This story was submitted as part of the #Pledge1Gives GivingTuesday campaign, which celebrates the many ways our member companies are having an impact around the world.
By Bastian Lehmann, Co-founder & CEO of Postmates
Homelessness in San Francisco is an all-hands-on-deck crisis. That’s why a strong majority of voters approved Prop C last November, doubling funding for crucial homeless services with a small tax increase on the city’s largest companies. The tech community was split in the run-up to the vote, but now that the people have spoken, it’s time for us to come together and help make the implementation of Prop C as efficient and effective as possible. As an immigrant who found a welcoming home in San Francisco and started my business here, I feel a special responsibility to this community. I am proud to stand with Mayor London Breed and empower her to put Postmates’ tax dollars to work right away helping our homeless neighbors. I encourage my fellow tech executives to do the same.
Although a San Francisco Superior Court judge has upheld Prop C, which was approved by 60 percent of voters, appeals are likely to keep the measure tied up in court for a long time to come. Until all legal challenges are resolved, the city can collect but not spend the new revenue. But the homelessness crisis can’t wait — not when nearly 10,000 people go to sleep each night in San Francisco without a roof over their heads, unsure of where they’ll find their next meal, hot shower, or medical care. That’s a 30 percent increase since 2017. The situation on our streets is unsafe, unjust, and unsustainable. We all have to step up with a sense of solidarity and urgency, starting with companies like Postmates that have benefited from all this city has to offer.
Our tech community is known around the world for putting innovation to work in solving seemingly impossible problems. That’s what’s needed right now to tackle the homelessness crisis in own backyard. Tech companies may not be able to solve this problem alone, but we can bring significant energy, resources, and creativity to the fight.
Waiving restrictions on our Prop C taxes is an important step. Tech companies and the broader business community should also work with city leaders, service providers, and advocates for the homeless to strengthen the safety net, expand access to mental health care and transitional housing, streamline bureaucratic systems, and support the construction of more affordable housing so fewer people lose their homes to begin with. Postmates is new to this fight, but we are eagerly working with organizations like the TechEquity Collaborative and encouraging other companies, big and small, to come along on this journey with us.
Next year, San Francisco companies will face another test of our commitment to being good citizens when a measure to normalize commercial property taxes across California goes on the ballot. The so-called “split roll” reform would preserve protections for homeowners and farmers in place since Proposition 13 passed in 1978, add new benefits for small businesses and start-ups, and provide an estimated $11.4 billion in new revenue to support schools, homeless services, affordable housing, and other vital local programs. Almost 80 percent of the new revenue would come from just 8 percent of commercial properties across the state, all of them worth more than $3 million each and taxed at below-market-rate taxes for years or even decades.
While no business likes to pay higher taxes, this is a common-sense reform whose time has come. Postmates is proud to stand with Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the California Teachers Association, and the California Federation of Teachers in supporting split roll — and I encourage the broader tech community to join us as well.
Our city faces real challenges, and to solve them the public and private sectors have to be partners, not adversaries. We should continue to support youth empowerment programs like Opportunities for All. We should stand up for the housing bond. Together we should support Mayor Breed’s call for comprehensive tax reform to make the city’s code fairer and simpler. Companies should stop grumbling about paying their fair share and city leaders should follow a comprehensive approach rather than trying to score political points with one-off tax measures targeting specific industries.
San Francisco is my home. It’s the city where I built my business and am raising my family. For me and for Postmates, waiving the restrictions on Prop C taxes and supporting split roll are signals of our commitment to being part of the effort to reduce homelessness and improve the quality of life for all our neighbors. I hope my fellow tech leaders will see it the same way.
Bastian Lehmann is the Co-Founder & CEO of Postmates. The company was founded in San Francisco in 2011.
