Chadwick Moore writes for the New York Post about a significant waste of taxpayer dollars in a major blue West Coast city.
It’s last call for San Francisco’s government hooch.
A COVID-era program that guzzled $5 million of taxpayer money annually to serve booze to homeless alcoholics will finally shutter this year, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie exclusively told The California Post.
“For years, San Francisco was spending $5 million a year to provide alcohol to people who were struggling with homelessness and addiction — it doesn’t make sense, and we’re ending it,” Lurie said.
The taxpayer tipple, called the Managed Alcohol Program (MAP), was created by the San Francisco Department of Public Health in April 2020, when the city began housing homeless people in hotels during lockdown.
The program served just 55 clients during its run — amounting to a $454,000 bar tab each.
To prevent chronic alcoholics from dangerous withdrawal while stores and bars were closed, clinicians brought metered doses of beer and liquor to clients.
But the scheme went on for six years, well after the pandemic ended.
Now, “We have ended every city contract for that program,” Lurie added.
A representative for Community Forward, the San Francisco-based nonprofit contracted by the health department to run the plan since 2023, confirmed to The Post that the city had pulled the plug.
A health department official boasted in a 2024 video presentation about one of the success stories, who went from 36 ER visits annually to fewer than 10.
Community Forward’s financial statements show the nonprofit received $17.8 million in government contracts and grants in 2025, with $10.8 million going to salaries and compensation. In 2024, it was revealed that CEO Kara Zordel, who stepped down that year, earned a $225,794 salary.
Although Canada has over 50 MAP sites, San Francisco’s was the first of its kind in the US.
