In his first year as mayor of San Francisco, Daniel Lurie has called for bold interventions and policies to address homelessness, drug use, and public safety. Facing a $936 million projected deficit, he has ordered $400 million in cuts across the board, while promising to remain faithful to campaign priorities. A major focus of Lurie’s first year has been cleaning up the streetscape and reducing what his administration describes as “visible disorder,” including open-air drug use and homeless encampments.
To that end, the Lurie administration launched its “Breaking the Cycle” initiative in March 2025. Under the plan, city agencies have opened dozens of interim housing and recovery sites, with services ranging from short-term care to longer-term housing. According to a report by the city government, more than 10,300 people have moved from homelessness into permanent housing over the last two years.
A lifelong San Francisco resident, Marc C. ’27, has witnessed the effects of Lurie’s recent initiatives firsthand. “The city is generally cleaner, and there are fewer erratic individuals on the streets,” he said. “Open-air drug use outside of the Tenderloin has definitely decreased. You don’t really see it that much anymore.”
Marc stressed that the visible changes he described—particularly reductions in street disorder—should not be confused with greater improvements in public safety. “Those were never really a safety issue,” he noted. “It was more of a comfort issue.”
For Oliver A. ’26, however, Lurie’s first year has felt less like a shift in direction and more like a continuation of former Mayor London Breed’s leadership. “I don’t think he’s a very big departure from anything that the city has had in a long time,” he noted. “I’m really displeased with how both of them have run it.”
Oliver argued that both administrations have framed public safety around crime and disorder in fear-driven ways, often prioritizing policing and removal over long-term reform. In his view, that approach has come at the expense of structural solutions such as affordable housing, accessible mental-health care, and comprehensive addiction treatment.
“People can’t live in RVs in the city anymore. These are residents who have lived here for decades, who are now getting forced out in favor of tech bros. [Yet] instead of getting access to care, they are arrested and rounded up,” Oliver said.
While Lurie’s “Breaking the Cycle” initiative has expanded stabilization centers and shelter capacity, both Marc and Oliver questioned whether those interventions meaningfully change outcomes for unhoused residents. Marc noted that certain neighborhoods, such as the historically Black Hunters Point, were being left out of broader planning efforts.
“His solution to the homelessness crisis has been kind of pushing all the issues into one area of the city,” Marc said.
Similarly, Oliver criticized what he described as an increasingly punitive strategy on homelessness and crime.
“His approach has been upsetting,” he said. “I don’t think the tough-on-crime approach works. We need to be more thoughtful and treat every member of San Francisco as people, as neighbors, as our community.”
Concerns over Lurie’s agenda extend beyond homelessness policy. Despite the mayor’s framing of budget cuts as a strategic reallocation, labor unions and nonprofit service providers have warned that hiring freezes and reduced services could weaken emergency response, health services, and community-based safety programs.
Even with these criticisms, both Marc and Oliver acknowledged positive aspects of Lurie’s leadership. Oliver highlighted improvements in communication: “I think the biggest improvement has been [in the way] people think of the government and perceive the administration.”
Oliver similarly praised the mayor’s personal engagement with city residents. “He’s walking around, talking with people. I think he’s kind of embodied some of the positive aspects of almost like a small-town kind of mayor,” Oliver said.
Marc believes that Lurie’s leadership has “overall been a positive change.” Looking ahead, though, he emphasized the need for policies that go beyond surface-level improvements.
“Changing perception is one thing, but if the underlying crisis isn’t being solved, people aren’t really safer or better off.”
