SF Mayor Lee wants to expand homeless child care in the city

It may seem like a small amount of money in the overall effort to help the homeless in San Francisco, but to parents struggling to get back on their feet, free child care means everything.

To meet their needs, Mayor Ed Lee is expected to announce a proposed $2.1 million expansion of the city’s homeless child care program Friday, offering the first glimpse about what his priorities will be for the city’s $9.6 billion budget in the 2017-18 fiscal year. The funding would nearly double the number of homeless children receiving the help.

“Even though times are tight, this is a budget priority for him,” said September Jarrett, director of the Office of Early Care and Education. “We have so many unmet needs.”

The funding would add 140 slots to the program, which now serves about 150 children per year, eliminating the current wait-list of homeless children younger than 5 who need child care.

The program would cover up to $21,740 annually in home child care or day care centers for each child from birth to age 5. This year, the cost of the program is $2.7 million.

Child care is a necessity and often a challenge for any working parents, but especially those in the most difficult circumstances, like homelessness, the mayor said.

“If we don’t pay attention to that, there is no way they can work their way out of homelessness,” Lee said Thursday. “If we focus on that we can find relief for people.”

Single mother Jacky Evans is one of those people.

She was in a homeless shelter with her son, who turns 2 in August.

“In the beginning, the only income I had was CalWORKS (state welfare) and Social Security,” she said. “I wanted to get a job.”

With the free child care provided by the city program, Evans found not one job, but two, working as both a hotel desk clerk and for the Coalition on Homelessness.

She now lives in a residential hotel, but has her sights set on a larger, more stable home for her son and her older daughter, 13, who doesn’t live with her.

“No matter how many jobs I work, I’d never be able to afford child care,” she said. “If I don’t have child care, it means I’m not working.”

And for those who are homeless, trying to find a job, searching for a place to live, going to school or getting job training become impossible without affordable — or free — child care.

“You can’t do any of that if you don’t have somewhere safe for your children,” said Erica Kisch, executive director of Compass Family Services.

The free child care includes support from a specialist who helps find a high-quality provider that meets the needs of the family, Kisch said.

“It takes so much stress off the parent,” she said, “knowing that these centers are high quality, tested, tried and true, and while their children are there, they’re getting ... ready to be in kindergarten with their peers.”

The city program, created in 2005 under former Mayor Gavin Newsom, has only served children who initially signed up while in a homeless shelter, although services continue to age 5 even if the family finds more stable housing. The expansion would allow the city to serve families who are on the street, couch surfing, doubled up with other families or living in residential hotels.

And while there are state and federal child care subsidies available for some families, those programs require parents to jump through bureaucratic hoops, requiring information about employment activity and set income requirements, Jarrett said.

The city’s program has no red tape. The only caveat is that the home or center be verified as providing high-quality child care, she said.

“High-quality nurturing child care can be a game changer for families in homelessness,” Jarrett said. “It’s a value to the city. I think we get stability for families that are striving to get back on their feet.”