Units and after it was rebuilt through hope 6 which was a whole other program before hope s. F. , there were only 200 units built. So clearly, everyone was not coming back. Thats why when i first started as a commissioner on the San FranciscoRedevelopment Agency and we set out on our path to try and rebuild double rock and other places, it was important to me that we did it differently than we did in the past, so that residents played a Critical Role in not only deciding what fixtures and windows and how they wanted their community to be, but they remained a part of their communities. So thats exactly what we did. It did require a lot of patience and moving around and a number of things. Yes, again, i know that people were a little uncertain as to whether or not we would get this project done because promises have been made over the years and promises not kept. But today a promise is kept. 439 units of Affordable Housing for people, for families, for this amazing community. Through the r. A. D. Program, we have already been able to rehabilitate more than 3,000 Public Housing units in San Francisco. No longer are we going to treat our residents, who happen to live in Public Housing, differently than we treat everyone else. Thats why this investment is so important. Not only in rehabilitating something as simple as making sure that the windows can open, that the heater is working, that the showers are working, that there isnt opportunity for mold or other things to impact the living conditions, but free wifi. Free wifi for all of the residents here so that folks have access to do job searches, housing searches, or anything else that anyone else could do in our great city. So i am really happy and excited to be here because this is a new day in San Francisco. Part of what my goal is to not only change the physical conditions of our community, but to make sure that we take care of these communities and we take care of each other. Because we are one community, were one San Francisco. Sadly, we have lost so much over the years due to violence, due to hopelessness and frustration. Part of my commitment to communities all over the San Francisco that feel neglected, that feel like theyre forgotten and not necessarily a part of San Francisco is that im coming to your neighborhood. Im coming to make sure that we make the right kinds of investments, that we provide Job Opportunities or opportunities for you to start your own businesses, that we make sure that we are taking care of kids in this community. In fact, our investments in our Public School system has been one thats unprecedented. Over 80 million of investments, including additional teachers stipends so that we can focus on Teacher Retention in schools that serve this community. Making sure when our kids are dealing with trauma, that we have Mental Health experts in our Public Schools. My commitment is to make sure that there are Wellness Centers in every Public School in San Francisco. It starts with our kids. It starts with taking care of each other. It starts with developing a new generation of hope for San Francisco. So this project is so much more than just rehabilitating units. Its really changing a community and making things better now and for the future. It starts with us and were in this together. Were going to get there one step at a time. I want to thank the John Stewart Company, Mayors Office of housing, bank of america, and who else was part of this project . Related. Thank you. It means a lot to have incredible partners. We dont do this work alone. But most importantly, i want to thank the people who live here, who trusted us to make this happen, who work with us every step of the way. It means a lot to have the support and trust of a community in order to get things done. Thats exactly what we were able to accomplish through this amazing project together. So congratulations. This is just the beginning of i know more thats get to come. Thank you. [ applause ]. Thats what im talking about. Mayor, youre so good at that. Youre just flying without notes. Im hanging on to these things for dear life. We do the work, but thats the leadership that gets it done. Thank you also for the 23 million in local financing and rent subsidies that made this effort possible. [ applause ]. And your unwavering support for Affordable Housing and ending homeless in our city. [ indiscernible ] im about to do it. Okay. Thats what i was going to say. Most recently the leadership, in the form of the proposed 600 million housing bond, which we are going to pass in november, okay. [ applause ]. Thanks also and a shout out to our current supervisor for his ongoing leadership around the housing issues in district 10. Thank you. Supervisor walton. Our next speaker is bill witty, chairman and c. E. O. Of related california. One of californias Largest Developers of affordable and mixedincome housing. Since founding this company 30 years ago, bill has overseen the development of 16,000 residences, including over 12,000 Affordable Housing units and he has more than 5,000 units in development. He is a busy guy. Earliest this year also completed the rehab of another r. A. D. Cluster, 300 units. Its my pleasure to my friend and colleague bill witty up to say a few things. Bill. Thank you, jack. Its a pleasure to be involved with a company, John Stewart Company, who has not only been a stalwart provider of Affordable Housing for years, but Close Friends of mine. Im particularly pleased that john stewart is here because im no longer the oldest person in the room. Cheap shot. Sorry. I have to tell you, ive been involved in Affordable Housing in the public and private sector for 40 years. Im pretty familiar with whats going on around the country. There is no mayor in the United States who has spent more energy and effort to ensure that Public Housing is given new life and upgraded and become part of the community than mayor breed. We should acknowledge that. It doesnt get the attention that it should. You heard why, but we dont read about that so much. Its really a story that needs to be told. I just want to say that this is great. I appreciate the residents patience in letting this process unfold. But we expect to be judged not just by how it is today, but how with jack and david sobel, how we are as longterm partners and owners. So the story is, as the mayor said, just beginning. I can assure you that it will remain a good story. This housing, just so everybody is clear, is permanently affordable. Its not just affordable for 10 or 20 years. This will always be highquality affordable. [ applause ]. I want to thank some people who were operating in the weeds to make this all happen, starting with under the mayors guidance the Mayors Office of housing, dan abrams and his staff who have been involved in all of these around the city. Mayors office of housing technically didnt used to be around Public Housing. Theyve taken over the task and done a remarkable job under the guidance of the mayor. The contractors who spent a lot of time and energy to make sure that we got the rehabilitation right. Nibby brothers, cahil construction who worked on eastwest deserve a lot of credit. Mimi sullivan who is the architect. While you couldnt change the buildings that much, a lot of time and effort was spent on designing the interior of these buildings so, as the mayor said, these would be marketrate quality units, not just for the short term but for the long term. Then our own staff at related. Our project manager andrew sccofar in the back and our Northern California affordable group. As i said, this isnt the last youre going to see or hear from us. I expect to hear from you if you think that theres something that warrants attention. Finally another prop a plug. Dont just clap. You got to vote. Show up and vote for prop a. Thank you. [ applause ]. Show up and vote, bill, because i think your call to me involved a very large check as well. Donate as well. He left that part out, but feel free. Bill, i hate to break it to you. When john arrived, you were not only the oldest guy, but not quite the funniest guy either. John, were going to give credit where its due. Bill, thank you, very well said. Next up is another of our codevelopers and the lead provider of Supportive Services for our residents here at Hunters Point eastwest in westbrook. David sobel is the c. E. O. Of the Housing Development corporation. A 31yearold communitybased nonprofit located here in bay view, Hunters Point. Over the last six years david has assembled support and staff. Under his leadership, the organization has grown from four people to a staff of 30, which provides Housing Development, preservation, financial empowerment, counselling, Supportive Services, Economic Development opportunities to over 5,000 low and moderate income residents every year. Also wellknown, at least to me as an accomplished jazz, blues, and rock keyboardist, but youll have to go to their annual gala to hear that, please help me welcome david sobel. [ applause ]. By the way, the board of directors did my Performance Review last night. It would have been great if you were there. Good morning, everyone. We are indeed proud to have partnered with such an auspicious team that others are mentioning in name and i will save time and not repeat everything. It has been extremely gratifying to take part in and witness a transformation of extremely dilapidated housing, turning it into safe, comfortable homes for families that remain affordable in perpetuity. But it is also about more than just the housing here. The city has the great foresight to ensure that there was Workforce Development and Onsite Service connection to make sure residents have at their doorstep access to other resources. We are proud to have partnered with Hunters Point family. Dev mission on the stem program that we have initiated across the sites here, all of whom are doing fantastic work and enhancing what resources are available to residents every day. I want to call out our services team, an Amazing Group of people, some of whom are here today. Even if theyre not, they deserve some recognition. [ applause ]. This team is fantastic. You show up every day doing challenging work and being a big support to residents. We cannot talk about Services Without acknowledging hodc who every day, week, and month are pushing, supporting, and guiding our programs, as they should. Thank you for that. Finally, these past five years are not about all of us speaking today. Its about the residents who endured decades of deplorable conditions. Five years of hard work is great. But the people who live here suffered through much longer hardships. Thats what this project is really about. Developing community, bringing Onsite Services, engaging with residents, having a longterm vision with our City Partners and everybody up here and all the residents, that has been the most rewarding part. We have really appreciated the positive impact of walking hand in hand with residents every day. Learning from them. They hold us accountable, and weve appreciated that as well. At the very beginning of this project, five years ago or so, when we went to our initial meetings, the residents said this is a ploy to kick us out. They said, youre going to raise our rents. We didnt. They said, youre not really going to renovate these buildings. We did. Youre not really going to have services onsite. We did. This was founded to help people stay in San Francisco, remain in their homes, communities, schools, businesses, congregations, and thats what this project is about as well. Thank you for all of your support all around. The resident leadership especially, weve enjoyed working with you. I know were going to hear from one of the resident leaders. Thank you all. It is our pleasure to be with you here today. [ applause ]. Well said. It really does make one think that how while certain leaders in washington seem to be doing their best to pull our country apart, here in San Francisco we are doing our best to reknit these properties into the fabric of our communities and neighborhoods. We are doing our best to now bring the San FranciscoHousing Authority itself more directly into the family of city agencies that work closely with mohcd and the other agencies at the city to provide Affordable Housing. And the kind of work we do here as david so eloquently articulated, to just bring people together, reintegrate things, and really fight back against the forces that are trying to pull us all apart. Thank you, david. Well said. While it probably goes without saying, thats when i say it anyway. None of this can happen without money, lots of it. For that, we in the city turn to bank of america, merril lynch. They have been key to our success. Were talking about over threequarters of a billion dollars in debt and equity for the program. Here at Hunters Point, they provided over 150 million in Construction Financing and over 120 million tax credit equity as well as funding for residents during construction. We went to bank of america for funding because thats where the money was. They were ready to put it to good use. To paraphrase elanie, where is the money at, thats where im going. Okay. I didnt get it quite right. You can school me later. Dont beat box it . Okay. I get a little carried away sometimes. Anyway, back to the script. It gives me great pride to introduce a proud resident of San Francisco herself, liz minik. These are always hard acts to follow. Thank you so much for having us today. Bank of america was founded in this amazing city in 1904. Two years after, we had one of our largest earthquakes. At the time bank of italy at the time spent most of their resources getting people back in their homes. Housing has always been integral to what we do. Thats when the call to action and rehabilitating the 3500 units around our city came, we were so delighted and honoured to provide 2. 2 billion. So 2. 2 billion in financing for the San Francisco r. A. D. Program. As has been said, this is all about the residences. This is ensuring that people can be in the homes that everyone deserves. Again, thank you so much for having us today. I will continue with a thanks for our great partners related, john stewart, and San FranciscoHousing Development. Our Wonderful Team who has worked tireless over the last six and seven years to get this done. Mayor breed, we couldnt have done this without our leadership. Thank you. [ applause ]. 2 billion doesnt go as far as it used to, but it adds pick up. The engagement and support of our residents was absolutely crucial to our success. Id therefore like to acknowledge quickly and thank all the officers for our three tenant associations at the three different sites, many of whom are with us today. Susan mcallister, renitia raina, elise minor, ivan sepulona. Those are all from the east association. From the west we have joe nyamalaga, ronald anderson. And from the other associations we have many people as well. Thank you all. It takes a lot of work. Youre volunteers. Youre out there helping the residents organize and bring issues to us. Youre keeping us honest, committed, and engaged. We appreciate the partnership that that represents. Speaking on behalf of the residents today is renee, as i mentioned earlier, president of the westbrook tenant association. Shes a Passionate Community leader who encourages and assists residents in advocating for their own best interests. Born in the bay area, she takes great pride in engaging and helping her community, understands the challenges of the residents, has a strong commitment to educational values, and her skill and compassion make her both a voice and a beacon of hope for the residents. It is my pleasure to have renee mangdangle to the stage. Hi, everybody. Thank you, mayor breed. I would like to thank related, John Stewart Company, of course my tenant association. Yesterday was my birthday, 9 11. Anyways, im kind of nervous. Im not much of a speaker. Anyway. This building came a long way. I come from the peninsula, and when i came in here it was like pulling teeth. I did not want to move here, but i di