aloni language. my name is andrew galvin. i'd like to thank you for inviting me. to come to this event to welcome you. to my homeland. this is the village of yeah. lamoureux. we acknowledge that we are gathered on the unseated ancestral homelands of the aloni indians. who are the original inhabitants of this area that we today call the city and county of san francisco. as the indigenous stewards of this land in accordance with our traditions. the aloni indians have never seated, lost nor forgotten our responsibilities as caretakers of this place. as well as for all peoples who reside in our traditional territories. we welcome you as guests. and we are grateful that all of you gathered here today. offer your respect by acknowledging our ancestors, elders and relatives of the aloni indian community. and by affirming our sovereign rights. as first peoples. and as my father would say, you can stay on one condition. that is that you are good. thank you. thank you forgot who i was. alright. i'm pleased to be able to introduce as our next speaker keith eastland, who's the chair of the board of vcs, but our episcopal community services but before i do, i just want to say what an incredible pleasure it is to work with. the c s, um mercy and the cf have now done countless projects together. we collaborate. conspire um, we've shared staff back and forth as you'll hear about later and i think there is no final organization in san francisco working on on the issue of homelessness, and it's a pleasure to be to be here and to introduce keith. thanks so much that that's wonderful. and as i said, i'm i'm keith diesel. and i'm the board chair of vcs. is this where i can? i can just talk this way. if that helps. is this on. okay, um and it's just i'm here representing essex today because unfortunately, our executive director beth stokes, couldn't be here with us. um but thank you, everybody for coming. this is by the 2023 is e. c s s 40th anniversary. and we're thrilled to be celebrating that with the grand opening of 10 64 mission. e c s has been at the forefront of our community's efforts to address homelessness. and developing permanent supportive housing is the cornerstone of the multifaceted work that we do. um we know that the only way to solve homelessness is to create homes that allow people to live in dignity, safety and comfort. since the opening of canon kip community house, our first permanent supportive housing project in 1994 pcs is expanded with a lot of help from mercy and others are housing portfolio to nearly 2000 supportive housing units across san francisco. and 10 64 mission. is our largest and most comprehensive one today. in addition to providing 256 safe and stable homes for formerly homeless seniors and adults, 10 60, more foreign mission provides a level of on site supportive services. that far exceed those found in most permanent supportive housing. these include on site behavioral health services on on site clinician team from the st anthony foundation that provides our residents with the health, home and patient centered. and an in home supportive services hub operated by home bridge. that offers extra support to our residents with disabilities. 10 64 mission also incorporates a new 6000 square foot commercial kitchen for ec s social enterprise program called conquering homelessness through employment in food services. and if you kept up with the acronym that chefs the new chef's kitchen will accommodate up to 360 students per year. training them with skills needed to opt to obtain employment in the food services industry. the ample community services. ample community spaces, including the wonderful landscaping that you see here and on site services at 10 64 mission redefines excellence and permanent supportive housing. and embodies what we as a community are capable of when we work together to pool resources. and implement innovative strategies for the common purpose of supporting our most vulnerable neighbors. many amazing people in organizations have a had had a hand in this project success. including mayor ed lee's initial vision for it. mayor. london breed strong support speaker america, pelosi or former district six supervisors, assembly member haney and jane kim state senator scott wiener. leaders at several important city departments, including the department of homelessness and supportive housing. the department of public health and the mayor's office of housing and community development. or service provider partners, home bridge and the st anthony foundation. our financial partners century housing national equity fund and chase bank. our construction partners. cahill contractors factory os herman culliver, locust architecture, loney architecture and miller company landscape architects. and many others who helped this this project come to life. it really takes an entire community. to come together to build a community. especially like to recognize and thank our entire ec s team who worked so long and hard on this and in particular, rebecca gigi, or housing development project manager who quarterback this project. president doug shoemaker and his incredible team at mercy housing, california. and so many others. housing is the solution to homelessness. and we at scs look forward with your help and support to expand the model of 10 64 mission to other parts of the city and perhaps even beyond. and now please welcome our district supervisor who lives right down the street, matt dorsey. thank you so much. everybody, so i'm the my name is matt dorsey. i am the new supervisor. i live a block away . so welcome to my neighborhood and welcome to my district. you know whenever, as a relatively new elected official when i'm at a in an unveiling or a ribbon cutting, i always feel like a little bit of it's like an imposter syndrome. i think i was describing myself. at one event as the rosie ruiz of this project and for those of you who don't know the obscure reference rosie ruiz won the 1980 boston marathon until they realized that she jumped into the race half mile before the finish line. and took the credit for it. so i want to give thanks to my predecessors who were mentioned supervisor jane kim and supervisor matt haney. um i also want to say, you know, i wanted to say thanks to our our partners at the federal government for you know, without whom this wouldn't have been possible. um and obviously mercy, housing and scs and all everybody who was thanked and i don't want to start naming names that i want to leave folks out. um in this morning's chronicle this this project was praised as a game changer and something that gives people hope. and i am proud to represent a district that i think in so many ways represents what 21st century urbanism is. so much of what we're doing in district six is what san francisco is going to look like more and more over the next century to come. and i think this is one great example of that it is housing. it's supportive services. it's being it is understanding that supportive services doesn't reflect a model that in decades past was about containment. instead, this is about community about all of us being together and fulfilling the promise of what real mixed use is supposed to be as part of 21st century urbanism. so that is what i'm really proud to represent. as a district six supervisor, and this is a great example of it. congratulations and thanks so much for inviting me to be a part of this. alright super. thank you, supervisor. good to be at all these with you. it is true that there's a tremendous amount happening in your district. you have a lot to be proud of, and more to do obviously want to acknowledge that we have assistant chief lazar here with us. shereen mcspadden, who runs the hardest job. maybe this you guys can compete for the two hardest jobs of the homeless and supportive housing agency and eric shaw, the mayor's office of housing and community development, which is also a hard job just pales in comparison to these two um, we have. we have a lot of great folks in the room. so i will just say, i'm sure we're not going to mention everybody, but i do want to call out some of the folks that made this project happen on a more personal level. i don't know if sharon christians here, barbara guanaco, evelyn perdomo from our team just want to thank all the mercy folks that are here. um uh, and other than clapping for me, i would like you to hold your applause. so um, but the fabulous folks at the mayor's office of housing mara blitzer, uh romero, harry wong. they really made this possible. they had a vision for this site, and without them, we wouldn't be here and the same is true of the hsh folks. it took a lot to get people into this building. the lease up was not all mercy. lease ups are condensed. you know, i think that's that's just sort of. we always say we're going to give like our management team. many months. police up this one wasn't ours was caritas is the lease up? but they did a fabulous job and i can see they're doing a great job of the building. so that's my, uh, you know, we've these things in as we go. just so you won't have to hear all the thank you's at once. um, but it is now my pleasure to bring up jamesville sugi, who is, uh, one of our great partners with jpmorgan chase. um they were instrumental in this project as some of you know, this is a modular development. um, hard to find bankers that are willing to go near this one. they came remarkably close. ah, no, i'm just kidding. and. and james has been a great partner to us, and i want to bring him up to say a few words. thank you, doug. and this is so exciting to see all of these people. i was waiting in a line to get outside and we need more of that. we need more of that excitement. so it's so great to see this many people here this many excited people for this work. but as doug mentioned james vasu, g executive director at chase, um , we're here today as the lender and the tax credit investor, and we're proud partner to mercy in the cs. on such a critical and you heard the term game changing community for the city of san francisco. it's not too often i'm asked to speak and i'm really left speechless, but it's not too often a beautiful project like 10 64 mission comes along to show us what's possible. to show us what's possible when so many different groups who you're hearing from today, come together and create get creative with a vision in mind a vision of getting folks into a safe and stable place to call home with all the services they need to start the next chapter chapter of their life and living a happy and healthy lifestyle. but the impact of 10 64 mission is having on this community isn't all that leaves me speechless. no, it's the team behind the project. that leaves me speechless as well. doug mentioned some of them, but i'll mention them again. sharon christiansen and barbara walk. oh, evelyn perdomo, now as well at mercy as well as rebecca g. from scs. these are incredible individuals who worked tirelessly to bring the vision of 10 64 mission to life. and i have been honored to work alongside them on it, and there's another individual who is a friend to all of us who many of you know and who was a perfect reflection of what 10 64 mission is. and that person is liz pocock report everything she had. there was a round of applause. liz poured everything she had into this project and into everything she worked on. so thank you. sharon barbara, evelyn rebecca. everyone else and a special thank you to liz. truly. thank you. but financing investing in a project like 10 60 permission isn't easy. and involved many solving many challenges to the closing and construction process, but not figuring out how to solve those challenges was never an option. because the chase we are committed to this work. we are committed to this beautiful city. we are committed to mercy and the tremendous people behind their communities, and we are committed to 10 64 mission and communities just like it and everything they represent and being a solution to making sure everyone as a safe and stable place to call home. so everyone here today again. thank you for being here and thank you for your efforts and supporting the creation of more affordable housing. all right. with that. i want to bring up our next speaker. um i feel like we always have to do a small infomercial at all these events. so you understand how this stuff gets paid for and that you know how to talk to the people that you you send to washington about the importance of it, so lots of different sources of funding. the one that's the most obscure to people outside of affordable housing is the long term housing tax credit program, which is an only in america program supported by republicans and democrats, which you mean horribly inefficient but incredibly important. ah and um and it is the backbone of all the affordable housing that we really build throughout the country, so it's incredibly important program. uh it's in much need of being expanded here in california, and i'll just say in advance because i know gustavo is going to talk in a little bit, along with the state funds and the local dollars that make this work from the mayor's office, housing and hsh, as well as the incredible investment by the city and the clinic. um many , many different types of funders came together to make this happen, which is one of the reasons why it's so challenging to build affordable housing. um but we are really blessed to have some people in the field that really understand this work they seek out or at least go willingly on the harder projects . whenever we have something really hard. we turned to todd. fabian from the national equity fund because we know he is a straight shooter and able to really make us make these projects work. and so i want to bring up a great friend of mercy housing. todd fabian. thank you, doug. and hello, everybody. and yeah, i always love to get that call from well, barbara, who recently retired that she has a special project for national equity funding. if this is special, then i will do every every deal, doug that you call me on. so we're really excited to be here really excited to be part of this team. we've worked with scs and mercy over the years and enjoy the relationship . um this is our largest investment we've ever made in the city of san francisco. it's i think it's over $60 million of tax credit equity and i couldn't have done it without a partner, and it is jpmorgan chase on the other side of this so they're not only providing the construction. they're going to be the long term investor in this project, and thank you, james for all of your assistance in getting that getting that done, but, yeah, in the end, we do this every day. we do the hard work for the residents, and we look forward to us saying this thing. last longer than i'm here. so thank you. thanks and doug doug mentioned the role of so many different agencies, including agencies of the federal government, and so i'd now like to introduce suki kong from the general services administration, who was a big help. thank you and good morning. good morning. great why ? it is incredible honor to be here with you today as the region of the ministrations for us, um you know, as i mean, u s general services. i'm on the job, 30 days, so police bear with me, okay? g s a along with 18 federal partner agencies make up the u. s. interagency council on homelessness. the council sole mission is focused on preventing and ending. the homelessness in america, and that is the truth. this can be achieved when the government and community work together as we did today. the land we stand on today was originally acquired by the us government. for the possible expansion of the browning. a u. s court house, the home of the ninth circuit court of appeals. in 2016. in collaboration with a quarter of pills. g s a determined that the expansion was not needed. and this property became excess federal real estate. g s a reached out to the department, health and human services and housing and urban development. fellow members of the interagency council to explore the possibility of transferring the property to a local government. or qualified nonprofit. um, you know, through the mckinney vento act. this act. allows the federal government to transfer property ownership at no cost. if it is for housing and services for the homeless. and so the city and county of san francisco were able to take ownership of this mid market, very high prime real estate. they partnered with ec s and mercy housing. to create a new dream for local housing. and now we celebrate this dream being realized. regional commission. well at this time, there are many people who are very instrumental in making this happen, and i like to take a moment to recognize a few of the g s a staff who directly worked on this transfer. regional commissioner dan brown. real property disposal director david hac. disposal project manager and italy san francisco service center director jason cawthorne and regional chief architect maria surprise. oh happiness an integral part. of this project from the very beginning. well as you know, without the effort, we wouldn't be here today. so congratulations, mayor breed. supervisor dorsey, mr g. iceland mr. shoemaker and all who worked tirelessly with us to make this day happen, but above all to the new residents of this beautiful building welcome home. thank you. thank you. suki another important federal government agency that helped in this is that the department of housing and urban development and i'd like to ask jason poo from h u d two. uh, say a few words. all right. good morning. good morning. thank you warmed up by my friend and fellow regional administrator over here. so i am i'm jason, who had regional administrator for hud region nine, which covers the great states of arizona, california, hawaii and nevada. haven't said anything yet. so, um but but also the outer pacific islands. it's an absolute honor and pleasure to serve in this role and to be here on behalf of hud secretary marshall fudge, particularly at this crucial time in our region's history. i'm a former mayor and council member and a former business attorney with experience and real estate, corporate finance and venture capital. so it's my goal to align all levels of government, federal, state, local and tribal and the public and private sectors. to address our homelessness and housing affordability crisis throughout the region. i want to thank governor newsom and his team and the state of california and mayor breed and, um, all the regional and local stakeholders. for their hard work and moving this development from surplus property to home for more than 250 residents. the largest permanent supportive housing project in the city of san francisco. and assad secretary fudge repeatedly says housing is a fundamental right and everyone deserves to have a state stable , safe and stable place to call home. to those who were formerly housed and sheltered, and now we'll have the state fee, stability and security of four walls and a roof. and a key to adore you can lock congratulations. zilong journey . i'm sure but you know we are doing everything that we can to houses. many of our houses neighbors as we possibly can. this development is also a great example of how effective public and private partnerships can be when the public and private sectors work together. i said at a philanthropic roundtable on homelessness and los angeles just two weeks ago that we are all in this together. no single entity level of government or private partner can do it alone. it's going to take all of us working together to how zarand housed neighbors provide the wraparound services that are needed and get them onto a better path way like the permanent supportive housing project you see here today. common causes to provide all residents with access to affordable, safe and secure housing and to be able to do so with equity, dignity and respect. these collaborations should remain foundational in our mission as we continue to build and maintain affordable housing and to be responsive and respectful to our residents, and to be good partners to each other and to our communities. remains eager to continue building upon the successful partnerships with state and local agencies. through house america. the biden harris administration is deploying housing first approach using american rescue, american rescue plan act, funding and other resources to help individuals find a place called home. i'm proud to see that san francisco continues to lead in our efforts to get people off the streets and into homes and i want to thank mayor breed and her team for their leadership and partnership and being one of the first mayors to sign to sign onto house america in the country and congratulations to the city and county of san francisco for meeting and exceeding its house america goals. yeah. seriously uh, you know, a lot of progress has been made and we continue to build on that progress. as secretary fudge says. we will continue to work to house america until we end homelessness as we know it. under the american rescue plan and house america, the buying harris administration has deployed an historic level of federal resources into communities to address homelessness. in particular house, america's 105 communities have received technical support to expand interim, transitional and permanent supportive housing opportunities and federal resources under the american rescue plan, including more than 20,000 emergency housing vouchers and more than 1.5 billion and home aarp funding from hud nationwide. another $65 billion in state and local fiscal recovery funds was also provided under the american rescue plan to states, cities and counties throughout the nation from the u. s department of treasury. all this sparked renewed momentum and greater deployment available of available resources, including resources under the cares act and regular annual appropriations for the creation of these types of housing solutions, and we intend to continue building on that momentum. last year. hud secretary fudge served as chair of the 19 agency, you united states interagency council on homelessness or usage, and just last month usage released it's all in federal strategic plan to prevent and ends homelessness. this plan sets forth president biden's goal of reducing homelessness by 25% by 2025. and as a part of its effort to permanent house people usage, with support from hud and other agencies throughout the throughout. the city and county have reduced veteran home veteran homelessness by 11% since 2020 and i think family homelessness by another 8% since 2020 as well decades of under investment in housing and services have created a tall and steep mountain to climb. but we haven't found we have in fact begun climbing that mountain together. with the intergovernmental partnerships and that we have formed through the american rescue plan, house america and now the all in federal strategic plan on homelessness and the public private partnerships like the ones that have made this project here today, possible. i'm confident that we can and will climb this mountain together and make tangible and measurable progress on homelessness and housing. affordability. thank you, sir. i will take it. i will take that. but i just want to finish with by saying it will take sustained, sustained funding. and consistent effort by everyone. we must continue to take advantage of the opportunities that we have before us the once in a generation opportunities that we have before us. so thanks again to all of our partners, both public and private for your ongoing collaboration and housing are homeless, improving our housing supply and providing equitable access to housing for all of our residents, and thanks for the opportunity to speak here today. it's my pleasure. thank you. it's not my pleasure to introduce gustavo velazquez i former hud colleague and director of the california housing and community development department, which has also been instrumental in making this project happen. thank you. good morning, everyone. buenos dias. i bring greetings from governor gavin newsom. ah come here today to offer tremendous things to the city of san francisco partnership. he is so broad and deep right? i mean, amazing partners development partners. mercy does tremendous, um, amazing and spectacular, really projects at basketball community services. the city um the state , the biden administration, just that terrific partnership and one of the things that ah, we need to celebrate. today is the fact that in this landmark location we have 258 units, um. slated for formerly homeless persons. i want to highlight the 127 of this homes that are set aside for people exiting homelessness and also in need of mental health services now. uh let me say it is wrong. it's actually dead wrong, too. purely associate the challenge of homelessness with addiction. and mental health challenges. there's certainly a segment of the homelessness population that is confronting this, but it is important to keep saying this time and time again. the number one cause of why the crisis of homelessness is so rampant in california is that we are way way falling short of deeply affordable housing. that is truly the number one reason why we are where we are, and the fact that we have 100 and 27. units 258 in total serving formerly homeless persons here in the city of san francisco is very, very important now. the state came into this partnership thanks to, uh, program that the voters approved bond dollars to address again the suffering of those experience in common business and confronting mental health. challenges a program my parliament administers, and we're pleased to partner with you. through it. the program is called no place like home and it's kind of bittersweet news because no place like home actually has ended. that's a good talking point for your public hearing in sacramento on monday. ah don't repeat. i said that because i can't go against the governor's budget, but but it is it is a terrific program that is started in 2016. we have invested supported this project with $27 million, but, uh, over the last the last four years, the city of san francisco has benefited from this program with $91 million.01 of seven projects that are in different stages of development for 10 64 mission, the city was the very first something many people won't know it meant the very first jurisdiction in this program to draw down no place like home dollars. you know, it was literally a matter of weeks after the contract was signed, that the funds were drawn, and we're so happy that we are here celebrating that accomplishment today. in totality did not place like home program statewide has contributed to more than 250 projects. let me say that 18,000 units 18,000 units during the last five years that together with another very important state program, you may have heard of it home key, together with no place like home totals 30,000 units for interim and permanent. housing solutions for people experiencing homelessness now two caveats, though. not all these units are online. there are different stages by or so glad with this one there actually were welcoming. already residents and the second caviar is something the governor talks. a lot about there's no no way for us to claim victory. there is still a lot of work to do. but rest assured that the new summer administration, the biden administration, the city of san francisco, and many other localities across the state, are working tirelessly every day to ameliorate. hopefully one day eradicate. the challenge of homelessness. and i will end my remarks with this. where there is a will, there is away and i say that because i don't want to take away take away anything celebratory about what brings us together, but a lot more has happened. mayor in the last 24 hours. a lot more has happened in the last supervisor. a lot more has happened when there is a whale. there is a way local jurisdictions. is where housing is entitled. is approved. ah there's no time to spare. we are 2.5 million homes short in the state of california requires local governments to expeditiously. identify sites rezone for more housing increase the parcels in affluent areas to build more housing. and that's why i'm saying if there is a will there is away. i am pleased to add my remarks by saying that this morning the state of california has fully certified thanks. to london brain thanks to the city, thanks to those supporting this in the board of supervisors fully certified the housing element of the city of san francisco for the next eight years. and yes. and with this we look forward to continuing partner with the city. madam mayor to meet that goal. tremendous goal of 82,000 units, including units like this deeply affordable homes, homes for the homeless for the next eight years, so thank you very much to all the partnership, great accomplishment. thanks gustavo. great news, and, uh, great partnership and a lot of wonderful numbers and as as to look at this from another point of view. the point of view of the people that were trying to help and support the most vulnerable in our community, who was quoted in today's um chronicle article. if any of you read it, or the first resident movin of this facility has agreed to say a few words. michael jackson. hello. good morning, everyone. how you doing, doc? i uh my name is michael jackson and i was yes. the first resident in the building here. that's why. that's the reason why i was chosen to give you guys a different perspective. well, how it is to live here and what kind of things that they're doing positive things they're doing. i am. i'm from san francisco. born raised educated here. um city college state university engineering major. on the fast track. you know, and i, um i had a little bit too much on my plate. and i, um things happen to all of us. all of us and i hey, bro. and i, um yeah, i got caught up in the mix there. and i, i, uh in and out of programs and things. you know, and i kind of blew up. bedtime career blew it. you know, i can't blame anyone else. so i said, well, in these programs here. i can do the counseling thing. right? i can do the counseling thing, you know, so i pursued it. mhm substance abuse, counseling and health education. it was totally different than engineering engineering technology. social sciences is different. you know, different set of clients is curriculum. the whole nine. nonetheless i miss him some some some people along the way that can you help me out? got me one right there. dr. jones, a duck. anyways anyways, i pursued the counseling thing. and i was like , wow, i'm going to be the michael jordan of counseling here, man. i'm going for this. i'm kicking down doors, buddy, and doc was telling me mike, slow down. yeah. so i, um i did kind of good there for awhile. i did pretty good. i want that walden house baker places. i actually ended up at kaiser permanente in oakland. and, um. the coronavirus thing hit. and i was doing, um out. precious i was on the field, but my thing is residential. and i was kind of like out of my water make a long story shorter. i uh, again had too much time on my hands. a little bit too much bread on your money. uh, i, uh i relapse i feel long. and it took about two years to get to where i am now. and, uh, well, three actually, and, uh, a friend of mine recommended that i was sleeping on the streets sleeping in my car. and east oakland and a friend of mine recommended that i come to the city. he just retired from blind, so i came over here. and i got to a substance in place program. shelter in place. i'm sorry. and, um, man. so i got there and they put me up in the hotel. and from there, segway over here. the first resident here. and, um when i got here i was like well at the shelter in place. they give you food. he wasn't close and that sort of thing. it's not so much of an independent living situation. however, here. here is a supportive living situation, as opposed to. give me your hand out. you know you you have an opportunity now to start experiencing some type of independence. you know, some type of. responsibility of ownership of your own thing. you know, that's that's what that's what it's homeless folks need, especially some of us. they were halfway hired a g ruse. we don't want to be stigmatized as a homeless bum. dude, you know what i mean? so i use the street vernacular as well. but, yeah. anyways i so when i got here it was like this is your home is your home here? we're here to support you in whatever it is we're not going to give you a treatment plan per se, but we're gonna do is help you reach your goal. we're gonna make it conducive to you. to become a bible member. again. it's society. we have fellowship here. have a great staff. great. always available. always available. jonathan is my main man. where is it? yeah, that's my van. yeah. and old zack over there with the youth blocking news, right, jack? yeah, he used to be one of my clients. yeah anyways. i uh it's been a pretty good experience. um living here. i plan to use this as a hand up as opposed to a handout. i'm gonna get back in the game, and i love you, dude that is helping people. but first i gotta help this person. i gotta get this person to position. to be an example. will it be qualified? and ready to help someone. you know? yeah i'm looking forward to culinary school to open up. mhm. i um, a lot of people. a lot of people come over to san francisco because of the supportive services. okay and this is a this is shine example. um, this this this. program here or this residence here is a shining example of the type of good things in san francisco is doing as far as the homeless situation. you know, and. i wanna i wanna be a part of that solution. i, uh the i think. doc gave me pretty good hair start so. i'm gonna i'm gonna i wanna i wanna i wanna get back down to give me a minute. anyways everybody, this is a beautiful place. a lot of wonderful human beings. yeah. and i enjoyed tremendously keep donating. thank you. thank you so much, michael really appreciate it and to wind up our speakers like to introduce our mayor, london breed is here with us today. hello, everyone. like the famous michael jackson. i too, was born and raised in san francisco. and i was born and raised in the fillmore community where the community really took care of one another. but sadly, we saw a lot of change. and in fact the public housing development i was living in plaza east. those buildings were torn down. and there were over three a little bit over 300 units, and they were torn down and only 200 were built. it was clear that many of the people who i grew up with who were moved to places like vallejo and fairfield and other locations, it was clear that there were no plans to ensure that they were able to return to their home. and when i think about the challenges of the past and what san francisco has done to make it very difficult to build housing and to be very aggressive about providing housing opportunities. i am always reminded of my own experience as a way to ensure that we don't do that for the future. we know that homelessness and the challenges around affordability for housing in this city have continued to persist. mostly because of our inability to build more housing and provide opportunities for people like myself like michael jackson, who were born and raised here. and who may have gone through challenges and who may not have the income necessary to provide themselves with the dignity that they deserve. so that's why this is so important. the work that we are doing in san francisco is so important. you know, people point the finger and criticize our city. but over the last two years we created over 3000 new placements for people who were living on the streets of san francisco. and you didn't hear it highly publicized, but san francisco was one of the few cities in the entire state of california that saw a 15.5% reduction in unsheltered homelessness. so while others are criticizing mercy and episcopal community services and so many other people who work here today. you represent part of the solution. you know what it means to show up for people. you know what it means to take a federal location location owned by the federal government used as a parking lot for cars and turn it into 258 new units right where parking cars used to be. you know what that means. it means hope. it means dignity. it means a new opportunity to change your life. for the better. and yes, it takes a village. it takes a village of not just the organizations, but the people who are choosing to work for these organizations, the people who are showing up to provide the wraparound services because sometimes it's not just about putting a roof over someone's head. sometimes it's about a smile. or an ear to listen to somebody's challenges or someone who says i'm going to help you get your medication because i know that you have arthritis and you may not be able to walk to the pharmacy to go get it yourself. it's about having a real community that supports you and uplifts you and encourage you to ensure that you not only stay housed, but you thrive that you're able to live a good life. so being here today is so meaningful it's so meaningful because of the people. that are going to be served because of the work that's done when we partner when we come together when we get rid of the bureaucratic layers that get in the way when we focus on real solutions. this project started back in 2017. and people wonder why is it taking so long ? the project next door 100% affordable housing for families that took 10 years for the first family to move in. why does it take so long when we know there's so many people want to see us get it done. well, i gotta say. first of all. really really thank you to our governor and to gustavo and his team for the housing element and the work that we are going to do to get units build faster in san francisco. and jason, i want you to tell the president and the secretary fudge how much we appreciate those vouchers that help us to provide not only housing opportunities at this location, but we've been able to place people who have never had their own apartment in san francisco who were born and raised here. we have been able to place them all over the city and county of san francisco because we have a president and a secretary who understands the value. of what it means to provide hud vouchers to get people house so they could afford to live in san francisco. so thank you so much for being here. and now with the housing element we have an ambitious goal. can you imagine? 82,000 units were required to build in the next eight years. do you know what 82,000 units will be able to do? for not just homeless people, but the people who actually work for the various services who also can't afford to live here. the people who work for the city and county of san francisco who can't afford here. many of the people who work in a service industry. who have left the service industry because they've had to move so far out that they can't afford to live here. can you imagine what 82,000 new units will do for our city? it will make a world of difference. the housing elements certification is only the first step we are going to need you, supervisor dorothy and your colleagues on the board of supervisors because they're going to have to push policies that will make them uncomfortable. it will make them uncomfortable because other places in san francisco will say, well, we don't want that to happen in our neighborhood. well, we need to make it happen all over the city. we're not changing the beauty and the character of neighborhoods in san francisco because we value that but we need to be open minded and creative and realistic about the need to get rid of bureaucracy. this city has over 50,000 units that have already been entitled and need to move forward fast. we have over 30,000 units awaiting approval. this can make a real difference if we're aggressive if we move the mountains out of the way in order to move forward because people like michael jackson and the people who live here. at 10 64 mission. they are counting on us. they are counting on us to make real change. they're counting on us to get rid of the bureaucracy. they're counting on us to work together and to put their lives before the politics that get in the way of our ability to move these projects forward. so all of you who are here today? get ready. get ready if you if your heart is full for what was done with this project today. then just imagine if we're doing this every single week in san francisco for families all over the city, it will make the world of difference. this is the thing i value the most creating opportunities, providing a safe , affordable place for people to call home. and everyone here has played a role in making that possible. so we appreciate you all for being here. thank you to the residents for letting us invade your space for just a little while. thank you so much to all the workers to all the people for the village that created this beautiful place. thank you so much. all right. so before we close, we just have a few more folks to a few more folks to acknowledge . i want to acknowledge our good friends at cahill and factory os , um steve, bob susie from herman colander, locus and lowney architects. um uh huh. the fantastic art. i hope all of you got a chance to see the art on the way in and also the art on stevenson. so uh, you hopefully have a copy of this on the way and if you didn't grab it, tanaka's trio a good friend, ah, davion, kim, leah rosenberg and michael are sega. i hope i said that. right michael. thank you for enlivening this space with such beauty. it is one of the most beautiful buildings i've seen. in a long time. we really want to appreciate that want to acknowledge our good friends at the department of public health and the maria x martinez health resource center . there was an opening for that about a week ago, and maria was a very important person for the mission district but also the work around homelessness in our city. and then lastly, um, keith and i wanted to just close and james mentioned it already. but liz pocock um, is one of the main reasons this buildings here for those of you that don't know liz. she worked. she's done many things in her life as we discovered at a memorial. um actress. um turned turned housing and homelessness. uh, ah , whirlwind. i don't even know how to describe it. she's here with she's joined here by or we're we're joined by our per partner. uh whitney jones, who also is a part of our affordable housing community. i see lots of other friends here who want us to remember liz. um, she poured her heart into this building, and she poured her heart into just about anything that worked on this topic. she was both an amazing human being and an amazing professional and is one of the main reasons why mercy and pcs have such an incredible and storied relationship. so you want to say a few words? well you know you i think you you said it all. but what i would say is either this wouldn't exist or more likely. would not exist in anything like its present form. were it not for liz thoughtfulness and focus on the design elements of this, which are our guy as i hope you've heard today, truly remarkable in terms of supportive housing. this is this isn't just uh, a safe. and comfortable place. for um, over 200 people. ah! 200 of our most vulnerable neighbors. this is i think the next generation of permanent supportive housing this is i'm a techie, permanent , supportive housing two point. oh, okay. and working together. we can do this again and again. and thank you for this. and please, let's do it again. thank you. alright then. thanks keith. and that concludes our formal ceremony for food. >> manufacturing in cities creates this perfect platform for people to earn livelihoods and for people to create more economic prosperity. i'm kate sosa. i'm cofounder and ceo of sf made. sf made is a public private partnership in the city of san francisco to help manufacturers start, grow, and stay right here in san francisco. sf made really provides wraparound resources for manufacturers that sets us apart from other small business support organizations who provide more generalized support. everything we do has really been developed over time by listening and thinking about what manufacturer needs grow. for example, it would be traditional things like helping them find capital, provide assistance loans, help to provide small business owners with education. we have had some great experience doing what you might call pop ups or temporary selling events, and maybe the most recent example was one that we did as part of sf made week in partnership with the city seas partnership with small business, creating a 100 company selling day right here at city hall, in partnership with mayor lee and the board of supervisors, and it was just a wonderful opportunity for many of our smaller manufacturers who may be one or two-person shop, and who don't have the wherewithal to have their own dedicated retail store to show their products and it comes back to how do we help companies set more money into arthur businesses and develop more customers and their relationships, so that they can continue to grow and continue to stay here in san francisco. i'm amy kascel, and i'm the owner of amy kaschel san francisco. we started our line with wedding gowns, and about a year ago, we launched a ready to wear collection. san francisco's a great place to do business in terms of clientele. we have wonderful brides from all walks of life and doing really interesting things: architects, doctors, lawyers, teachers, artists, other like minded entrepreneurs, so really fantastic women to work with. i think it's important for them to know where their clothes are made and how they're made. >> my name is jefferson mccarly, and i'm the general manager of the mission bicycle company. we sell bikes made here for people that ride here. essentially, we sell city bikes made for riding in urban environments. our core business really is to build bikes specifically for each individual. we care a lot about craftsmanship, we care a lot about quality, we care about good design, and people like that. when people come in, we spend a lot of time going to the design wall, and we can talk about handle bars, we can see the riding position, and we take notes all over the wall. it's a pretty fun shopping experience. paragraph. >> for me as a designer, i love the control. i can see what's going on, talk to my cutter, my pattern maker, looking at the designs. going through the suing room, i'm looking at it, everyone on the team is kind of getting involved, is this what that drape look? is this what she's expecting, maybe if we've made a customization to a dress, which we can do because we're making everything here locally. over the last few years, we've been more technical. it's a great place to be, but you know, you have to concentrate and focus on where things are going and what the right decisions are as a small business owner. >> sometimes it's appropriate to bring in an expert to offer suggestions and guidance in coaching and counseling, and other times, we just need to talk to each other. we need to talk to other manufacturers that are facing similar problems, other people that are in the trenches, just like us, so that i can share with them a solution that we came up with to manage our inventory, and they can share with me an idea that they had about how to overcome another problem. >> moving forward, where we see ourselves down the road, maybe five and ten years, is really looking at a business from a little bit more of a ready to wear perspective and making things that are really thoughtful and mindful, mindful of the end user, how they're going to use it, whether it's the end piece or a wedding gown, are they going to use it again, and incorporating that into the end collection, and so that's the direction i hear at this point. >> the reason we are so enamored with the work we do is we really do see it as a platform for changing and making the city something that it has always been and making sure that we're sharing the opportunities that we've been blessed with economically and socially as possible, broadening that