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Report regarding a resolution approving Budget Amendment No. 26.035 appropriating $170,000 for emergency food assistance for South San Francisco Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients (Nell Selander, Economic & Community Development Director).
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RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Staff recommends City Council adopt a resolution approving Budget Amendment No. 26.035 appropriating $170,000 for emergency food assistance for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients living in South San Francisco. Taking this action will formalize the authorization Council provided at the Special Meeting of the City Council on October 29, 2025, allocating $170,000 of the funds the City expects to receive when it completes the sale of DNA Way to Genentech in November 2025 to emergency food assistance.
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BACKGROUND
On October 1, 2025, a federal government shutdown began after congress failed to pass appropriations legislation for the 2026 fiscal year. To prevent a gap in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, which provides funding to states to implement a cash-like assistance program that can be used on certain groceries, the U.S. Congress needed to take action by October 31, 2025. Alternatively, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers SNAP, could have dipped into emergency funds to make November payments to states.
On October 29, 2025, City Council met in a Special Meeting. During an agendized discussion of how to spend $25 million the City will receive in sale proceeds from the sale of DNA Way to Genentech in November 2025, City Council directed staff to immediately implement a program providing assistance to families that would not be receiving SNAP if the government shutdown persisted. Specifically, Council directed staff to spend up to $170,000 that could be backfilled by the Genentech road sale proceeds once received, to work with the YMCA Community Resource Center (YMCA CRC) to distribute the assistance, and to pursue gift cards rather than increase food distributions and food pantries to provide residents with choice and flexibility as SNAP provides. At that time, YMCA CRC staff had been told by the County Human Services Administration (HAS) that there were 1,700 SNAP recipient households in South San Francisco, with $200 a month being the average award.
Sensing a stalemate at the federal level and the chance that SNAP benefits may lapse leaving millions of American households without the food assistance they rely on, two lawsuits were filed in federal district courts in October. Both courts found that the USDA must provide SNAP benefits and can use emergency funds to do so. Specifically, in a lawsuit brought by a coalition of local governments, non-profits, small businesses and other organizations in the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, the judge ruled that the federal government is illegally withholding available funds for SNAP and must make these funds available to all states. Similarly, in the lawsuit California brought against the Trump Administration with more than 22 other states, the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts found the federal government is statutorily mandated to use previously appropriated SNAP contingency funds available to them during the government shutdown. Additionally, the court also ruled that the USDA has discretion to use $23 billion dollars in Section 32 funds for SNAP. Since these rulings were issued, the White House has communicated that partial payments will be made for November, but that they could take weeks or months for states to calculate and provide to their recipient households.
DISCUSSION
Following Council’s direction on October 29, 2025, and while paying close attention to the news of these judicial rulings and announcements coming out of the White House, staff began formulating a program to serve South San Francisco SNAP recipients. City and YMCA CRC staff brainstormed program parameters, balancing ease of gift card distribution with maintaining strong financial controls. From this collaboration, the City established administrative program guidelines to facilitate the program’s implementation.
In summary, the City will purchase Albertsons Companies gift cards, which can be used at Safeway, Lucky’s, and other local groceries, and donate the cards to YMCA CRC, which will distribute the cards on select distribution event days according to program guidelines approved by the City. Each SNAP recipient household is eligible to receive $100 in gift cards with proof of South San Francisco residency and current SNAP benefits. The City will deliver these gift cards to the YMCA CRC in tranches with bar code numbers recorded and traceable back to individual recipients, which YMCA CRC staff will note in a shared database that City staff can monitor at any time. With this program structure, the original Council allocation of $170,000 can serve 1,700 households - the original estimate from County HSA of the number of SNAP recipient households in South San Francisco.
Since the October 29, 2025 City Council meeting, staff has learned from County HSA that there are currently 2,406 recipient households in South San Francisco. If the City Council would like to serve every recipient household with a $100 gift card, the total program cost would be $240,600, plus modest administrative costs to offset YMCA CRC staff time dedicated to this program. This would require an additional appropriation of $70,600.
The first distribution event is scheduled on Friday, November 7, 2025, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. where up to 300 households will be able to receive gift cards. The second event is scheduled for Wednesday, November 12, 2025, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. This second event will be able to serve up to 500 households. Information about the distribution events is available on the City’s website. At the time this staff report was written neither the November 7th nor the November 12th event had occurred. Staff will be available to provide an update at the November 12, 2025 Council meeting regarding the first two distribution events.
Providing food assistance to families with demonstrated financial need is a public purpose. Although the City could distribute the assistance itself, staff believes that donating the cards to YMCA CRC for distribution will be more efficient because of the established infrastructure and personnel YMCA CRC has in place to effectuate this public purpose.
FISCAL IMPACT
Adopting the associated resolution will appropriate $170,000 in the Economic & Community Development Department’s administrative budget to fund the program with proceeds from the sale of DNA Way to Genentech offsetting this appropriation. The result is no net fiscal impact to the General Fund.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, staff recommends City Council adopt the associated resolution approving Budget Amendment No. 26.035 appropriating $170,000 for emergency food assistance for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients living in South San Francisco. Additionally, staff recommends Council consider increasing this appropriation by $70,600 for a total of $240,600 to have sufficient funding on hand to serve all SNAP recipient households in South San Francisco. Staff are metering the purchase of gift cards to gauge demand for the program, follow the news out of Washington, DC on this matter, reducing the likelihood that the City ends the program with a glut of unused gift cards on hand. Despite this, it is likely that some number of gift cards may remain at the end of this program. Any gift cards that remain after SNAP benefits resume can be used to augment the YMCA CRC’s emergency food pantry and provide protein for food distribution events when Second Harvest and County HSA are unable to do so.