City and County of San Francisco
After soliciting extensive input from community members, city officials, banking experts, and business stakeholders, HR&A developed a Business and Governance Plan for the City of San Francisco’s public bank to support affordable housing, small businesses, and green investments.
The banking ecosystem in San Francisco, like many cities across America, has historically failed to serve everyone and leaves significant gaps in the capital available to develop and preserve affordable housing, support small businesses, and ensure the rapid adoption of decarbonization technologies. An HR&A-led team helped the San Francisco Reinvestment Working Group (RWG) identify unmet financing needs and craft a Plan with tailored lending products to fill these banking gaps. As part of our analysis, we determined the viability of a public bank and developed detailed pro forma financial statements and governance plans to guide the City’s efforts to establish this new entity. In September 2023, the City’s Board of Supervisors voted to adopt the Plan, positioning San Francisco at the vanguard of the growing public banking movement with a critical step towards the establishment of California’s first municipal public bank.
HR&A Advisors led a team consisting of banking experts Gary S. Findley & Associates and community engagement consultants Contigo Communications to define the vision, mission, and structure of the public bank with an emphasis on transparent and community-driven operation and economic opportunity for all San Franciscans. Throughout the process, we engaged a variety of stakeholders including community members, small businesses, nonprofits, housing and environmental justice advocates, financial experts, City agencies, and more to gain insights around what services would be most impactful. Now the City has a robust roadmap to create a public bank that will help address financial needs and more equitably serve the needs of lower-income and marginalized communities who have been excluded from access to reliable, affordable capital for far too long.
- San Francisco Green-Lights Nation’s First City-Run Public Bank — KQED
- What’s next for San Francisco’s public bank plan — Axios
- San Francisco given go-ahead to start creating nation’s first municipal bank — CBS News Bay Area
- Proposed S.F. public bank gets first review by supervisors — San Francisco Chronicle
