City councillors last week called a press conference to announce that Noe Valley, currently served only by a temporary portable toilet, would get a single permanent toilet — but only from 2025 at a $1.7m cost.

However, the press conference was cancelled after the project was ridiculed by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Matt Haney, the Democratic member of the California State Assembly who secured state funds for the project, said he didn’t know that there was no justification for the price tag on the proposed 150 square foot outhouse.

He said: “I’m glad that Noe Valley will at some point get a bathroom, but it shouldn’t cost this much and it shouldn’t take this long, and I’m angry about it.”

Mr Haney added: “The cost is insane. The process is insane. The amount of time it takes is insane. [The city should] explain it and make changes.”