Name: Breed told SF’s jobless they could tap $138 million of their own money. Now they can’t
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Breed told SF’s jobless they could tap $138 million of their own money. Now they can’t

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Brittany Casciotti could really use the $17,147.94 that belongs to her, but she can’t touch it.That’s the amount employers have contributed on her behalf to two medical reimbursement accounts maintained by the city of San Francisco. Casciotti was laid off as a producer for Viacom CBS two weeks ago. Now, she’s among the .She figured the big chunk of money would be arriving any day considering Mayor London Breed announced six weeks ago held in these accounts to workers and other necessities.“We know that having access to food and housing is a basic need, and by giving people access to the funding in these accounts, we are helping keep people healthy and safe during this challenging time,” Breed said in an April 28 news release.But Breed’s plan wasn’t fully hatched.It turns out Casciotti and the other account holders won’t be getting their money back. Instead, they’ll be given one-time cash grants of $500 apiece, and their money will continue to be available only if they submit receipts for co-pays, prescription drugs and other strictly medical costs.Even though it’s their money. And even though the whole world is weathering a health crisis.“That’s it?” Casciotti asked when told she’d be given $500 — and not the $17,147.94 she expected.Yes, that’s it.Casciotti said that if she’d received all of her money back, she could have stuck it out in San Francisco for another six months and hunted for a new job. But instead, she’s moving to Thousand Oaks (Ventura County) to rent a room from a friend and figure out next steps.She’s been paying $1,800 a month to rent a tiny studio in with just a fridge and microwave as its so-called kitchen. It just isn’t worth it anymore — not when the dream of San Francisco no longer matches the reality.“I would have liked to have tried to make it work here,” Casciotti said. “But I’m over it. It’s too expensive to live here, and that money really could have helped me.”That was the whole point of the mayor’s original plan to return the $138 million — to help San Franciscans suddenly out of a job make ends meet. But it’s fallen apart for vague reasons that nobody at City Hall will fully explain.“It’s legal constraints that are preventing us from doing what we intended to do,” said Jeff Cretan, spokesman for Breed, calling the $500 grants the “best way we can provide support at this time.”“We’re frustrated we can’t do more, but this will make a difference for some people,” he said.More on the economyAt issue is $138 million sitting in tens of thousands of individual medical reimbursement accounts funded by employer contributions required by a 2006 city law intended to ensure all San Franciscans have access to health care.In late April, Breed’s office said the city would be contacting all account holders to give them the option of requesting that the money in their accounts be released to them. But the account holders were never contacted.“No letter, no email, no call, no nothing,” said Joseph Kim, 35, who has roughly $6,000 tied up in his account.He’s still working as a technical analyst for Disney but is suddenly paying an unwieldy $2,800 in rent for his Japantown apartment because his roommate got laid off and left town. Kim wants his money back so he can pay the bills while he searches for a roommate in an increasingly sparse pool of people looking for housing in San Francisco. Otherwise, he’ll probably leave the city, too.Kim and other account holders kept checking which maintains the accounts. And that website for weeks kept saying to check back. People called and emailed and couldn’t get straight answers.Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.Finally on Thursday, the web page was updated to say those with at least $100 in their accounts would be eligible for a one-time $500 grant to be used “for personal, family and living expenses incurred by you or your family as a result of COVID-19.” There’s no explanation for why they’ve heard nothing since April and why the mayor’s promise was broken.The $500 grants won’t come out of their account balances, and instead is coming out of a separate pot of money worth $65 million. That comes from accounts that haven’t been touched in 24 months and are considered deactivated, though the city must pay employees back if they ever come asking for their funds.Rodney Fong, president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, was part of the original negotiations to release the money and hadn’t been told the plan was off the table.“We’re frustrated and disappointed, but perhaps not surprised, to learn that the city is not able to release funds to working families,” he said, adding the structure of the accounts has always been overly complicated.Count Joe Steinocher, 31, as frustrated and disappointed, too. He was laid off from his job as a restaurant cook and hoped to get his more than $1,000 back. He’s been emailing SF City Plan workers regularly and getting no good answers.“For me, it’s more just the principle of the thing,” he said. “They made it seem like it was going to happen, and now they’re backpedaling on their words.”He pays $800 a month for a room in the Portola district and pointed out that people who are unemployed in San Francisco have had to pay monthly rent twice — though the city is banning evictions during the pandemic — and made several trips to the grocery store since the mayor announced her plan in April which made it seem like the money would be returned quickly.He said the $500 grant is better than nothing, but that the whole thing was mishandled.As for Kim, who’s shouldering his $2,800 rent alone, he’s furious. He said he can afford the full rent for only “two months, maybe three at the most” and then will have to move. In the meantime, he’s concocting a plan to purchase health-related items for which he’s allowed to get reimbursed — including pricey air filters and activity trackers — and then sell them for cash.“It’s frustrating they took six or seven weeks to come to this conclusion,” he said. “Five hundred dollars is not going to do jack in this city.”San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Sundays and Tuesdays. Email: Twitter:Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.

Brittany Casciotti could really use the $17,147.94 that belongs to her, but she can’t touch it.That’s the amount employers have contributed on her behalf to two medical reimbursement accounts maintained by the city of San Francisco. Casciotti was laid off as a producer for Viacom CBS two weeks ago. Now, she’s among the .She figured the big chunk of money would be arriving any day considering Mayor London Breed announced six weeks ago held in these accounts to workers and other necessities.“We know that having access to food and housing is a basic need, and by giving people access to the...

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San Francisco bureau chief for the New York Times; former columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and co-host of #TotalSF podcast; proud to call SF home

Heather Knight

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Breed told SF’s jobless they could tap $138 million of their own money. Now they can’t

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