Care Not Cash was a San Francisco ballot measure (Proposition N) approved by the voters in November 2002. Primarily sponsored by Gavin Newsom, then a San Francisco supervisor, it was designed to cut the money given in the General Assistance programs to homeless people in exchange for shelters and other forms of services. The major intent of this measure was to prevent the cash grants given to be used for purchasing drugs and alcohol, and to strongly encourage homeless people to enter shelters or housing and obtain counseling and other services.

Care Not Cash altered city welfare assistance to the approximately 3,000 homeless adults who received about $395 a month to $59 a month plus housing and food. According to the measure, if the services weren't available, the city couldn't reduce a homeless person's aid. The idea behind Care Not Cash was to use the city's savings from cutting the welfare checks—an estimated $13 million a year —-- to set baseline funding for creating affordable housing, expanding shelters, and adding mental health and substance abuse treatment.

Later, an amendment called "Real housing, real care", was voted upon by the Board of Supervisors. It was created to ensure that the "Care" element of "Care not Cash" was in place; that is, to mandate a certain level of housing and services to be available before the city cut General Assistance payments.