San Francisco Lawmakers Move to Establish $50 Million Reparations Bureaucracy 

The Office of Reparations Would Oversee Distribution of $5 Million to Every Black Person in the City

This week, San Francisco authorities suggested using $50 million in tax-funded resources to create an Office of Reparations that would guarantee that the city’s black residents get payments amounting to $5 million per individual.

San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton proposed creating this office to guarantee that the African American Reparations Advisory Committee’s vision is carried out when it makes its final recommendations in June. Walton, who established the committee in 2020, enlisted support from fellow progressive supervisors Hillary Ronen and Dean Preston. The proposal’s vote by the Board of Supervisors hasn’t been determined yet.

This proposition is expected to dismiss any residual doubts about San Francisco’s congressional representatives’ commitment to the city’s radical and highly disputed reparations plan. Recently, the full board of supervisors voiced support for a draft plan recommending that each of the city’s black residents receive a payment of $5 million. If approved, this proposed office’s creation would increase the city’s financial burden. San Francisco faces a budget shortfall of $728 million, which the Mayor warns is likely to worsen as businesses and taxpayers leave the city.

The committee also proposed subsidizing real estate to enable San Francisco’s black residents to purchase homes for as little as $1. The committee suggested giving today’s low-income black families 250 years of $97,000 in annual payments and discharging all debts held by black residents.

Last week, San Francisco authorities labeled taxpayers’ opposition to the task force plan as racist. Proponents of reparations urged policymakers and the public not to worry about costs. According to the Hoover Institution’s analysis, this proposal, as it stands, would cost each San Francisco household nearly $600,000.

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman referred to his constituents’ concerns as an “overheated and irrational response” to the reparations task force proposals.

“It’s not something we’re doing or would do for other people,” Mandelman said. “It’s something we would do for our collective future, everybody’s future, and the generations to come.”

California is also in the process of advancing its own reparations plan, which could result in $360,000 payments to eligible residents. However, the state’s reparations task force hasn’t yet decided the figure or who among the 2.5 million black California residents would qualify.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will cast their votes on the reparation’s committee’s final recommendations in September. Legislators delayed voting on the draft plan for a month after Walton partied at a local Hooters in Colombia, where he was stranded.