On Monday, June 9, 2025, Adrian Tirtanadi, executive director of Open Door Legal (ODL), announced he would be going on a hunger strike. To close the city of San Francisco’s budget gap of nearly $1 billion, Mayor Daniel Lurie had pulled $2.2 million from the nonprofit legal services organization. Along with pruning city departments, Lurie’s proposal includes reducing nonprofit spending by $200 million over the next two years. Now Tirtanadi has pledged to stop eating unless Lurie restores the funding.
Although ODL’s efficacy in mitigating San Francisco’s entrenched street population is up for debate, there’s no question about Tirtanadi’s dedication to the cause. He refers to a study his group commissioned: What Role Does Access to Civil Justice Play in Reducing Homelessness? An Investigation of San Francisco as evidence of their worth. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the report concludes that their legal services were instrumental in decreasing the city’s unsheltered homeless count.
The study did not focus on the thousands of people who come to the city in search of drugs without a plan to pay rent or buy a home and who end up living on the streets, however, but on residents who are “at risk” of losing their homes.
A study commissioned by Open Door Legal concluded that the services they provided were instrumental in decreasing the city’s unsheltered homeless count.
The Voice of San Francisco interviewed Tirtanadi about ODL and what he hopes to gain from the hunger strike.
ODL started in 2013. Since then, how many people do you believe it helped avoid becoming homeless?
Through the end of 2022, our estimate for Open Door is that we helped 850 not become homeless. Now we estimate it’s a thousand plus. But it’s not linear. Our work was small in the first few years.
Can you provide some examples of how ODL prevents homelessness?
We had a recent client who was elderly. She had a medical emergency and wasn’t able to work so she took out a personal loan and got into $60,000 in debt. The interest she was paying was more than her rent. We helped her with a bankruptcy and wiped her debt, and that helped her have enough money to pay her rent.
We helped a mother get full custody of children and helped her with the child support. That was $900 in income, in child support, and was enough for her to pay rent. Other typical scenarios are wage theft and housing issues that are not eviction related.
Another was a domestic violence client. She went to five or so agencies for help. She had left her husband but was still in a home owned by her in-laws who were harassing her. She had nowhere else to go, so we helped her stay there.
You helped a woman remain in a home where she was being harassed?
It’s complicated, but yes.
How many people do you see a year and how do they find you?
Last year we had about 1,200 cases, and that’s around 3,000 people per year. Most of our clients are very low income, so they don’t pay anything. Referrals come from social service providers, word of mouth.
And your finances. Starting with your 2025 salary and the organization’s budget?
My salary is $150,000 plus benefits, and it’s set by the board. With compensation, it’s around $163,000.
Our annual budget is $6.5 million. Most of it goes to our staff of about 50, but also to rent and technology.
You pay a public relations firm too?
Yes, we are paying Catie [Catie Stewart, a political communications professional who was previously Senator Scott Weiner’s communications director] $5,000 for the month of June to get the message out.
If $2.2 million is dedicated from your budget, where will you cut?
We may have to let 15 people go. We haven’t decided who it would be, but it would be a mix of attorneys, paralegals, and operations.
So your hunger strike is to try to convince the mayor to reconsider?
I feel a sense of frustration. I’ve met with the mayor’s office, presented the data, but they want to pursue a different strategy.
I’m not sure how else to get the word out. So I’m going to drink Gatorade, broth, and water, and I won’t be eating food until the budget is finalized on the 25th. After that, it will be over.
The mayor does have to close the budget shortfall. What would happen if every department and nonprofit head didn’t want their funding cut went on a hunger strike?
I can’t say. It just seems to me that if the data and stories are not getting the message out, we have to try something else. But yes, if everyone does it it would lose some of its effect.
Won’t private donors help?
Yes, but the city is an essential partner. Especially if you want to solve this city’s biggest problems.
What will you do if your hunger strike is not effective?
I prefer not to speculate. I’m committed. I believe in this work. We have support from nine out of eleven supervisors. Some of them refer their constituents to us so they already know us. The two who haven’t shown support are Myrna Melgar (District 7) and Rafael Mandelman (District 8). They’re focused on other issues.