Last week, SEIU 1021 members at HomeRise, a nonprofit organization in San Francisco formerly known as Community Housing Partnership that provides supportive housing and wraparound services to individuals, seniors and families experiencing homelessness, ratified a new contract by over 95%.

HomeRise, like most of the nonprofits in San Francisco with SEIU 1021 chapters, receives a great deal of its funding from the city. The city budget approved by the Board of Supervisors and the mayor provides only a 1% cost-of-doing-business (CODB) increase for city-funded nonprofits, making contract negotiations uphill battles. Nonetheless, the HomeRise bargaining team, with the support of their union siblings, secured a minimum of 8% in cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) over the life of the three-year contract, as well as other improvements.

“What I was most impressed with was how we came together as a bargaining team,” said Jason Williams, a front desk clerk and first-time bargaining team member. ”It was my first time in this process, and it was good to see how things worked and how you come to tentative agreements. We worked well together. The wage part was hard, but overall it was a good process.”

Some highlights of the new contract include:

• Wages:

  • ​3% July 1, 2025
  • 2.5% or CA CPI % (whichever is greater) – July 1, 2026
  • 2.5% or CA CPI % (whichever is greater) – July 1, 2027
  • Improvements to longevity pay
• Moving from a semimonthly pay schedule to biweekly
• Addition of a mental health day