welcome to "beyond the headlines." i'm cheryl jennings. we're going to start with a couple questions. have you ever taken the time to talk to somebody who is homeless a young person or adult. have you ever been homeless? today, you are going to meet a

young woman who was formally homeless is now running for miss california. there are an estimated 2600 homeless young people. some of them got together to produce a sub service announcement. >> we are here to help. >> and that was produced by some of the young people who found ambassadors of hope and opportunity. here in the studio with me is the founder of ambassadors of hope and opportunity. zara babitzke and andrea perel son, now in the running for miss california! >> it's bin going for three years now. if you go to the kids, they always don't have transportation.

talk about that. >> we talk about why it's important to meet the kids where they are? >> because they don't have transportation. it's easy for them to get to. so we try to do our best that they feel comfortable and is not stigmatized. >> we provide comprehensive survival services. we have three levels have housing including emergency housing where youth can stay from one to ten days until we match them with a host family where they'll stay for a couple of months and move on to an apartment. we provide them with opportunities for employment, scholarships for education, doctors and dentists, legal help and a myriad of other services. >> and activists? >> activists, that is the unique

part. opportunities for leadership. >> so you are now heading. tell me about that how glamorous the pageant? >> i think it's very important to let people know that they can get out of this. i struggled with homelessness i moved out of my house for good when i was in 17. i had some health issues. i was in and out of the hospital. i didn't a place to go and i didn't have that support for you. >> it must have been terrifying for you? >> it was very scary experience to not have a home and not know where i was going to sleep at night.

and letting other people know what i've been through and encourage them to get help and know that no matter how far you go down, you can pick yourself up and really accomplish things. >> you sure have done great. and to have a home base. >> we do, a place where we have a space and a kitchen. an italian chef that comes several days a week and works with the youth who are interested in culinary field. the kotd sampling a great place for youth to drop in and just see what is going on, as well. >> and they can stay there if they have to? >> they do, one to ten days at the cottage foreemergency. then we match them with a host the family so they can grow and

moving on to their personal goals. >> it's such a great resources. andrea, you have adopted homelessness as your platform for miss california? >> that is correct. i was so inspired and everything i did i realized that if i had known about it and all the help they have done and how supportive they are in backing and children it would have helped me so much. i want everybody to about them so they don't have to go into in positive position i was in. >> reporter: now you have a challenge for this? >> they have given us a $15,000 challenge grant that we need to match by july 31. we're looking forward to the bay area and marin county support

and motorcycle our challenge goals. all of the money to do the work we did come from individuals, faith communities, small businesses and other groups. >> qee. >> reporter: we need that help out there and we have your website up on this seg. and andrea, you wanted to be a social worker when you get done with school. >> thank you so much. >> good luck in the competition. we do have to take a break. when we come back, a father that was formally homeless. and find out how he got out of that situation thanks to a local agency. stay with us.

we welcome back to "beyond the headlines", i'm cheryl jennings. it may be shocking to left-hander there are hundreds of thousands of homeless families living in their cars. some of them find their way to hamilton family center. devra edelmarn and john scott who was formally homeless. devra, thank you so much for being here.

the center is very popular it provides such an important service but you have a waiting list, right? >> yes, there is a currently list of about 170 families that are waiting to get into shelter at any one time. >> how many do you serve? >> we serve an average 50 families every night. our emergency center and hamilton center and shelter services. >> reporter: so the need is enormous? >> yes, it isnor us. >> and we have seen a drastic increase in last three years. in 2008, there was 68 families and one year that number inceases creased to over 200. >> reporter: with the recession is over but you are not seeing that. >> most of the families we are seeing are experiencing homelessness for the first time.

>> reporter: john you had a great job for a long time, tell me about that. >> i was working for the federal government as a revenue officer. i got sick and lost my job. i. she was ten at the time. >> you had to rely on strangers at the time? >> yes, i did. i received an ultimate made up at -- ultimatum that i needed something to do. >> reporter: you couldn't work because you were sick? >> exactly. >> reporter: how did you wind up at the center? >> i was working through a agency, catholic charities and you told them about my situation they immediately referred me to hamilton family centers emergency shelter where i

occupied that space. i was given a chance by one of my case managers to enter into a joint venture which was for permanent housing. >> reporter: that must have been very exciting four. >> they hamilton family center. we moved in 2004. >> reporter: it's services. >> it's supportive services as well which did a lot for me and my daughter. she was able to go through the supportive housing employment cooperative to train for desk clerk job and also to train for chef school. >> reporter: and also beauty school. >> she has gone to school and intornado at rafael house which is a homeless shelter as well and she is now at a beauty

college. >> reporter: we showed pictures of what it looked like. people to don't know, it's a nice safe place. who becomes homeless? >> the families who are experiencing homelessness are just like you and my, cheryl. in san francisco where rents are high and high cost of living, one element can turn a family into a situation that will make it homelessness. it can be an illness or natural disaster, it can be unemployment or underemployment. we've seen economic reasons for homelessness. >> reporter: you get a lot of support from the community. the firefighters help the kids. >> the giants throw a party for us every year.

it's amazing to see the community come out and support us. >> reporter: and i know reverend jesse jackson paid tribute to you. i know you must have a message for people on the edge. what should they do? >> they should connect themselves with hamilton family center and go through the process and wait for housing. once they receive housing use that as junior steppingstone to get to permanent housing. >> reporter: all right. any final thoughts from you. >> i think it's important to be aware of the homelessness in our midst, advocate within your community. go to our website. we have multiple opportunities on our website. a wish list for back to school program is coming up. >> reporter: great. we have all that information on our website. thank you so much for being here. we do have to take another break. when we come back, we'll show you some other programs that are

really working to help the homelessness get off the streets. contact hamilton family center to help those folks out. we'll be right back.

>> welcome back. i'm cheryl jennings, we're talking about the homeless crisis in the bay area. there are services available that provide housing but offer help to keep people from winding up homeless again. one long time provider celebrated the 30th anniversary. tenderloin neighborhood development corporation. >> they live in a well maintained two bedroom apartment they can afford in san francisco thanks to the tenderloin neighborhood development corporation. it's called tndc for short and

provides affordable housing. >> this is quiet. safety and clean. >> she is from el salvador and left because it wasn't safe for her family there. but she feels secure in the house in the tenderloin. >> they give you a lot of information. >> it's unique because tenants can turn to social workers for referrals to food banks, counseling and jobs. >> so it's about housing but not just how long but other things. >> we started in 1981 with one run-down single occupancy hotel. we have grown to 35 buildings, rental housing units, over 2,000 tenants. >> there is also the tenderloin afterschool program.

>> a primary service is homework assistance. we do that four days a week. that is for all ages. >> young people came here as students when they were younger. >> i use to be a participant and now i'm an advocate. >> i want to help my community. it helped me out. >> they'll be doing something, maybe teaching something. luke a family. it's like a family. >> they let them know they belong to a community that offers hope. >> and they have great future. joining us is from the mayor yeos office of the house. thank you very much for being here. we talked about having an astonishing number of kids, 2600. san francisco is even worse.

>> that is correct, we have 6445 total homeless based on our last counted. there has been a dramatic decrease, 40% reduction with respect to homelessness on the streets, between 2009 and 2011 only a 1% decrease. we think it's due to the economic downturn. >> so you are seeing people that why never homeless are all of a sudden out on the streets? >> that is correct. the greatest percentage is families. so we've had a 16% increase with respect to homeless families within the population. at the same time we had a 47% decrease in chronic homeless. there is a great focus of connecting people on the streets getting them into housing and connecting to the services. >> and we have some images. we want to talk about why that works so well.

i know that -- i've seen you've had hundreds of people that show up but don't just show up to get a room or bed? >> we bring all the services under the roof of the bill graham civic auditorium and we make it seamless and simple to get connected to those services. volunteers help with us assessments and helping people. homelessless folks get whatever they need to help them on path. we have dentists there and health care shelter. housing, people get hair cuts whatever they need. we have it there for them. we have an homeless outam conneg team connectingthe streetsople n the streets, moving people into permanent supportive housing like you saw with the program. >> i know that the perception sadly is we see the people out on the streets. what do you do about them? >> we connect with every single

person on the street weaned build a street to home plan. sometimes it takes 20, 30, 50 engagements before they decide to move inside. if somebody says no, we're back at it the next time. we don't you get all your stuff together with the housing. first day we sign the lease with you, we work on issues that led to your housing. substance abuse, whatever it is. we call it permanent supportive housing, 95% of people that live in supportive housing stay house dz. model to use we and we need to o to skierl scale on it. >> we have 20 seconds left. but this is really a regional problem? >> there is no reason why san francisco or marin or looking like this in a silo. we should be working together on

this and in connection with the state to look at the statewide, the way with new york plan. so that is the hope as we go forward. thank you for being here today. >> we do have to take another break. when we come back, we're going to hear about how many people are homeless but help is

welcome back. today we're talking about homelessness. a large number of homeless include the men and women that serve our country. the veterans. an estimated 76,000 across the country. bobbie rosenthal. he is with a program call vets connect. >> vets connect is a one day event that we hold with the city of sanncisco. francisco. we serve homeless veterans.

the homeless can utilize them and take advantage of them and celebrate veterans' day. we have what is called homeless vets month. >> 76 this,000 is the number extraordinary. is it worse now? >> when we started counseling over 20 years ago and helping homeless vets, the number was 250,000. >> but when they really started, it was 13 76,000 is still way too high. >> we're talking about vietnam, iraq and afghanistan.

>> average vet is 51 years old but the largest growing population of homelessness is among female veterans. >> that is pricing, why is that? >> part of it is enrolling in the military. it's about 3% and now it's about 10%. it's also the departments of veterans affairs and homelessness are targeting programs. i'm very proud to say also been able to say that we've been able to help with families. >> that will make a huge difference. what causes to them to be homeless? >> a lot have substance abuse problems, mental health problems post-traumatic stress disorder. have brain injuries. some of the females of sexual trauma. a lot of them as they get older

they start developing medical problems. all three are really contributors to why we have so many homeless versus veterans. >> you have a place can get helpful? >> yes, they can go at 401 third street which is the corner of third and harrison. have we have completed services, from showers. you can go and get address and mental health professionals and social workers but we have transitional housing. if veterans want to get into treatment or even need emergency housing, we have that available. one of the most exciting programs that we have right now is that we have what we call hud and v.a. which gives permanentir housing for homeless vets.

it's section 8 housing but the veterans have to agree to case management. >> bobbie, we are out of time but we have the website for you and post the number so veterans and families can get the help they need. that is it for this edition of "beyond the headlines." information about the show is available on our website at abc7news.com. if you are looking for community resources in your neighborhood, dial 211 for help. i'm cheryl jennings. have a great week. we'll see you next time.