Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors 20240703

Now lets start with leadership. First of all, Political Leadership is critical to moving the ball forward in this city. And we want to really thank the mayor and we want to thank the board of supervisors for working together politically to sustain these programs because its taken about five years for us to get to this point. And that could not be done in isolation. So thank you , madam mayor. Thank you, jonah ortega, coeur dalene gang. But we also want to thank our city departments and the leaders from our city departments for the collaboration that theyve done in getting this program to where it is. We want to give a big, big thank you to the Housing Authority led by tanya liturgy and chaired the commission chaired by Joaquin Torres. Thanks for coming out today. We want to give a big thank you to the Mayors Office of housing, eric shaw. And of course, we want to thank the department of building inspection. Who in many ways built the foundation for this program over the long term. All they see are being at pomona or they have been gasoil yapping. Nyala all they get yapping. Im gonna zhong yao tsai they get of my mind. Im gambling get darling lets all day. Lets get on and last but not least and this is critical we know that nothing in this city, nothing in america cant happen without people, without people who are pushing. And so mainly i want to acknowledge the role that the sro families themselves have played in lifting up their stories and being constant vigilant and pushing these programs forward. So a big round of applause to the sro families themselves. Gambler zhongyang ortega. They somehow got my name on cinco de la. Now what milestones are we talking about . So first of all, let me just give a little bit of context. Going into the pandemic, we had estimated about 500 families living in single room occupancy hotels, right. And these are families with children. These are 80 square foot rooms with no private kitchen, no private bathroom. This is not an environment where children should be raised. And for a lot of sro families, this is the only option they have when they start in San Francisco. So that sets the context. The program itself was a combination of portable vouchers and project based vouchers issued by the Housing Authority and the ongoing deep rental Subsidy Program thats administered by the Mayors Office of housing. And in between those two, we were able to move 187 sro families out of homelessness from 2019 until 2023. Thats incredible. Ill pull gamla ortega. For joe cole foong. Gamla covid. Zhuhai edgar yu. Hong kong. Yong hong sila. Hold on. Like cody. Highly gagasi carrington. About go, go, go, go. Joe. Come on. Hold on. Yeti the yeti. Hayati and bojo. Gamla show your face up. Samsung like samsung. I think im a yeti. And not to get competitive here but sorry eric. The Housing Authority was responsible for 133 out of the 187 move outs. So just putting that down, laying a marker and maybe a little friendly competition can even up it more. Okay. So geylang in. Your league or sweet home. So so in terms of data and we have some print outs for press if youd like it later because this will get confusing. Im sure between 2019 and 2023. This program has reduced sro family homelessness less by 37. So weve gone from basically, you know, 500 to almost 220, 230 right now, about 40 of which was done by these programs 16 was done by families themselves looking for options during the pandemic at a time when it was hard to live in an sro. But i think whats more incredible is by june of 2024, were projecting another 76 families moving out, which will mean that this program alone will have cut sro family homelessness in half by june of 2024. Thats incredible. Thats advancement. Thats progress. And what that said. Oh, wait, i guess rachel has. Oh, yeah. Okay so, um, so alexa got denying. Haagendazs. Samsung bagel dialect. Im going to let her back up. Go enjoy. Okay. Ill say sub percent say sub percentage bafanji say sub go gaywyck. Let her bounce. Okay, so yall look sub look, yall. Haley go get gum. Aliagha what you say they. Like. Hey, how you say like how you dont like go bounce. Okay. Thank you. And with that said, im going to hand it over to our citys leader, mayor london. Breed me and go. Well, first of all, i want to thank malcolm and i want to thank the sro collaborate live for all the amazing work that they continue to do to ensure our that families are seniors and so many folks who are in our low Income Community have safe and affordable places to call home. And i want to i thought you were going to interpret me, mason, and i want to just take us back a little bit because this did not happen easily. This happened because, as president biden, when he was first elected, he made the best decision to appoint hud secretary marcia fudge and hud secretary marcia fudge used to not only serve in congress, but she used to be a mayor. And she came to me and asked, well, what can we do to help San Francisco . What can we do to help with the challenging situation around affordability . And i said we need flexible vouchers. We need options to help get people off the streets to help get families moved into something more permanent and sustainable. And she said not only done, but she made it happen for the last couple of years, which has been extremely remarkable role in helping us to not only support these families , but to support so many people, so many individually homeless people, even get off the streets and directly into housing. And let me tell you, it has everything to do with the incredible work of tanya pettigrew and the San Francisco Housing Authority under the president leadership, Joaquin Torres. And i cannot thank you enough for all the amazing, extraordinary work that you have done to get people housed and to keep them housed. So. And so why are we here today . I met with malcolm a couple of weeks ago from dc and he told me that mayor carr, i couldnt believe he was all excited. And because usually most people, when they meet with me, theyre complaining about something, theyre asking for something wrong. Theyre upset about conditions or what have you. But he said said this is something that ive never experienced for the time that ive been at dc. Dc. Ive never seen anything happen of this significance. The fact that we were able to, with our project based section eight vouchers, with our housing subsidies that he and the collaborative fought for, for the Mayors Office of housing, how we were able to take all of these resources and dramatic quickly, dramatically reduce the population of families who were in crowded, cramped conditions in sros in chinatown was something that he and i think most people have not seen before. And what i appreciate most about just highlighting this experience, is it it shines a light on these people and it shines a light on these families who are living in these conditions, who are not complaining, who are who tend to find sros affordable. And as one of the first places that theyre able to live in community and be a part of the community, but more importantly, what they can afford and the fact that we are able to Work Together to provide Better Living conditions, provide support, not just maintain our sros, but to help transition people into more space. That gives people dignity and the ability to, you know, not have to share a kitchen or not have to go down the hall to use the bathroom and have your own bathroom where you can leave your items. There is nothing like that. And for those of you who dont who have it, its something we take for granted when it doesnt exist. It is really tough and very challenged thing. So this is significant because of the number and by the end of the fiscal year, we expect to reduce that 500 number that malcolm talked about even more and reduce that to 140 families, which we hope to hopefully get to zero. So that we can ensure that folks have have a way to live in dignity, that they have pride in their Living Conditions, that they can participate in their community and not work around their Living Conditions, not make decisions around whos going to use the bathroom today or this hour, or whos going to use the kitchen. And is there a kitchen and what am i going to do with this stuff and that stuff . The stuff that people go through to adjust to their living environment, it makes their life less productive in some ways. The ability for kids to study for their homework and all the Different Things. Again that so many people take for granted. So this is a big deal. Its a big deal because we all Work Together. Our city agency stepped up, our Community Partners stepped up and they made magic happen. So i am grateful. I am excited and im looking forward to this work continuing. But lets be clear. This work does not continue without making sure that we have people here who want to work with us to make it happen. And the fact that we have and i want to reiterate that we have a president and we have a hud secretary that i have a direct relationship with has everything to do with why we were able to make this possible. It has been extraordinary and i am looking forward to doing even more work to continue the progress weve made and to help get families into Living Conditions where they can live good and Thriving Lives that truly represent San Franciscos values at their best. So thank you all so much for being here today. Going. To where we come. Out of my. Time. For python. Dong, dong, dong dong song. Im going to quick limbong song why tongo . Tongo. Tolong. Bondo san fancy dong toy kong. San francisco de haiphong. Toma de moga. Hi. Come come, come. Yamo tong legal. Limbong go. Ho, ho. Come quick. Choi seung choi gangtok come, come. Proyecto title yang xiong yin. Hi dojo kang kigen hoi sum. Hi. Yang zhongjian title. Hi come yip cheong san si. Hi mokin. Go, go, tiger, go san teng. So moga default title lee chong wei. Hi. Hey. Go hi. Hi. San francisco. Kang dong ho bondo. Pawnshop hi. Hi. Tiktok sake. Go a tortuga y. Thank you, madam mayor. This is a true San Francisco success story. All right, next up, we have somebody that needs no introductions in this part of town, for sure, but also somebody whos intimately familiar with this issue. Having been District Supervisor here since 2000 with some interlopers in between. But well forgive them. The president of the board of supervisors, aaron peskin. Would you take it, cmc, would you come. Come recto hi, all the cmc some tamsi thank you, malcolm. To the sro families behind me. Mayor breed to the Housing Authority. Doctor leota zhou and to the president of that body, Joaquin Torres to the head of the Mayors Office of housing, eric shaw. This has been a priority of this community and this supervisor for many, many years and it is important every once in a while to take a moment and acknowledge that we did something right and we got something done and we worked together and this is that moment the mayor thanked and appropriately so, many of the individuals and institutions, including the United States government tonight that helped bring this. So far. But we also need to acknowledge that a light was shined on this and that light was shined by the media. And i want to actually thank and acknowledge judge han lee for the stories that he did in february of this year that made the case for what a super visor and a mayor . No no, a single resident occupancy room is a small room that it is adequate housing. For one person. But absolutely inadequate for a family with children. And when han wrote that story and the mother in that story said through tears that she felt like she was a bad mother because she was raising her children in that 200 square foot room that had an impact on this government. And it was a reminder that we needed to speed it up. We were already moving in the right direction, but that was a reminder that we needed to get those vouchers out the door and those vouchers was because of the process. Those are hard to get out the door. And so i want to acknowledge that were it not for ccdc staff and im talking about juan garcia, we would not have been able to help these individuals apply appropriately. Many of them had applied in the past, but those became stale and they needed to reapply. So i want to thank and acknowledge ccdc and juan and his team. And this is not just a chinatown phenomenon. This is not just a chinese population phenomenon. This applies to multiple races, multiple ethnicities in multiple neighborhoods. So its not only about chinatown. This has brought relief and a quality of life to people in the tenderloin and in the mission. So this is of citywide import, and i want to say that as as malcolm said and as the mayor acknowledged, the role of the sro collaborative is also critical. And by the way, that is, i think the last time i stood with these people in this square is when they were standing up for funding for the sro collaboratives. And i said at that time it was not a want to have, it was a need to have. And that gets me to my last point and sorry, calvin, because youre going to have to translate all of this, which is this situation doesnt get cured once. This is a perennial forever commitment because there are always going to be poor families who are always going to have to be transitioned out in this very expensive town. So weve got to keep the program going. Weve got to have portable vouchers. We have to continue those efforts in our appropriations at the Mayors Office of housing, at the Housing Authority. Our job has only just begun. But i am very proud. We should be very thankful. Thank you, mayor breed. Thank you to the various departments and particular thanks to ccdc and the sro collaboratives. I see some. Heisman some fancy to my wife eloy mantilla. You. Dont give thoughts all day and all the laham. Hi ho topic get get some and bojan the gondola. K mantyla always fancy waffle. Waffle samphan mantyla. Zhongwu gondola samphan yao gondo gigi lindo supinyo guji lingdong i k k k kow toh ho guan li go. Im sorry. Come and all the public. You blah blah wahhab say fema okay, come on tang tong. Or do you think the hall may be sansheng soy . Okay. What do you think you d. O. J. All the k k k. How could they help . Totally. To care . Fong leng dong tong hongyi for gambling. Fong okay. Or they get some kit k joe k Zachary Taylor halo hi ho chichi ho bonjol tiga ho seafood ho ching. Ho. All the seafood sing ho yee thank you. Gunfire they got joy. How chow see some see a gondola do you like . How can you see fong and all that you hi ching chong you fong fat how you guy or they come out. Come on. My god. Thank you, president peskin. Thank you, calvin. And we will now introduce two families who have benefited from this program, but who have also fought from this program. And ill bring them up together so you can hear their stories firsthand and how this program has impacted them. I want to call up excuse me, yanfeng li and yan yu lin. Okay or they learn through the department. Okay. And getting some at home. Gong, gong, gong. Tiger. Hong infant. San fong. What . Face. Zan was sitam see. Ilan ye yin yin charging you see zhongyuan ye departing from hong san fong garden han han hong wan jennifer okay, enjoy sam someone bay san fong, hong kong. You saw yap han getai bo. Xie fushimi fong okay fong yi sifu see me younger fonzo sam zhou zhihua fong fong hong kong face and lindsey toilet they found mo ye senpai chong san jojo, yin yang , gong yong Chow Chee Yong san toy tang hao. Okay you fan ye yellow tapatio for okay. Okay hong yi zhou yi jin san san fong sang yao fong fong see . Okay. Tang yi fan enjoying han fei hung fong. Tecumseh. See tam see sassy san fong departing from okay. Kaira mojito one giraffe ferguson fong yang so you for okay or hey mao zedong see tam guangdong tai. Fan for off platform bay san fong garden guy cinco fong one ken doordash. Hello everyone. My name is yang fan li and our three generation family used to live in an sro in chinatown. Im very grateful for the support of San Francisco Housing Authority mayor breed and supervisor peskin for allocating section eight vouchers for the sro families. As my family was fortunate to receive a section eight voucher and we are now moved to an apartment with much Better Living conditions than our previous sro as a family with extremely low income, we could not afford the expensive rent. Previously our three generation family could only rent an sro unit in chinatown that was less than 100ft s. The space was extremely cramped and with no room for a desk and my son had to do his homework while lying on the bed. We all had to share one kitchen and toilet and bathroom for every 20 households on our floor. And we had to wait in line every day. When my son returned from school, he often had to wait until very late to have a meal. Now, with the section eight housing voucher, my family can finally live in a space with our own toilet and kitchen. My son has his own room with a desk and he can now enjoy a hot meal. As soon as he returns from school. This housing opportunity has changed our lives and i will be forever grateful for it. I would i would like to thank the San Francisco Housing Authority mayor breed and supervisor peskin for their support of our families. I know that there are still many families in chinatown who are in need of this housing voucher. Please continue to support our families to improve their Living Conditions and help them move out of sros. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, tiger. How whole come seven oh typekit. Okay hey, zhao , go back san fong zhao yao foon chong yao long fong manga come all fong come de zoysa you tang song la tang chong long song xiu tang fang hui loi hey, may god gaga gaga soy. Yao zi zhong yao fong tong. My vibe. Soy tong sam gamgee zhong fong ling tong tong. My vibe. Yao yin soy jack holding logum heng hui zamboanga. So you come yao zamboanga san soy sam hui gonggong come soy xijiang vongola tong my vibe zhong sam kaiso tong tong. My zhong guangdong san zhong loi tiger tiger. Hello everyone. My name is yan yu lin and i want to express my immense gratitude for the section eight voucher. I i received in april, which will allow me family, allow my family to move out of our cramped sro, which is only 150 square now my daughter has her own room and desk and we no longer have to endure long waits for the bathroom, shower and stove after being in america for ten years, this is the first time weve experienced dignified Living Conditions. The improved quality of life for my family wouldnt have been possible without the unwavering support of San Francisco Housing Authority mayor breed ccdc and supervisor peskin. While my family has been fortunate, there are still many families enduring extremely poor Living Conditions and i sincerely hope that more families can receive housing vouchers in the future, allowing them to move to Better Living conditions. Thank you. Thank you. You know, i was talking to the mayor just now, and she was reminding me the role that the federal government and biden has played. Shes mentioned that, but she also mentioned to me that it doesnt stop here. She is going to continue to fight for more vouchers so we can have more success and get this number down to zero as soon as we possibly can. Zero come on, san jose. Gala kozawa. Im im ortega zhongtong. Im hey, hey. Come. On. Youre not like, how you doing . Or they get some from hawaii. Like condado. Hi, j j. How you. Hi got my name on. Thank you. And now, last but certainly not least, i want to introduce the leader who is leading the department that is leading this fight in moving sro families to sro family homelessness. To zero 133 to 54 is the direct heir of the Housing Authority. Tanya Letizia Ortiz househunting. All the. Fancy hunting through la tanya go. Good afternoon, everyone. It really is truly a pleasure to be here. This is really a great celebration and it is extremely important. And i will tell you, as the ceo of the Housing Authority, as we have done this work, everything that we do, everything that i do, i do it with compassion city in mind. This is extremely important to not just the mayor, our supervisor, our our president , Joaquin Torres, who is behind me, but it is important to the staff at the Housing Authority as well. And as we continue to move this train forward, it is our goal, as the mayor has said, that we will get to zero and we continue to work with hud and we continue to work with with our field office in this work in finding ways to house individuals in our city, in our county. And we are working on each and every day to determine how we can move the bureau accuracy, the Different Things that we must do to assist each and every family and finding ways to better operationalize how we go about our work each and every day. And so with that said, i would tell you that this work would not be possible without the citys vast resources that came together with the single intention of housing families with minor children living in sros and providing more than just just adequate spaces, but a space that you can call your own, a space that you call home, a place where you can find a space for everything that you need for your personal belongings and a place that you can gather together and feel safe and do the things that you need to do as a family. Ensuring that our children are able to study so that they continue to move forward in life and i want to thank you, too. I want to thank the sro collaborative, and that includes ccdc for sitting down with the Housing Authority, working with us, working with me to define a Clear Pathway to what we have done today. And so we definitely have a Clear Pathway of how to ensure sro families are supported. It not only with a housing subsidy but with Supportive Services as well , not only during the process, but way after the process. So id like to thank you. Ccdc for your collaboration and your continued partnership. And this year alone we will be placing about 5 million annually for the subsidies that have been provided and again, as mayor reed has said through malcolm, we will get to. Zero and id like to say that several years ago when i came to the Housing Authority, we were in trouble. We were in shortfall, we were in default. We could not issue one voucher without permission from hud. And id like to say today, because we are not in shortfall , because we are no longer in default with our contracts with hud. This is one of the reasons why we have been able to do this work. And i am commit covid that our agency remains moving forward, that we remain in a fiscal sound state so that we can continue to collaborate with all of our city partners, with our mayor moving her Housing Initiative forward. So families and sros, families throughout the city and county of San Francisco can continue to be housed. And id like to thank mayor breed for all of her leadership, for all of her support. And id like to thank her for the opportunity to lead this agency. And id like to thank our board president , Joaquin Torres, for all of his support with out his support, the work that i do would not be possible. So i would like to thank you, joaquin and the commissioners on my board. Id like to thank eric, who is my colleague in housing, and id like to thank my chief of staff, andrea, for all the work, andrea bruce, for all the work that she does with me and just the leading and guiding without this team, without our mayor, without our supervisor, this work is not possible. It takes all of us to do this work. So i want to just thank you. And lastly, id want to thank you sro families united collaborative. I want to thank you as families for the work that you do. The support that you give, the fight that youre doing. And i want you to know that were not ignoring the conditions as we understand the conditions. And we are working hard to move things forward. So you are not forgotten. You are forever in my thoughts each and every day. I have hundreds of emails and Different Things that come and im quite aware of the Housing Needs that are needed in this city and i am committed to this work. Thank you. So id like to say this is definitely has been a long journey, but im thankful that we have been able to make good on the commitment that had been made before the Housing Authority went into default. So again, thank you all for all of your hard work. Okay gamelan gong, gong lan. Although tendo. All the guys say go, go, go. Han zheng jie, im gonna hurry. Okay daniela di gala. Okay. Select carrie. Imam. See how katakiri got a qanon see kozawa. Gong gong up. See how lackays calling. See like is a legal. For who. Joe biden di guy who lawyer like hai gaji di guy ego qanon mo mong gadeau de order de sanfong. Going up, going around. Hey, more natural. Not like yellow light do darling daigeler guy jojo jokowi bonjol my zengzi you say hi like your de diego gongbei di gaga. Come like hey more natural like the hijo de dato go. Hey, whats water . Single some got some gum like him on sentosa tiga and dan bao bao. Bao could the hip jong sam wah hip jong sam like or de tonko hojo got him on or they got. Some fun guy thing like how you saystreets. speaking foreign language. i wanted to wish you a best wishes and congratulations the community has shifted a lot of when i was growing up in the 60s and 50s a good portion of chicanoamerican chineseamerican lived in north beach a nob hill community. As part the immigrant family is some of the Recreation Centers are making people have the ability to get together and meet 0 other people if communities in the 60s a 70s and 80s and 90s saw a move to the richmond the sunset district and more recently out to the excelsior the Avenue Community as well as the ensuring u bayview so chinese Family Living all over the city and when he grape it was in this area. Were united. And growing up in the area that was a big part of the my leave you know playing basketball and mycy took band lessons and grew up. speaking foreign language. allergies welcome to the Community Fair it kicks off three weeks of celebrations for the year and lets keep everybody safe and celebrate the biggest parade outside of china on february 11th go best wishes and congratulations and 3, 2, 1 happy enough is enough. I grew up volley ball education and in media professional contrary as an educator he work with all skids whether or not caucasian hispanic and i africanamerican cumber a lot of arrest binge kids my philosophy to work with all kids but being here and griping in the Chinese Community being a chineseamerican is important going to American School during the day but went to Chinese School that is community is important working with all the kids and having them exposed to all culture it is important to me. It is a mask evening. Id like to thank you a you all to celebrate an installation of the days here in the asian art museum. One time has become so many things in the past two centuries because of the different did i licks the immigration officer didnt understand it became no standard Chinese Marine or cantonese sproupgs it became so many different sounds this is convenient for the immigration officer this okay your family name so this tells the generations of immigrants where they come from and also many stories behind it too. And what a better way to celebrate the enough is enough nuru with the light nothing is more important at an the hope the energy we. speaking foreign language. relative to the Current Administration it is, it is touching very worrisome for our immigrant frames you know and some of the stability in the country and i know how this new president is doing you know immigration as well as immigrants fireworks later than you think new year the largest holiday no asia and china those of us when my grandparents came over in the 19 hundreds and celebrated in the United States chinese nuru is traditional with a lot of meaning. Good afternoon my name is carmen chu assessorrecorder i want to wish everything a happy new year thank you for joining us i want to say. speaking foreign language. speaking foreign language. im proud to be a native san franciscan i grew up in the chinatown, north Beach Community Port Commission important to come back and work with those that live in the community that i grew up in and that that very, very important to give back to continue to work with the community and hope e help those who may not be as capable in under serving come back and give it is one of the first steps families and step to secure their future and provide a sense of stability for them and their loved ones. Your home, it is something that could be passed down to your children and grandchildren. A asset that offers a pathway to build wealth from one generation to the next. And you need to complete estate plan to protect the asisets. Your home, small business, air looms and more. You and so many communities, black, indigenous, latino and asian worked so hard to make yours but estate plans could be costly and conversations complex proud to partner to bring free and low cost estate plans to san franciscans. By providing estate plans we are able to keep the assets whole for our families, prevent displacement, address disparities and Home Ownership and strengthen the cultural integrity of the city. Working with local non profit organizations and neighborhood groups bringing the serveess to you and community, to workshops focused on Estate Planning and why its important. Im 86 years old and you do need a trustee. You need a will and put who ever you want in charge of it. Thats why i wanted to be here today. That is why one of the first steps i took when become assessor recorder is make sure we have a partnership to get foundational funding to provide these resources to community. But even more important is our connection to you and your homes and making sure we know how to help you and how to protect them. If you dont have a living trust you have to go through probate and that cost money and depending on the cost of the home is associated the cost you have to pay. That could be 40 thousand for a home at that level. I dont know about you, but i dont 40 thousand to give up. indiscernible important workshop to the community so we can stop the loss of generational wealth and equity and maintain a indiscernible why are estate plans important . We were just talking before we started the program, 70 percent of black americans do not scr a will in place. As mentioning being in community we had a conversation with a woman who paid 2700, 2700 just for revocable trust. What we are talking about today are free or low cost estate plans that are value between 3,000 to 3500. Free or low cost meaning free, or 400 if you make above 104 thousand a year, and capped larger then that amount. Because we want to focus on black and brown households, because thats whether the need is, not only in San Francisco, not only the bay area but the region as well. And, i was excitesed to see the turn out from the Western Addition and bayview and want to make sure we cover all the different steps from buying a home to making sure homes stay within the family. Work with staff attorneys to receive these free and low cost complete estate plans that include a living trust, will, financial power of attorney, and health directive. Thats why it is so important to make these resources and this information accessible. So we can make sure we are serving you and your families and your generations and your dreams. We insure the Financial Stability of San Francisco, not just for government, but for our communities. On behalf of the office of assessor recorder, im thankful for all the support and Legal Assistance they have given that makes the Estate Planning program a realty for you in San Francisco and are thank all the Community Partners like San Francisco Housing Development corporation, Booker T Washington center and neighborhood leaders and organizations that help families and individuals realize their dreams of Building Wealth in San Francisco from one generation to the next. To learn more about this program email inquiries at har call the San Francisco disability and aging Service Committee of wednesday october 4, 2023 to order. Im the president janet spears. As noted on the agenda, members of the public may observe the teleconference meeting via sfgovtv. Org or channel 78 and may offer public