Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors 20240703

Need to make 61. 3 an hour. This is largely a issue of housing and afford lt and poverty in our community. And then of course looking at the area Median Income limits for San Francisco, the average Median Income is 175 thousand a year for extremely low income family of 4 we look at 55 thousand a year. Clearly significantly more then families experiencing homelessness are currently earning. Can i ask you a quick question . On the slide 6 it says that there is a 196 thousand extremely low income renters in the San Francisco bay area. Is that the entire 9 county bay area . Yes, the metro region. Okay. The primary causes of family homelessness are economic and youll see that for families, the dark green bar job loss is our primary cause of family homelessness at 23 percent. The other leading causes include a argument with friends or family resulting in you asked to leave a situation where you were informally living and the third is family or Domestic Violence. These are things we commonly know but important to stee see the data as we talk about root cause and solutions to family homelessness. We have been asked to talk about unsheltered family homelessness and this can be a challenging data point to track. Many families experiencing unsheltered homelessness work very hard to fly under the radar for obvious reasons. But we know that we currently have and supervisor safai spoke to this earlier about there is not it is always changing the number of unsheltered families. The number is dynamic and change from the morning to the afternoon. I pulled the data last week as i put together the presentation and that day there were 375 families on the family shelter waiting list. 60 families were in temporary Emergency Shelter so that is buena vista horace mann or Hotel Voucher program. Four families reported they had never been unsheltered. 311so vast vast majority of families experiencing homelessness have spent at least onenight unsheltered during this episode of homelessness. We know for families they are not staying in the same location. They might stay with friend or family when they scrape together, hotel, vehicle, tent and people cycle. They do everything to keep their kids off the street when they have resources to. It isnt these 311 families are necessarily unsheltered all tonight, but at least onenight over the course of homelessness they have been unsheltered. Just before you go on, do you allare you able to track how many are newcomer families . No. So, as jorge spoke to in his presentation, as a department that takes our sanctuary city responsibilities very seriously, we do not ask about immigration status, documentation status or really anything about your immigrant experience because we do not want to deter anyone seeking emergency service. We want families to trust we are not going to turn their information over to any federal entity that they might be concerned about. We will ask about documentation status at the point of permanent housing placement, because depending on the Funding Source they may only be eligible for city funded housing. The last point on unsheltered homelessness is just from the 2022 point in time count that showed 205 homeless families and 87 percent of these folks were sheltered the night of the count, we know this is likelyas you all know, this is a single point in time, not over the course of the year and our administrative data has shown increase in family homelessness. In terms of requested language, this was a big source of questions topic of questions from supervisor safai and his office. Youll see this yearwe can look maybe at 2023 since that is the most recent completed year of data about 41 percent of the families in our shelters or family homelessness system requested servicess in english and 46 in spanish. We have a pretty large , did not note in the file and you will see betweenreally all the way back to 2018, the Spanish Language requests increased. We also seen moreshift in other languages but that is the largest trend we have seen. And in terms of Language Access in cultural capacity, or cultural competency i want to note that hsh Service Providers under their contract with us are required to provide services in the clients preferred language. For most programs this means having bilingual staff who speak spanish. That meets the majority of needs, but if we have other languages requested that we might not have the staff person who can speak that language, all our providers have access to Language Line to provide translation and interpretation services. And we monitor this very closely through our annual programming and contract monitoring processes. We also partner with ocf for a lot of public noticing, so we snd out policies and Different Things we want to post in shelters. We will send them out for translation, but we also vet them often to make sure we are communicating as clearly as possible with folk whose speak any language. And then also, we are providing a newit is cultural competency, but also immigrant Service Training for all our access point staff as we know that is often peoples first touch point with the homeless response system. So, what is the homeless response system and what are we fundsing . I categorized programs into three categories, Access Points where the front door of our system. Temporary shelter, where peopleand transitional housing where people can stay while they are in the experience of homelessness and get services wrap around support and then housing solutions, which is the ultimate goal. Supervisor safai spoke eloquently at the beginning of the hearing about the social and Health Impact of homelessness on children. This is well documented, well known. Homelessness and homeless shelters are no place for children to be living longterm. So the goal while of course we want temporary shelter for folks, but really we want to focus on where they are going to go after what we hope will be a relatively short stay in a emergency accommodation. We have three family Access Points throughout the community, brick and mortar Access Points. Those are civic center, bayview and mission. And then we also have a mobile team who can go out into the community. Temporary shelter, we have over 109 beds in two congregate facilities, 6 family shelters providing shelters in single room. Families share a small room but their own room with a locking door and we have 158 of those units. We have two Hotel Voucher programs and these are for families, pregnant people and families Domestic Violence. Those are 30 vouchers. People stay in those units for a couple weeks until a room in a family shelter opens up. The hotels are not intended to be longterm shelter, but really a emergency resource until the shelter can become available. Then we have transitional housing programs which provide longterm stays mostly for families with complex challenges that need more time before transitioning into permanent housing. And then on the housing side, we have just under 300 time limited rental assistance vouchers for families, including survivors of Domestic Violence. We have 170 longterm permanent vouchers, funded locally, 70 slots of housing, can graduate and no longer need the support subs. Emergency Hotel Vouchers federally funded similar to section 8 and 250 for families as well as Behavioral Health services for families in our system. So, we have a fairly robust family homeless response system, but clearly unable to meet the daily needs of the community. I will not read the slide. There is a lot here, but this slide 13 talks a lot about recent inves vestments we made including the acquisition of city garden, the largest family Supportive Housing property. The ongoing funding for oasis family shelter a shelter in place hotel. More emergency housing voucher support services to continue to support the families that we housed in emergency Hotel Vouchers. And our proposed budget to the mayor office includes maintaining all current level of family programming. In response to the recent surge in need at the front door of the family system, what we are immediately deploying is a Million Dollars to expand family Hotel Vouchers by 35 slots, with the assumption this serves probably at least hundred to 150 families over the course of the year because they are relatively short stays and that will be implemented imminently and then we are also proposing a new 5 year subsidy program. We are concerned about expanding shelter without expanding the housing for folks to move in afterwards, so we are planning to invest or spend 20 million from prop c on the family rapid rehousing subsidy after the budget process. I had one slide that got out of order but i did want to share, so pardon my back and forth here. I also wanted to raise up the number of households we housed as well as number of households we preventsed from ending home lessness over the last 3 years you can see here, over 1300 about 1300 families each year have been prevented from falling into homelessness through the sf erap program and the bottom graph shows the monthly housing placements into permanent housing out of the family homelessness system. So, we had a spike when we leased [indiscernible] which was exciting and the 2025 a month placement is our steady state of the number of families we can move out without additional housing resources. Again, apology for the back and forth. There were a lot of questions from supervisor safai from family coordinated entry and this can be a comp licated and challenging topic. We are doing redo for coordinating entry for families and adults. This started out of a evaluation from 2021. We have a Community Lead advisory body both to give input on make recommendations of how the system should be reformed and we have Implementation Committee also made up of people with lived experience providers and hsh staff that is currently meeting and we anticipate finalizing our redesign by the ends of the calendar year. Really excitedwe have been hearing a lot from families about the need for this to be more trauma informed, simpler process and obviously faster. Access points are the point at which families come into the system and receive accessment through coordinated entry, but also receiving services and this is the point where we want to be able to connect people with Legal Services and other Immigration Services outside what hsh does, but we know incredibly important for newcomer households. We did also receive a question about how we address complaints in coordinated entry or family home lessness response system generally. All our Access Points are required to have a grievance process clients that is public available to them. Our policy is for folksclients to take their complaints directly to the Service Provider first, and then they can escalate it to us, and that we all respond to complaints within 48 hours. That isthis is available on our website in four different languages. We are undergoing really significant system changes in the family homelessness response system. Not only to meet the growing need of families experiencing homelessness, which we are seeing, but also to make our system more functional we need to get more out of it for families. So, we already made two really significant placement reforms and supervisor safai and think this speaks to laj wjs in the resolution that we long prioritized unsheltered families for shelter. Makes sense . If a kid is sleeping outside, we want to make sure they are the top of the list to move into a shelter. But we used to require a verification of the unsheltered status and that verification was cumbersome and took too long so we have done away with the verification process. Now it is seft reported. What verification . We used to verify to move that were unhoused . To prove they were unsheltered. We understand a lot are unhouse but to be unsheltered. We had done away with that, it is too much stress and pressure on the families so that is done. We also previously had a policy where if i offered you a shelter bed, you had 72 hours to decide if you want to take it. You may be couch surfing or doing other things and may have Something Else in line and if you are ready to let the process go and come into shelter and what we have found was that this lead to too many shelter units held offline when somebody is making a decision when somebody else needed the bed that night so now we only make same day offers of shelter so you come in 9 a. M. Or 445 p. M. , we want to make sure we are only offering things available that day and you need to choose that day so no bed is going unused when families are in need. Since we implemented the reform around the new year, we have seen family shelter utilization go way up. Other systems reforms that are in progress, coordinated entry we talked about. We are reforming our problem solving strategy which is flexible Financial Assistance to help families avoid the crisis of homelessness. We are looking improvement to shelter and longterm Housing Options and on the horizon we have a Community Lead process including coordinated entry to broaden Access Points, increase training and coaching for staff at Access Points, better improved ways to help families identify their unique needs and strengths. We are looking at our prioritization processes and looking at to refine how we match families to services. Through this process, have identified a number of system gaps and i will not go into them. Are you all most done . Just about done. The family homelessness system is not equip to solve all the problems associated with recent immigration, with longterm intergenerational poverty, there are many many more upstream solutions that need to be brought together to really address longterm address family homelessness. And i will stop there and happy to take any questions you have. Thank you. I appreciate the thorough report. Trying to zero into the focus here. Just going to jump right in Deputy Director cohen. Thank you for being here and for your response and i can tell you personally want to do better. I think there is constraints thin system. When i introduced the resolution, the day i introduced the resolution the mayor was passing out a press release saying that you have made or city has made significant improvements in capacity and shelter and housing for unhoused families and it made a real difference. But just over the last 6 months, even since we engaged on this, the stories and are information we are hearing on the ground is much different. They said shelter capacity would be increased, services increased but i didnt see that presented. I know coordination has gotten better so no more 72 hour and selfverification, so it seems to be a disconnect so that is one. Second question is, can you talk more about the family flex program . As i understand it, there is over 160 spaces available. They are funded, but only 50 utilized now, is that right . Ifthalities thats the case, why is there such a under utilization of the program . I want to understand is there capacity increase and service increase and we have a example of a program and seems it is under utilized. Thank you so much for the questions. In terms of capacity, i think we have added significant capacity over the last year or two in the family homelessness response system including the emergency rental vouchers from the federal government that we put 250 those towards families. We also funded the oasis shelter so taking that from a covid only response and making a permanent shelter, i believe that is 59 rooms that are now private rooms now available for ongoing shelter. I think one of the mayor puts in the press release you are referencing is the forthcoming capacity expansion of the Hotel Vouchers. This is on the horizon . It was approveped last month and should go into effect in the next week or 2 so moving and the second component of this is what happens when families are in the shelter and the housing on the back end and that is where we are excited about the 85 to hundred 5 year rental subsidies on the horizon that will come after the budget process but we identified the source through prop c and eager to roll that out so families have somewhere to go on the back end of shelter. I know exactly where in the notes i have the answer to this question about flexible housing subsidy, so might need to look back to those and get that to you, but this is a really exciting program. We for the first time have a locally funded ongoing rental subsidy. A local section 8 for families and adult and 170 are dedicated to families. We just began rolling this program out. We will be ramping up lease up, but it is higher then 50 and ill get that number when i can look at my computer. This is a really excitesing program that is rolling out currently and will make a big impact for families. So, i guess what there is a lot of confusion in terms of what we are hearing on the ground, because you said you removed the selfverify scaigz and the reserve, but when people interact with them the wait list still feels cumbersome. People are not getting direct answers. They see and hear about spots being vacant or under utilized, and so where is the disconnect . The family flex program isnt fully utilized. Shelter kneds beds are not fully capacity and i understand you are doing more and trying to remove barriers, but people are turned away when theres vacantcapacity to be filled. Thank you supervisor. I agree the system is too cumbersome to manage and for somei would say that the shelter waiting list is complicated. It isnt as simple as you were here seventyfirst first and go on the waiting list. We have prioritization and family size matching we need to do. We might haveif a very large family comes in, unfortunately because we have fewer resources for large families they are likely to wait longer to get a shelter unit that can accommodate 6 or more people, which we see on occasion and it can be very challenging so that can be one reason why the shelter list, somebody with 2 or 3 members of the family move a lot faster even though they might come in later, if you will. Another factor that makes the wait list complicated, again because it isnt just first come first serve, if a family is unsheltered, they will be prioritized move to the top. If a family is fleeing Domestic Violence and no place in a violence response shelter, they move to the top that list. A family who might be couch surfing, equally homeless, equally in need of services, but they are going to wait longer for shelter then the family literally sleeping on the street with their child. What about the request in the resolution about Hotel Vouchers . If you cost the Hotel Vouchers out, they are less expensive per day then some of the places that we put people in. I wonder why that has not been looked at more aggressively . We are. We launched it recently the Hotel Vouchers we are excitesed about this. We have heard from families that the wrap around services at shelters are more robust then a mobile team that can be done at the hotels. Meals can be harder to do at hotels but it is part of the equation. Lets see what we hear today. Because i can tell what i heard on the ground. Let me alsoi had a lot of the same conversations. I recognize Hotel Vouchers are certainly more desirable then congregate shelter and possibly less desirable then single room shelter, so i hear where that is in the hierarchy. I talked to a lot of families about that specifically. Okay. Colleagues, any additional questions . Supervisor, may i go back to the flex subsidy pool . We have 165. That is what165. Flex subsidy slots or vouchers. 130 households matched to the program or enrolled and 77 have successfully moved into housing. So, we anticipate 130 minus 77 those households are still in housing search. Probably moving in the next 90 days. And 1 [indiscernible] how long has this program been around . I believe a year. Dont quote me on that. Whats going on . You have 165 slots. People suffering. People that need. I dont understand whattell me why onlyi get you have 130 matched, but only 77 have been housed in a year . So, we are releasing the vouchers on a rolling basis so our providers have ample time on a monthly basis to identify the unit and help families move in and then do really intensive support service at the beginning to help them stabilize. They are not attempting to lease up all 165 at a time. We are doing this as a staggered referral program. Why . Does that make sense . It is help insure it is successful. If we try to lease up 165 vouchers at a time our providers who does this work would not have the capacity to do that. You only have one provider doing the work . Flex subsidy pooli think it is one or two contractors. Okay. Compass Family Service does this so we have a staggered referral and placement process to insure we have the find the unit or provider find the unit families have time to see it, get matched and services to stabilize. Colleagues, any questions . Supervisor shamann walton. Thank you supervisor and thank you so much for the presentation. Do Access Centers have translation capacity . Yes, absolutely. Always . So, they are required through the contract to have to make Services Available in the requested language. Most have Spanish Speaking staff and if they dont have the requested language they have access to Language Line to use in the moment. I know we hear reports sometimes it isnt available. I heard that as well and we sent our program monitors to look at that because that is part of the contract. Sometimes that result in fewer Spanish Speaking staff being available at any one time, but they should use Language Line if that is the issue. I know we dont ask the status of immigration at time of housing or when we try to meet Service Needs, but we do have ways of identifying, correct . We also use School District data so we are seeing families involved with sfusd increase in newcomer families and then a subset of those are experiencing homelessness. So, we see that increase with the School District data and also look at our language request to see sort. If they are not connected to the district we have no way of knowing km we know they are homeless and know many things about their family makeup and the type of housing and Service Needs they have, but would not know the immigration status. And then i asked the question earlier, and i know there have been conversations about this, just curious to where the conversation is about additional Shelter Service at school sites outside mediation . I think the discussion around the school sites is really interesting. I was a parlt of the team that started bvhm with many of you and appreciate the support. There is a lot of folks who care and love this program in the room, this was seen as a incredible opportunity. We can take a public asset, like a school and use those overnight hours where it is sitting empty to help families in need. I think there has been challenges with implementation. We heard largely from families that an overnight only program is fine for a couple nights, but doesnt work when we look at 6 month stay in shelter because it is hard to get your stuff every morning, get out, pack up be out by 6, 6 30 to clean and convert to school use and across the shelter system we had a Movement Towards 24 7 shelters. Now in the whole system i think we have two shelters not 24 7. One is bvhm because it is at a school and the other at a church. The others are 24 7 and coming out of covid we had a Movement Towards private rooms and why we done the oasis. Hsh is open to exploring School Options and looked at a couple with staff. But i also want to listen to the families and dont want to replicate something that may not be in the best interest of the families we are serving, and i say that with all humility to hear differently from the families. We want to take their guidance and how to provide the best shelter, and i do think the Hotel Vouchers might be a better alternative to the congregate shelter. Yes. So if those are the two things we are talking investing in, i would lean towards the Hotel Vouchers. I think we all agree on that. Thank you. Thank you. Chair ronan. Thank you. So, what i heard from many families is that in for example, the bvhm shelter, families are staying there for 7 to 8 months, which is not what an Emergency Shelter system is supposed to look like. So, why is that . Whats going on there . There are several things going on. Basically, to boil it down, we dont have enough Affordable Housing on the back end for families to move out of shelter, and are this is why we have been cautious about expanding family shelter without having the housing exitsexpanding housing simultaneously because now we are getting more families into shelter and we have a big surge when we leased up city gardens. People moved out and now we have turnover units and we dont have another big building coming online to help facilitate people moving out. I do think when this 85100 vouchers hits the streets if you will, we will see more families moving out as the flex pool units get leased up we will see more families moving out but it is around creating flow. We also dont have a time limit in the family shelters and so people are staying until they find a option that works for them. One of the largest interventions for families is rapid rehousing which is up to two years families lease a unit in the private market with a subsidy and receive wrap around social services. This is the primary family intervention across the country and generally it works pretty well. We have seen a biti dont want to over exaggerate, but seen a bit of reluctance from families to accept it this knowing it is only 2 years of subsidy and they need longterm Affordable Housing and they know that, but we dont have a ton that. They might not have the disabilities that one wouldpermanent Supportive Housing is designed to meet. Permanent Supportive Housing is designed for those with longterm barriers to successful housing placement outside economics. Either Behavioral Health, Mental Health, physical Health Disorders and conditions, and so we are in the limbo where families might not need that intensive Service Level but they need more affords ability so if we had more general Affordable Housing we would see this go more quickly. I think we can make rapid rehousing more success and debunth the myths of rap idrehousing. I think there is a myth people are failing, but 70 percent of people remained housed when their subsidy expire jz that is quite good and something that i think certainly when it comes to household well being and health, two years in an apartment of their own in the Community Versus waiting in shelter for something longer term, every family makes their own decisions, but i would certainly value two years in the apartment versus a long long shelter stay. You will increase the time to 5 years . We are receiving new money for 85 to hundred new vouchers that will have 5 years. We still have hundreds of vouchers on the 2 year timeline and looking what it takes to create parody across the system, but not there yet and we havent identified the funding to do that yet. I see mpts really quickly, the other thing i heard for a reason that families get stuck in Emergency Shelter is that for immigrant families, they are not sort of categorized as housing referral status eligible. Can you explain that . Yes, there is nothing about your immigration status that would dictate explain what housing referral status is . When a family goes through coordinated entry they receive an assessment which is look ing at their needs, vulnerabilities and strengths. Then they are put into 2 categories and we are looking at reforming this. The two categories are housing referral status and problem solving status. If somebody is in housing referral status, that means through the assessment it is identified they are going to need more then just flexible Financial Assistance to get back on their feet. They need some sort of subsidy whether that is permanent Supportive Housing or rap idrehousing so after they are determined to be housing referral status we work with them to get documents in order and id, birth certificate and match with units available. For some folks i am using my hand, there is a band of you are in housing referral status and this person up top is most vulnerable and thern down here has more modest vulnerability. We start with more modest with rapid rehosing. Those with deep vulnerability are queued for housing. At no point is immigration status a factor if you are in those categories, we do have federally funded slots in both, and so we need to make sure your immigration status aligns with the eligibility of the federally funded units and if it doesnt we have funded units in both categories, rapidrehousing and permanent Supportive Housing so it is factor with match but not eligibility. Okay. We are not going to match to a federally funded unit if your immigration status would make you ineligible fl unit. We know that a little earlier and match to a locally funded unit. Okay. So, i want to switch for a minute and might go back to this for current system, but with this plan to get 85 to a hundred five year rehousing subsidies through prop c, that is amazing siteing. I have spoken to advocates about this. This iswill require moving money from a slot that is already been designated for ta housing or purpose in order to accomplish that and there is likely to be a lot of pushback on that. Can you talk about where this funding is coming from . , the 20million identified is from the Family Housing bucket so eligible funding. This would not require any shift of prop c. Okay, so this is programmed for this purpose . This has been recommendsed by the committee and included in the Budget Proposal so assuming this will be funded in the next cycle. That is from Family Housing . Im 98 percent sure that. Okay. Ill circle back. It isnt what i heard, but well talk. So, we have currently 375 families on the waiting list for housing. For shelter. For shelter, but of those, you said that 60 were in a hotel . Let me be more specific. This wait list, the 375 people are on a wait list for the individual room shelters. I see. The primary wait list and while waiting, 60 are in the emergency beds. We know people are staying far too long in the emergency beds. What is your communication with families on the wait list about where they are on the wait list, how things are moving, what the likelihood time until they get the unit is going to be . This work is largely done by the access point staff. Not super familiar with the frequency with which they communicate with the families on the wait list. I believe every couple weeks they are supposed to check in with the families. There is access point staff in the room so they might address that during Public Comment, but we do try to keep that line of communication open. We have heard the request from the community to make that list public, similar to how we do it on the adult side on our website there is a shelter waiting list, and it is something we are considering we want to be really mindful of privacy, especially for families with Domestic Violence so working identifiers. Definitely Wont Disclose somebodys identity and trying to figure how to do that with the different prioritization. So we heard that request from the community and something we are looking at. I have two additional question. There are lots of people waiting to speak. One is, what is your assessment of whether or not we are currently in a emergency . To me it feels like we are, and there has not yet been that declaration from the city to open a Emergency Shelter with case workers that can help individuals . Thank you. I think this is homelessness is a emergency. I think this has been a emergency for 30 years, and i think we need to be operating with all haste to address it for sure. I do think we are seeing more families then we have seen before and so it is definitely something that needs to be addressed with urgency. I dont know that the welcome hub with the shelter isi donts know what the solution is necessarily for a influx in migration. I know the family homeless response system is at capacity and strained and making lives harder for people in our community. So, i certainly differ more to oceia a expert on immigration and what the solution would be. I do want to be sure we are avoiding a situation where the homeless response system become s our immigration response. We are not staffed that way. We dont have that expertise. We are not large enough and many families who are coming do not necessarily need homeless service, they need a pathway to stability and if we can do that without pulling families into a homelessness system and are help them launch more quickly in San Francisco and in the United States i think that would be prefable, but im outside my lane. Im not a immigration expert in any way, so we want to figure out the best way to support the households and help people avoid longterm homelessness. Okay. I appreciate that. Last question, i am getting texts from members of the community that are asking that they dont understand where all these two year rapid rehousing vouchers are. Ment that they have been working with tons of families that are in crisis that need that that would take a voucher and are two seconds and are asking how can families get access to these vouchers in a meaningful way . We are at capacity. The vouchers are leased up so we have to wait for turnover to come to so there are no available . They are not currently available. They are in the system but families are using them now. The 35 that are new Hotel Vouchers. Those are just hotel jz just two week stays . The idea is for them to be short so that you have somewhere safe to be while you wait for a spot in the family shelter. We do want not to kick people out once in so we have extended them until the family shelter bed becomes available. Given we knowthis really will be my last question. Given that we know that there are families sleeping in the streets every night and we dont have anything left in the system for these families really, everything is spoken for in every program that we have, and we are in april, midapril and the budget process is not getting wrapped up until the end of july and then after that it takes a while to get new programs up and running, it sounds to me like we should release these 8 0 to hundred vouchers earlier and do the budget supplemental and do it now and not wait for the budget process. Is thatdo you agree with that . I dont know it is necessarily because we are already doing the planning process and already working onwe are not waiting till the budget passes to assume we get the dollars. We are beginning the process now so i suspects the budget process will catch up to internal planning, rfp processes and we can release the funds shortly after the budget is al located. If they come earlier we can move as quickly as we get the resources. Supervisor, i have a answer on our city our home question. Investment in the 5 year subsidies, the 85 to hundred subsidies not require a shift in the our city our home buckets, buckets is the categories of funding, but it would require a waver on our rapid rehousing cap. Now 12 percent ofi believe 12 percent of the housing dollars can be used for anything short of i think permanent, maybe 7 years, and this would push over the limit on that cap so we would need a waver there, but it isnt shifting funds from any populations. Okay. Thank you. Thats good to know. Thank you. We can ask more questions after Public Comment. I just know people are waiting. Appreciate it. The one last thing i think would be helpful is to call uphfwe have kim bomen from department of Emergency Management. Thank you kim. I know director carol is at a funeral this morning so we appreciate you joining us. So, there is some concern around who has the authority to declare a emergency in the situation as we received a major increase in the number of newcomers and People Living on the streets with children unhoused and in this crisis. I want to understand who has the authority to declare that emergency and then in your professional opinion, is there a emergency and should we move forward . Thank you for the question. So, in this circumstance, the department of Emergency Management would not have that responsibility. In fact, we dont determine if something is an emergency or warrants a local emergency proclamation, so we would differ to colleagues who are overseeing what you call the steady state or day to day response to these issue jz to meet these needs. Better understand if they have capacity to handle influx of newcomers coming into the city. You are saying it isnt Department Emergency management, it is other departments in coordination . It is. They come together and discuss what their capabilities are and if appropriate to meet the needs of what they are encountering and then make a policy Group Recommendation to the mayor office on whether or not they think a local emergency proclamation would be beneficial. So, it sounds like we have two main groups that are here, oceai and hsh. I guess we have to call them back up. Maybe you can hang for a minute. Director rivas, i want to hear your response. This is not a got you. Not trying to embarrass anybody. There is is a lot of confusion in the room and we want to know, we have seen increase, we know people are suffering, we know people are turned away, there are children unhoused sleeping in gymnasiums, gas stations, all of the above. You heard it all, so tell us, whats the path forward . Sounds like it would take you and a couple other departments to make recommendation to the mayor, is that right . To the mayor office and then she determines so the mayor ultimately has the power to declare a emergency or not . Thats correct. Okay, we have gotten clarity on that. I was going to respond, i think there is two different type of emergencies but i think the emergency i was speaking to is the protocols we put in place as departments we coordinate for this. P dm is first making declaration and hsh goes next and then we would come in with language service, Case Management and support. I got all that. I understand you coordinate, but it sounds there needs to be a step before that. This sounds like there needs to be a recommendation sent to the mayor, based on the current situation, so that is what wewe are still stuck in first gear. Tell us how we get out of first gear. The recommendation comes from dem according to protocols established as a department. At the various departments. You have to send the information to dem and then dem would sendi worked in this building for 24 years, im getting confused at all the bureaucracy now. Lets lay it out clearly so everyone understands. How many departments are involved in this conversation . Sounds like there is Interdepartmental Group that has been working, right . Dem, hsh, hsa, mohcd, dph and oceia. Quhoo is the lead . Dem. Dem is the lead of the group . So dem could ask all the Interdepartmental Groups, do you believe we need to move towards a emergency, is that correct . Yes, that is correct, but thatthe information provided to the mayor office would have to come from departments who are subject matter experts. If is a collaborative effort to determine if thats a appropriate measure to take and then recommend that to the mayor. Alright. Okay. Got it. Thank you. Okay. Chair yes. Who is the recommender . Who will be the recommender . For dem . All the departments are subject matter experts, but who is the Actual Department to recommend to ill call my colleague hsa. Happy to answer the question. The way this works, we do come together to determine the scope and scale thof event. There is a policy group that is brought together by the department of Emergency Management and follow the key agencies that then discuss the appropriate response pathway or mechanism for that particular incident. So, you are correct in that all the departments planning together should come together to discuss what next steps are. Director carol will then look at the recommendation, determine next steps and then also meet with mayor and mayor office about that. This is standard Emergency Management response in the way we activate our various protocols. There are restrictions lose when a mayoral declaration so things to consider. But ill leave department i mean know because we went through this three year frz covid so we know the process. You make the recommendation to the mayor, the mayor declares a emergency and comes to this body and we approve by majority vote whether that is in effect or not. What im trying to understand, where are you in the process of determining whether this is a emergency, has the group come together and is it moving forward making a recommendation in this instance . There isnt a formal recommendation or request for the group to come together, so the Department Heads to come together to make recommendation around whether or not this is a emergency. Who makes that request . Department of Emergency Management. Department of Emergency Management snlt the expert on homelessness or immigration matters,ic so. We got that. It would be good if quou can convene the group and have policy experts come in and make a recommendation. Currently we arewe have a standing planning body that comes together. That formal request from anyone to actually determine whether or not this is a emergency and how this will be addressed has not been made and we have not come to that path yet. Okay. Any other questions . Not for emergency, but we have to goi have no more questions. I do have sorry, but i think i finally light bulb has gone up and wonder if i with speak to director cohen about that. There is a huge disconnect of the data and plans and what we hear from the community and always confused about the disconnect and i think i just understand it little more now. So, what is happening with newcomer families and the only option is when they first get here and the newcomer families is bit different then in the past then when there was tight family connections. People are coming without connections and resources, and so they are it coming here and their only real opportunity is Emergency Shelter. That is completely full so they sleep on the streets but say they get into Emergency Shelter. When they assess for housing referral status, they are really low on the list because they havent been chronically homeless for a long time because they dont have the right to work and so dont have a ability to pay rent and so they end up stuck in a Emergency Shelter in a school that is only open in the middle of the night, because that shelter was never meant to be a longterm thing, but people are stuck there for 7 to 8 months and then or just on the street because that shelter is always full. So, there is a real serious problem here that i think there is a disconnect at how the department talks about the problem in these, but we have plenty of the vouchers and this many vouchers and this many things and this that and all these new ones, but the realty on the street and what is happening is, the newcomer families are never prioritized for families because there are too many needing it at and they are at the bottom of the list. That is a light bulb knauz it is so confusing for evenen a policy maker to try to understand why hear such Different Things from the department and the community. Can you talk about that . We dont have a solution for this, so we are basicallythe departments are saying, we are not close to declaring a emergency. One department doesnt know who it starts the process if they wanted to and there is clearly a big disconnect there, and there is huge communities of people coming fleeing violence, fleeing persecution, fleeing gangs and all these things trying to survive and we are basically telling them sleep on the streets. Sorry, thatsplease respond. Absolutely. I think we have been really clear across the board, we do not have enough to meet the need oof someone in San Francisco their entire life and experiencing homelessness or someone who recently came to the community and experiencing homelessness. This is a scarcity issue and i definitely agree, woo we have a robust system and dont have enough for either community. In terms of the prioritization for permanent housing, one of the many factors we take into consideration is the length of time you have been homeless. Certainly wanting to take people on the streets homeless for 5, 8 years, and get them into housing. We know homelessness is expensive. The trauma that occurs in people lives, all these things exacerbated by the amount of time they spend homeless, so but this is one of the thingz the primary thing we look at cordsinated entry reform is do we want to continue to prioritize by this category . I have like the upmost respect for you emily. This is not directed at you in any way shape or form. You are one of the assets to the city and care so deeply about people, so this is not at you at all. But i guess i would just wish more direct honesty from the city, and the honest situation is, you present lists of this many units here, that many there, thing coming that, that coming, but not saying honesty it is not for the newcomer people coming because they will be really low on the list and there are too many people either chronically homeless or in danger of losing their homes to lived for quite some time in San Francisco and they have priority and thats fine to say that if thats what is happening, but we need to know that so we as policy makers can say that isnt okay with us and we need to do more. I guess there is a lot ofwhats the word . I cant pronounce the word[indiscernible] i feel we havent been straight up and honest with immigrant communities here to say, yeah, there is no housing for you here, and really if you are lucky enough to get into the school based Emergency Shelter, thats about all you will get and otherwise you will be sleeping on the street and then we can as policy makers say, thats not okay with us, well change something. To me the light bulb of the hearing is that is the realty in San Francisco. I would just add on one other thing. I think it is more simple then that. I think that one thing that i have found over the process of working on this issue isagain, this isnt directed at you emily, director cohen, there isnt acknowledgment of this population. They are not being seen. They are not being heard and not being acknowledged, so i think even in the conver sation that all most seemed like a bad skit from a comedy show [laughter] sorry, but there isnt acknowledgment like take to the next step to declare there is a crisis and i think one thing that separates this population of people and that is what we started the conversation, there is a prioritization for people unhoused with children and babies and that is being missed here and want to bring it back to that. I think we have to acknowledge that yes, there is a rising just dat a ashows it, a rising newcomer community and we are capturing that on the main data point at the School District, but we have the acknowledge this community and allows us to make that adjustment where we are. I understand yes, there are single adults, there is chronically homeless and addicted, there is Mental Health issues, this is different population of people and we need a different City Response to address this headon. So, if there are not other comments, if we could go ahead and open up foryou did have [indiscernible] yes. We will go for Public Comment. Chair ronan will make an announcement. Well open for Public Comment. We are sorry, but we will lose both our interpreter and perhaps quorum, so i do have to limit Public Comment to 1 minute and im so sorry about that, but you can send us any Additional Information or support. I am also going to ask to let the spanish speak rs go first because we will lose our interpreter at 1 oclock, so let me just translate that real quickly and then well get started. [speaking spanish] i dont can know how to say quorum. [speaking spanish] all most good afternoon. [speaking spanish] good morning, my name is margarita. I am a immigrant from el salvador. I come with my 4 kids and my husband. I am part of the new member families here. A very important pointthat is dignity. Dignity is something that one must be aware of and take care of. And that is what we have come here to ask for as a family. But we also have a solution to a problem. We need to respect our kids integrity, in a more transparency, more humanitarian effort. Giving more movement to find permanent housing for families. There is studies that show out of 165 shelters, only a few have been filled. We need for the department of homelessness and mayor office to Work Together with us so we can move forward and find a place to live. Speaker time elapsed. [speaking spanish. Waiting for translation] goods morning my name iswe are from peru. We are transitional period from a Emergency Shelter, to a transitional shelter, and with the vulnerability we are trying to move ahead as immigrants. My son has missed a surgery and my younger son was beat up at school. With this new situation, with the transitional shelter, they have left us without a place. I have evidence but there is only room foror we all stay on the streets. So my younger son, having dealt with the trauma of separation, with his father due to this immigration deal. There were three Slots Available at a Emergency Shelter, i dont want my kids to end up on the streets to relive trauma. I actually on the streets myself. I left my kids with my husband. Speaker time elapsed. We should move forward. Thank you very much for all the families. [speaking spanish. Waiting for translation] hello, im a immigrant here with my husband and two kids. I am part of a newcomer families here. When i first arrived here there was no point of access that would take me in, i had to look for a hotel. We are not a number, but yet we are surviving. We are human beings before being immigrants. And we need to value our humanness here in the sanctuary city and to date, they have not provided that to us. But our solution is for them to speed up the movement at the homeless shelter locations. Homeless shelters that permanent housing it is a public need. But also to monitor the wait list. But with these temporary homeless shelt ers, privacy is a concern. And we want a solution. Thank you. [speaking spanish. Waiting for translation] [indiscernible] provided to us. I agree w however there is no action taken. Yes there is resources and money there is just no empathy for the immigrants. The richest city in the United States, sleeps on the streets. Not just immigrants. People who serve the Community Well today are out sleeping on the streets. This is unconscionable in a sanctuary state. There is money. There is just no [indiscernible] to solve this problem. Thank you. You can switch microphones if you like. Good afternoon. [indiscernible] not able to be here with us today because they have an appointment to go to. This they is a 6 year old daughter. They arrived here three months ago. They went to one of the Access Points to which they dont dealt with the bureaucracythey are people not machines whether they qualify or not based on points. They were one of buena vista homeless shelter and removed them from their room. They recovered in another way with a friend. Action is not necessarily involved with homeless shelter, but they do help people. However, there are other resources, other places to go for action. We do not understand why you have [indiscernible] allocated, we want to make sure that money is very well used. Speaker time elapsed. Want to make sure there are [indiscernible] thank you. If you dont mind, if we can ask stay out with the wheelchair so she is not blocking the line. There is designated wheelchair spots in the front row if you dont mind. Thank you. [speaking spanish] im from peru. I am with faith in action and also part of the new member committee. As human beings we need to be included in society so they can permit us, to have a place in this big country. I find myself in a shelter. We also need for them to put us in a hotel. We shouldnt have to wait for the 14 days. We ask the mayor and the city to just keep us in mind and well do our part in helping out the city. [speaking spanish] im Francis Lopez from nicaragua here with my son. We arrived 6 months ago to the buena vista shelter. We need transparency and for the city to be transparent with us. We like the opportunity to pull forward with our family. We dont want to be a public nuisance, we just want to move forward with our jobs and help those within the city. We also it are asking for our wishes to be heard and also be approved. Thank you. Good afternoon. I am a single mother from columbia. I am asking it give more opportunity to pull ahead and forward. We are not asking for much. To provide the opportunity and provide us with housing. We greatly appreciate on behalf of everyone who finds themselves here. All we need is a opportunity as said by the person before me. Thank you. Good morning supervisors. I am from the dolores Street Community service, [indiscernible] one of the calls we want to do today is primarily recognize that the newly migrants arrival families are in desperate need and departments may not make the call, if this is a emergency or not, from my Vantage Point i would say we are in a emergency. The second thing i like to say is, coordinating entry needs to be redesigned. We are overlooked here [indiscernible] carrying from their countries. Im a immigrant coming from venezuela. We have to house refugees period. Thank you. We need to keep the line moving. [speaking spanish] where is the interpreter . Okay, thank you jorge. I can help a bit. Go ahead. [speaking spanish] good afternoon. My name is [indiscernible] from el salvador. Im part of the faith in Action Movement and have nothing prepared but want to speak to you as a single mother, what i have in my heart. I would like to contra dict something said that there are people communicating with families in the shelters. That is far from reality and not something happening. As part of the group im with, faith in action we need more action and less words. I would likealso grateful because i have a place to live and place to stay, but it is not what i need. I really need the demands from everybody here today are heard. Thank you. Thank you so much director. [speaking spanish] good afternoon everybody. Im one of the families that just arrived. Me and my family went to some of the Access Points but told they could not help us because they were full. Thank to god faith in action was able to provide us with a hotel for 15 days. We are looking for solutions for our children. So they are not experiencing needs in the streets. On the streets. Thank you. Good afternoon. Im from buena vista shelter, because at the only one that supported me. [speaking spanish. Waiting for translation] im appreciative for the good group at buena vista shelter. Thank you. Good afternoon. Im here, im very appreciative for the doors opened to us at buena vista shelter. I have a 10 year old daughter. I have been here 6 months and thank god. Provided with the place [indiscernible] thank god. May god bless mr. Jackie as they have been with us. In the most difficult times she has always been with us. Thank you to buena vista. Thank you. Good afternoon. As a family Shelter Service San Francisco for over 53 years, you seen the level of need and service increased especially for families who are currently undocumented. Families are often seen as invisible side of homelessness and San Francisco long under funded the family response system. As a shelter new seeking city funding, we want to be able to support these increase need and ask representatives and the mayor to allocate additional funding to all family shelters and programs in our community. It is critical we commitment funding shelter access and housing subsidies for every family experiencing homelessness in San Francisco. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is diana gomez and here with rachel bowls, members of saent marks luthian church and representing faith in action. Im a mother and grandmirther and retired School Teacher and livei have seen more and more People Living on the streets in my own streets, and it is obious there is a problem. There is a problem of shortage everywhere. I really encourage us to think bigger picture. We need to hire more lawyers to help these people. We need to have more counselors in the schools to help these children. The immediateancy of the chairnts trying to raise children in the situation is drastic. These children are going to become the next problem in our city and they need so much more. These are such brave and strong people. I really encourage our mayor to get help for these people. Thank you. Hi, im suzy smith, also with saint marks and on board called mlt, Martin Luther thao. With the redevelopment of the western addition, our church with a fha loan builtabout to break ground on the second Affordable Housing for seniors and we know we are working on the third buildings for families for our campus and i want to thank you for your attention and ill let mayor breed know that we need a bigger bucket. Hi. Good afternoon. My name is [indiscernible] a case manager family advot cain the mission. We provide information and social Services Support to San Francisco immigrants with a focus on the latino community. Im here in support of the resolution before you. We see a high volume of newcomer families seeking critical basic Needs Services and face multiple barriers and closed doors. Like many Service Providers, we are over capacity and unable to provide the services our Community Needs and deserves. The family shelter system wait list isnt new, it has become a crisis and inhumane. Shelter family needs to be a priority and addressed with a similar urgency that unhoused adults are receiving. And stand with impacted families present and urge you all to move forward on the resolution. Thank you. My name is cathy, im here as a member of Bethany Methodist Church with faith in action and recently retired from all most 40 years of teaching in sfusd and i seen what it is like to teach students in really insecure housing situations. They are so hungry that you know if you dont get them food in the next 5 minutes you lost them for the whole class. They wont be able to concentrate on anything. They is emotional needs. They are anxious, they are ashamed of where they are living. They hide where they are living to the point that many of their teachers dont know that they are sleeping in a shelter or in a car and are asking them to produce like any other student who isnt facing those needs. I know how difficult it is. Also speaking i had the privilege of housing a migrant family from hon durs and shared a house with them for 3 years and they were hard working. The woman spnt hour on the phone trying to get speaking time elapsed. To get through social service and just i what they were able to accomplish they were only able to accomplish because they had stable housing. And because speaker time elapsed. Greetings. Im the Latino Task Force director. San francisco stand as a beacon of hope for every migrant. It was a refuge for my mother fleeing from the civil war landed on the mission. In the early 80. However the light of this beacon is fading. At the Latino Task Force we serve 15 thousand clients a year. We have been serving average 8 migrant families a week across our three neighborhood hubs, so contrary to the city definition, we are in a midst of a emergency. We hear time and time again for mothers and fathers who come hoping for a Hotel Voucher. They share the many failed attempts of securing access to shelter as they turn away time and time again. Just contracted for Legal Services to help address the overwhelming need for immigration service. Yz cannot imanage the pain and desperation our families phase. Speaker time elapsed. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name isherea two decade educator representing united educators of San Francisco and here to support the prioritization of families for shelter in the establishment of additional shelter for families including immigrant families. As a educator, we witness first hand the profound impact of homelessness on students and families. Every day we see children coming to school hungry, exhausted and anxious because they lack stable housing. Every child in San Francisco should have a safe stable place to call home where they can thrive academically socially and emotionally. Prioritizing families for shelter is the right thing to do right now. In needed access to shelter can prevent further trauma and instability allowing parents to focus securing employment and access and resor sources and rebuild their lives. We have over 6 thousand members and over the years we have seen is San Francisco becomes more unaffordable we see more families suffering from unhousing. Thank you for having this hearing. Hello, my name is danica, a mirther of three and first generation immigrant of San Francisco. I lived in San Francisco 27 years. I am here today with the sense of urgency regarding the escalating homelessness crises faced by families in San Francisco. As a concerned Community Members im troubled by the growing number of families who are forced to endure hardships and live on the streets with their children. It is unacceptable that in the city as prosperous as San Francisco families are struggling to find a safe and stable place to call home. The lack of Affordable Housing and Supportive Service has exacerbated the situation. Leaving vulnerable families without resources they need to rebuild their life. I ask a leader in our community to take immediate action to address this pressing issue. We cannot continue to turn a blind eye the speaker time elapsed. Families in need of assistance. It is time speaker time elapsed. Thank you. I fell behind and flunked in school. I was subject to being vulnerable, molestation and living in homeless shelter and locked in an attic. When you dont prioritize children and families, those are the type of impacts we are faced with and im a part of the group of people that you are leaving behind when you say you are not homeless enough because you are couch surfing. I incurred chronic back pain sleeping on couches while pregnant so think the city needs to redefine how they prioritize homelessness and define homelessness because when you are homeless it shouldnt be you are not homeless enough to receive help in service for people here in San Francisco. Hi. My name isa advocate with compass Family Service and also the granddaughter of the first black mab in the union who probably built this very building we are standing and sitting in so due to that lack of education, i have become homeless with 5 kids of my own. I was actually kicked out of shelter going to work every day and taking kids to school and coming back in time do to my chores and because i was so tired we were kicked out. If i did not advocate for myself, me and my children would be on the streets to this day and that is why im advocate for twhose who cannot speak up for themselves and scared to speak up. Because i be damn anyone i know love or care about has to go about any form of adversity and struggle i had to go through. I went through numerous cases of Domestic Violence [indiscernible] they told me my case isnt severe enough even though this perpetrator arrived at my job. San francisconeeds to make sense because it isnt making any sense at all. I was born and raised in the city and went through homelessness. I moved to vallejo for 20 years. Through homelessness the lack of homelessness and stable housing not only robbed them of their basic human needs, but also stripped away their sense of security and dignity. 50 Hotel Vouchers are a good start but not enough to meet the needs of homeless families. There are 442 homeless families in San Francisco. I was homeless for two years. I had to network, was told i could not be put on the permanent waiting list. I was not homeless enough but paid to go out of state with my son. Good morning. Im here to read the rest of danicatestimony. I cant turn a blind eye to plight of families in need of assistance. It is time for meaningful and comprehensive solutions to insure every family in San Francisco has a roof over their heads and access of support they need to thrive. I implore to prioritize funding for Affordable Housing Mental Health service and provide wrap around support. By investing in these areas we can make significant strides. I urge to stand up the most vulnerable members of the community and make difference in the lives of homeless lives in San Francisco. Together we can create a future where every family has the opportunity to thrive and succeed. Thank you for your attention to this important matter. I look forward hearing about the steps you take to address homelessness for families in San Francisco. Good afternoon. My name is [indiscernible] sf resident Public School educator on sabbatical and Teacher Educator at usf and doctoral student who is investigating our School Impact youth Mental Health and wellness. Since 2011 when i have been working and living here i watched how the city [indiscernible] yet fails to address basic human needs. We know as long as the current Global Economic system exists, migration is the only option for many. Let us be a city that centers most vulnerable and create alternative to end dish parities. It is shameful we have restaurants for dogs while children sleep on the street. [indiscernible] the wellbeing olf everyone. This is a emergency not sfusd emergency or usf emergency, it is our collective emergency. Let us do what is right and live up to this label of progressive city. Housing for all. Thank you. Victor floyd on [indiscernible] joined by allison [indiscernible] also on the staff and there are more members here. We are with faith and action bay area. About 6 weeks ago attended the Community Meetings at st. Anyany when i learned there were children living under awnings at abandon gas stations in the city and wanted not to believe that. When i told my 700 member congregation this they also wanted not to believe this so we helped faith and action write letters and to get this hearing today. I also learned there are 84 billion airs in San Francisco and i believe that some of those billions were made on the backs of the people who are now homeless. I believe in the city of 84 billion airs we have a way to solve this problem. Thank you. Good afternoon. I have been on the English Speaking team for faith and action and seen whether the advocacy work happened with the Spanish Speaking team over the past years and then especially the past 6 months. The fact they are in a trauma situation and are advocating for themselves is unbelievable and i just support them a hundred percent. My name is leslie in faith and action and Early Childhood educator. I know what it means to raise a family and to raise children and i know what bedtime should be like. I think we all do. No family should be sleeping in the streets nor be living in shelters for months with inadequate bedding, food and opportunities for health, this isnt a matter of cost too much, in the research in faith in action on the past year, the city did not utilize the full budget allotment for any housing subsidy programs in the departments we researched. These families are our future. They are already contributing and eager to contribute more and San Francisco our sanctuary city surely we can insure there are no children and no families sleeping in the streets. Im a member and speaking primarily as resident of district 1 and government worker who works in the neighborhood. I would like to ask that we not allow the bureaucracy and lack of data allowing us to help what is testifying to by the many school and faith based action groups that are stepping up to help. Im proud of being a san franciscans and glad San Francisco is a sanctuary city and progressive city. I dont think that is what we are displaying here and reit quest we try to do better. Hello, my name is Michael Mullen i live on knob hill and i am a member of Saint Dominic Catholic Church and only one person from that church. There were probably 20 people at the previous meeting, so i also worked for 28 years for the state bar of california so i really understand like what it is like to be somebody in a bureaucratic position trying to do your very best, and i think that a lot is being done in San Francisco, but this hearing is very illuminating by showing how peoplehow this group of people is falling through the cracks. I really do believe it is a emergency. It is a Beautiful Day today but rained all winter and it is just appalling that families with children are speaker time elapsed. Are living in the streets. Thank you. My name is sonia, i work for Homeless Prenatal Program and when i hear you were going to be here i go, i have to be there. There is no other way around. This is a sanctuary city, but what we are hearing today, it doesnt have nothing to do with being a sanctuary city. Community has to start together to be able to have Affordable Housing, make sure they have basic things and make sure they move forward with it. Being in this type of situation that is a big barrier in there, so as someone that is a survival of Domestic Violence and are experienced homelessness, i know what it is to be on the streets with a daughter. If you get people in the community that really invest on your future, you actually get somewhere. I have been 30 years, giving services and speak er time elapsed. We need to take care of the families. Thank you so much. Hello. My name is linda harris. As a mother, a person of faith who is a [indiscernible] nurse who spent most of my career working and teaching Nursing Student to work with children experiencing trauma and severe emotional crisis, i am appalled that there are families sleeping on the streets of our city. There is a huge body of research on the rippling effects of childhood trauma on not only the individuals emotional, but also their physical health for a lifetime. The children in our immigrant families have often experienced much trauma in their countries of origin and on the pathway to our country, and we need to stop that now. I totally agree that there needs to be another category for homeless families that takes needs of these most vulnerable individuals into account. These children are the future of our country and our world and it is inconsinable for them to sleep on a streets of a city as wealthy as ours. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is pat, i am a pastor of first ninite church of San Francisco people from the church. Leader with faith and action. San francisco is fond as we all know of calling itself a sanctuary city, but with this noble claim come responsibilities that must be upheld by city officials and embarrassed and ashamed what we knew and what is so confirmed this morning that we are just not up to that task. We are not equipped to do that. We all know childhood trauma is the real deal. It has long lasting lifelong impact, so we hope that as policy makers you will all figure what it means what it takes to declare a emergency and find the funds to insure immigrant families with Young Children have shelters in the hort shortterm and Affordable Housing longterm. Thank you so much for the hearing. Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for hosting this very powerful hearing. Compass Family Service. I dont have anything to say that will be as moving as our Family Advisory Committee Leaders shared this morning, but i want to reiterate it is my hope this does not become a cause of the month in the run up to an election. Hsh is over leveraged. We cannot tack on 30 more Hotel Vouchers and call solved. If the state of emergency means a emergency budget supplemental lets do it. Lets put our Heads Together and think create ivly because there are children sleeping outside and what is the most fundamental job of the government if not to stop that . Thank you. I hear very compelling testimony today. I want to add up on that. The city does a lot of great things. It does things well and knows how to do stuff when it putsfocus together. This is one thing that you guys cant sleep on. You got to go ahead and just do this. Im a homeless guy. Came with my backpack. I dont know where ill sleep tonight but i need a place and counting on you to alleviate some of these problems. It is time to act. Thank you. Thank you. Any other speakers who like to comment on this matter . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Supervisor walton you want to Say Something thank you so much supervisor safai for calling the hearing and i want to thank everyone who came out and spoke today. I want to appreciate faith and action, the Latino Task Force, educators and everyone who has been working on supporting immigrant families and families with children experiencing homelessness. This is a crisis. This is something that needs a comprehensive plan and we need to jump on this right away and so i just want you to know that i am committed, we are committed to doing everything we can to address the issue in the shortterm and of course to do everything we can to come up with solutions for longterm, but again want to appreciate supervisor safai for calling this hearing and appreciate all of you for coming out and sharing your experiences and working on solutions to solve this issue. Thank you. I think the testimony speak for themselves. I think you all got to see first hand some of our own frustration when departments are talking past one another and the bureaucracy can stand in the way. We cant let bureaucracy stand in the way to serve families, children, people suffering on the street. As with said earlier, we have to recognize and see people. We have to understand that this is a crisis. We need to call what it is. We need to see these are newcomer families and as people said here today, we cant just say we are a sanctuary city and just let that float in the air, we have to truly live up to those principles and deliver on those principles and insure that the most resourced city, one of the most richest cities on the planet can step forward and take care of the most vulnerable. If that means vouchers, it that means additional shelter beds, if it means better coordination, if it means better Language Access services, if it means having a actual point of contacti would say listen, there is debate in the city we have too many departments and too many commissions and too many focused on issues, but we have really important focus now around immigrant services and this cant be a department that gets looked over and afterthought and people say we need to eliminate the commission because if we dont have a Tiny Department like oceia handling the issues we need to make it more robust and step forward in this moment and access the resources that we have and as supervisor ronan we talked about earlier, if it means a supplemental budget request, if it means moving quicker to deal with the crisis and actually declaring it a emergency, we need to move forward with that aggressival so i want to thank the families who came out today. [speaking spanish] thank you. Thank you for everyone that came out today. Thank you. I also wanted to give my thanks to supervisor safai for calling this hearing for faith and action and all of the allied organizations coming out and telling their stories and most importantly, to the mothers and parents and children who came out to speak. [speaking spanish] we will keep on it. I think we have a lot to do after this hearing and we will be in touch, so supervisor safai, did you want to make a motion . I think it would be helpful to continue this to the call of the chair so we can come back with more information so we can see the progress and hold the departments accountable. We will have better answers regarding the issue of declaring emergency. We want to have a better answer on the vouchers both hotel and family vouchers. We want to understand the non congregate shelter and the coordination with the wait list. There is number of questions we have, so we can come back and present information and hold ourselves and the city more accountable. Thank you. If we can make a motion to continue to call of the chair, i would really appreciate it. Roll call on that motion. On the motion to continue the matter to call of the chair, vice chair walton, aye. Supervisor safai, aye. Chair ronan, aye. The motion passes without objection. Motion passes. Mr. Clerk, are there any other items on the agenda before us . There are no other items on the agenda. The meeting is adjourned. [meeting adjourned] conduct a field shelter exercise where we open up a number of tents that animal control has they have supplies and equipment and staff and volunteers. We simulate the need for cape ability after a disaster or earthquake. Animal care and control is your citys animal shelter. We care for approximately 10,000 animals a year. We are opinion for San Franciscos animal in thes upon effect of an emergency. We got our tents and practicing how to deal with that. This is the shelter is overwhelmed with animals after a disaster this shelter is full regularly. If we torch have an event that would cause a number of animals to escape or injured or stray or separate friday their people thats where we would respond. Pets are part of the family and need to make sure they are taken care of like people with the supplies and equip we are able to provide shelter for pets in addition to the existing shelter. We have formulated a plan so this in the event of a disaster we are hear ready to help and support the city. We are able to use the muni bus to transport the people. Animals and other equip if the shelter. Encourage people there is an Evacuation Order to take your pet with you. Very first thing everyone should do is microchip the pet. And pack a bag shelter cert not a place where you want your animal to end up unless the last resort and like to keep most out of the shelter when we can. Take care of your people and your friend and family. Pets need to be taken [music] opening this space with my sister, and being able to continue the very deep literary lineage that exist in the mission is part of the fabric of the neighborhood. This is neighborhood of poets and litary readings. You see the writers from the neighborhood, their books are here. Paul flores books are here. That is what we are doing, keeping the litary lineage alive and going, you know . [music] San Francisco is actually the only place that i can do this. In its quite way, something i can actually do that is a benefit. Sure, i like to open up a really cool well curateed spot. It would be beneficial but not the same beneficial it is here. When i say young folks that remind me of us, when we were that young, and they come in here, they can relax. Nobody is following them around like they are going to steal anything. That means they can be a little more free and little more of themselves and i can do some small thing that helps them do that and that is part of what lets me know im doing exactly what i want and need to do. [music] we have events here that focus on the deep neighborhood history here on the artists and writers. If you look now there is antany, his exhibit and focus is on neighborhood people. Artists muralist, the space was basically a gift given to us in a really weird way. We had to work our asses off for, but it was that opportunity for me that chance to be that link in the long literary chain of the neighborhood. It is a blessing to be here. Hello everyone. Welcome to the bayview bistro. It is just time to bring the Community Together by deliciousness. I am excited to be here today because nothing brings the Community Together like food. Having amazing food options for and by the people of this community is critical to the success, the longterm success and stability of the bayviewhunters point community. I am nima romney. This is a mobile cafe. We do soul food with a latin twist. I wanted to open a truck to son nor the soul food, my African Heritage as well as mylas as my latindescent. I have been at this for 15 years. I have been cooking all my life pretty much, you know. I like cooking ribs, chicken, links. My favorite is oysters on the grill. I am the owner. It all started with banana pudding, the mother of them all. Now what i do is take on traditional desserts and pair them with pudding so that is my ultimate goal of the business. Our goal with the bayview bristow is to bring in businesses so they can really use this as a launching off point to grow as a single business. We want to use this as the opportunity to support Business Owners of color and those who have contributed a lot to the community and are looking for opportunities to grow their business. These are the things that the San Francisco Public Utilities commission is doing. They are doing it because they feel they have a responsibility to san franciscans and to people in this community. I had a grandmother who lived in bayview. She never moved, never wavered. It was a house of security answer entity where we went for holidays. I was a part of bayview most of my life. I cant remember not being a part of bayview. I have been here for several years. This space used to be unoccupied. It was used as a dump. To repurpose it for Something Like this with the bistro to give an opportunity for the local vendors and food people to come out and showcase their work. That is a great way to give back to the community. This is a great example of a publicprivate community partnership. They have been supporting this including the San Francisco Public Utilities commission and Mayors Office of workforce department. Working with the joint Venture Partners we got resources for the space, that the businesses were able to thrive because of all of the opportunities on the way to this community. Bayview has changed. It is growing. A lot of things is different from when i was a kid. You have the t train. You have a lot of new business. I am looking forward to being a Business Owner in my neighborhood. I love my city. You know, i went to city college and fourth and mission in San Francisco under the chefs ria, marlene and betsy. They are proud of me. I dont want to leave them out of the journey. Everyone works hard. They are very supportive and passionate about what they do, and they all have one goal in mind for the bayview to survive. All right. It is time to eat, people. Niversary of adoption of vision zero. That is event at city hall mayor spoke and director tumlin spoke and community and elected leaders spoke and i was very pleased we marked that milestone. Good morning everyone. Lets all give a happy birtday for Golden Gate Park [applause] a brief love note to kick off the festivities. So, in a city like San Francisco, parks are really powerful places, and they rep mind us that place