV homelessness, help our families, and restore public spaces in San Francisco.

When I first began working with groups addressing family homelessness in 2005, I met parents doing everything they could to give their kids a better life.

Over the past 20 years and now as mayor, I’ve seen that same drive—parents fighting for stability, for permanent housing, for a real foundation.

Life in an RV can’t offer that. It isolates families. It leaves them behind.

RV encampments also create challenges for our neighborhoods. Noisy generators with unsafe electrical hook ups. Bike lanes blocked by broken down vehicles. Wastewater dumped into sewers that create real public health hazards.

In a city with as many resources as ours, we can’t accept that.

As we’ve worked on this legislation, I kept coming back to parents. The parents living in vehicles deserve real options for raising their kids in safety and dignity. And the parents trying to walk down the street with their family deserve sidewalks that are clean, safe, and accessible.

This new RV legislation will deliver that.

It combines compassion with accountability. It creates a clear path to housing. And it gives our city the tools to clean up our neighborhoods and improve quality of life across San Francisco.

Under this new law, we will deploy specialized outreach teams. We will offer housing placements, family rapid rehousing subsidies, and vehicle buybacks—for families, seniors, and single adults who need a path off the streets. And we will put in place 2-hour citywide parking limits, enforced with compassion and consistency.

When necessary, residents living in large vehicles who are actively engaged in services will be eligible for a temporary parking permit while they transition into housing. But long-term RV encampments on our streets will no longer be tolerated.

I want to thank Supervisor Melgar, President @RafaelMandelman, @mattdorsey, @scsherrill, and the entire Board of Supervisors for their partnership in passing this legislation.

This legislation gives us a path forward on what has long felt like an intractable challenge.

Let’s meet this moment. Let’s move quickly. And let’s deliver the safer, cleaner, more dignified city that every San Franciscan deserves.

[Keith Humphreys @KeithNHumphreys]

Excellent overview of what the Lurie administration is doing about homelessness, addiction, and mental illness in San Francisco
https://t.co/FjAKSDYfJG

[Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 @DanielLurie]

Our schools must be focused on providing our kids with an excellent education and preparing them to succeed in their lives and careers.

While I would have liked to see the ethnic studies curriculum paused until the school district identified a better solution, I do feel that moving away from the old curriculum with a chance for students to opt out moves us closer to that goal and starts to put our school district’s focus back where it should be: on our core priorities for our kids. Superintendent Su and I agree that we can provide a thoughtful historical and cultural education as part of a high-quality academic experience.

In addition to the immediate changes to the ethnic studies curriculum for the upcoming school year, the district’s audit of ethnic studies will include a thorough review of the process that led us here. And I am hopeful that this year and moving forward, we will offer an effective program that aligns with local and state requirements and effectively serves our students across the entire district. If the district doesn’t identify a curriculum that meets those standards, they should pause it.

If our school district, like our city, gets back to basics and focuses on outcomes, we can give our children the high-quality education they deserve with the tools for success.

[Kunal Modi @kunalmodi]

@DarrenNorton20 @salvationarmysf @SteveAdami @Twolfrecovery @bettersoma @mattdorsey @garrytan @Benioff @RafaelMandelman @DanielLurie Darren, thank you for your partnership and your leadership in our community. The impact of your work will be felt for years to come.

[San Francisco Chronicle @sfchronicle]

Mayor Daniel Lurie’s new proposal, which would require approval by the Board of Supervisors, would give the mayor more flexibility to direct homeless funding toward the types of projects his administration is prioritizing to improve street conditions. https://t.co/izAL8ceyUr

[Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 @DanielLurie]

We owe our young people an education that prepares them to succeed. The proposed changes to grading at SFUSD would not accomplish that.

I have conveyed our view to SFUSD. We are optimistic that there is a better path forward for our kids and their future.

[Salvation Army SF @salvationarmysf]

Today, Westside Community Services, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, and The Salvation Army opened James Baldwin Place, an abstinence-based recovery housing program. Thank you, Westside Community Services for making us a partner in this meaningful project.

[Kunal Modi @kunalmodi]

Our new Neighborhood Street Teams are central to our efforts to improve street conditions. The key change is bringing 9 disparate outreach teams into one unified operating model. The below memo outlines initial learnings from the first 30 days of pilot operations.

What’s working well:
📋unified command structure under Dept of Emergency Management
🤝 tight coordination and real-time collaboration across law enforcement, paramedics, street medicine, social services, and public works
🎯 shared priorities, leading to faster triage and placements

What we’re working on:
🛏️ we don’t have enough of the right beds for higher acuity people (e.g., crisis stabilization, sobering, jail health services, MAT, locked subacute). Placing someone in the grips of addiction or mental health crisis into a congregate nav center or PSH unit without the right clinical staffing isn’t working. We need more of the right beds and need to evolve many existing beds.
🚌 journey home can work better
📊🧑‍💻tech and data: our team of teams approach means we need better collaboration tools, APIs across multiple systems of record, and better insights to drive daily decisions and track outcomes

Next steps: scale the model citywide, continuous improvement of daily operations, continue expansion of the “right beds”, refine portfolio of existing beds, journey home redesign, RFI for tech and data solutions (https://t.co/YYwagTwPYg)