Mayor Lurie Takes New Steps to Keep San Franciscans on Critical Food Assistance After Federal Cuts
Presione Soltar
SAN FRANCISCO – Mayor Daniel Lurie today launched the CalFresh Community Works Program, a new effort to keep San Franciscans connected to critical food assistance as federal cuts take effect. After cuts passed in Washington last year put tens of thousands of San Franciscans at risk of losing CalFresh benefits they rely on to put food on the table, this new program run by the San Francisco Human Services Agency (SFHSA) will identify opportunities for residents to meet new work requirements to retain those benefits. Based on current caseload data, SFHSA estimates that approximately 17,000 individuals will be subject to CalFresh work requirements and will require support to meet them or risk losing their benefits.
Facing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal cuts to healthcare through H.R. 1, Mayor Lurie made significant investments to strengthen the city’s social safety net in this year’s budget, including $34 million to help San Franciscans stay enrolled in Medi-Cal and CalFresh benefits. He also made major investments in the budget to keep youth and families housed, including through new investments in homelessness prevention, while establishing a new reserve with $100 million to prepare for additional expected federal and state cuts to homelessness, housing, and healthcare. And through Mayor Lurie’s Family Opportunity Agenda, San Francisco will be the first city in the country to ensure every family has access to childcare .
“Washington is trying to kick families off the healthcare and food assistance that many of our neighbors rely on. In San Francisco, we are strengthening our social safety net, helping people meet the new requirements, and supporting our communities at the same time,” said Mayor Lurie. “By connecting San Franciscans to these opportunities, we can help people put food on the table for their families and come together with community-based organizations to make our city safer, cleaner, healthier. In our city, we are stepping up, solving problems, and looking out for another—and we are not leaving anyone behind.”
Through a new request for proposals (RFP) launched today, SFHSA is seeking proposals from nonprofit organizations to coordinate opportunities for San Franciscans to meet new work requirements and maintain their CalFresh benefits. The selected organization(s) will support nonprofit host sites under the CalFresh Community Works Program, where people who rely on CalFresh can satisfy new work requirements. The RFP is funded through a combination of city and federal resources.
Passed by Congress in July 2025, H.R. 1 expanded work requirements for CalFresh, which provides monthly food benefits to low-income individuals and families. Beginning in June 2026, CalFresh adults aged 18-64 who can work and do not have children under the age of 14 must meet monthly work requirements to maintain their benefits. If they do not meet these requirements or qualify for an exemption, participants are limited to only three months of CalFresh benefits over a 36-month period.
“The federal changes under H.R. 1 risk pushing between 25,000 and 50,000 of our neighbors into deeper hardship—not by eliminating benefits but by making public benefits harder to keep,” said Trent Rhorer, SFHSA Executive Director. “At a time when these work requirements are creating new barriers to keeping CalFresh, we are focused on developing tools and supports that make it easier for clients to find information, connect to services, and stay enrolled in the benefits for which they are legally entitled.”
One way that CalFresh recipients can meet work requirements is by participation in “workfare,” a structured work activity performed at a public or private nonprofit worksite in exchange for benefits. With no job readiness requirements, participants can engage quickly in structured, community-based work activities—offering a low-barrier way for participants to meet work requirements and maintain CalFresh benefits.
SFHSA plans to employ a “hub-and-spoke” model for the CalFresh Community Works Program, where one or more coordinating organizations will serve as a centralized administrative hub responsible for developing and supporting a portfolio of CalFresh Community Works Program host sites across San Francisco. These host sites will offer assignments that support the participant’s development of marketable skills while fulfilling their work requirements and contributing to the city’s communities.
The deadline to respond to the CalFresh Community Works Program RFP is July 29, 2026, at 3:00 PM. Questions regarding the RFP or should be directed to SFHSA contracts at Candace.Gray@sfgov.org y HSARFP@sfgov.org . The pre-proposal conference will take place virtually on July 14, 2026, at 10:00 AM. The tentative notice for the RFP award is August 2026.
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