SF LGBT Center In Financial Crisis

San Francisco's LGBT Center is asking the city for a $1M "mortage relief" bailout so that it doesn't go under.

Eight years after opening with great fanfare, San Francisco's city-subsidized, $12.3 million Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center is on the verge of foreclosure - and is asking the cash-strapped city for a $1 million line of credit to help bail it out. And from the looks of things, the center will probably get it. The thinking: The city has already spent about $5.7 million on the building at Market and Octavia streets and needs to "make sure it doesn't go under," said Supervisor David Campos, who along with fellow gay Supervisor Bevan Dufty is seeking approval of a $1 million "mortgage relief" fund. Even that, however, might not be enough to save the center. According to a new report by the Board of Supervisors budget analyst, the center could need even more public funds to cover the nearly $3 million that it still owes on its mortgage. "Clearly, it's unprecedented," Campos said of the bailout proposal. "But I do believe there is something unique about the role the LGBT Center plays - not only in the life of the community, but the entire city."

Like many non-profits, the SF LGBT Center has seen a dramatic decline in donations from foundations and individuals.