building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. dan: good afternoon, so glad you're with us. we are asking experts or questions everyday at 3:00, to get answers for your for topics of the day in real time. thanks for tuning in today. we're sharing an inspiring story, the bay area entrepreneur helping create a path forward for women of color in the real estate business. she just wrote a new book and she's going to share with us her story of success and how it perhaps can help you or someone you know. and, thousands of city jobs remain vacant coming out of the pandemic. our city -- why city workers say filling these positions can sometimes literally a matter of

life or death. we will explore that as well. first, one of the topics we want to discuss, homelessness, this chronic problem found in one of the bay area's greatest areas. feel, always great to be with you. >> i wish we were doing a different topic but this remains in the forefront, not just in san francisco, but were starting to see it, homelessness is the number one issue in the mayor's race and statewide and it is becoming the new golden gate of california to the rest of the world. wherever you go, they say what about those people in those tents we see on the street? dan: in fairness, so many other areas the country also dealing with the homelessness problem. phil: that's what we are dealing with now as were building a better bay area. dan: a three-month focused

effort coming to an end now. phil: it is legally coming comig end, but the mayor has promised to keep the pressure on, to keep it moving. dan: fair enough, but we all know it's easy to lose weight if you focus for three months. the hard work is keeping it off. you were there the other day, what do you think? phil: we are at the crossroads. we are building out the provided services, opening up the linkage center which is basically a starting point, if you are homeless you can get off the street, go to the center and they will start you through the process. we are also getting people off the streets and into hotels. the real question is, what do you do with the people who say i want to stay where i am, i don't want to go into the system? that is what we are seeing play

out at the board of supervisors right now. the supervisor has a proposition that says we will make it alone san francisco that the city must provide shelter for people on the street. at the second part of that is, if you are offered shelter, you must take it. that is something they have been new york and boston and people say it has worked, but here in san francisco, that crosses a certain boundary for some people called civil rights, where you don't have to do that. and that is the question. dan: who say want my freedom of choice, i don't want to come off the streets. take a listen supervisor had to say yesterday. >> its united states of america and in san francisco, you cannot force people to take shelter. we are ethically and legally required to offer people a safe

place to be. there are people out on the streets who are not interested in shelter, but there are a lot of people on the streets you would take shelter if it were offered, and we must make those offers and get those folks into shelter. not everyone is going to take an offer of shelter, but if you don't make the offer, you can't force them to take it. dan: the supervisor talking about his place for all proposal. phil: let's hear what he didn't say. he said this is the united states of america and you cannot make people take shelter. phil: you can give them a choice. the question is, other city say, here is the shelter, you can take that or you are going down to the jail. some say that his marriage are coming in, and indeed, it is, but those cities tend to have

fewer homeless because it is not as easy to be homeless. they say that is inhumane. then the next question is, in other parts of the bay area, where does the tent person's rights and and mine begin? if someone front of your house and parked it there, and some parts that is ok. one of the supervisor is proposing the other thing is because it has moved into his district now, the more upscale castro district, where people do know how to speak and how to react and they have economic power. now it is not just over there, it's right here in their front yards, literally on their

doorsteps. so that's why we are seeing a change. dan: he talked about the cost of the proposal in setting up save sleep sites. >> some other centers. staffing them does add costs. i don't think this is cheap, this is a tens of millions of dollars proposal at least, but we spend north of $500 million a year on homelessness, and that's not counting police response, paramedics, the other costs to the city, and i think spending tens of millions of dollars to provide shelter that will allow us to provide save exits for people willing to take them, is money well worth spending. dan: i want to underscore that

figure he throughout, in excess of north of $500 million, doubling from a couple of years ago after the proposition was passed. phil: some areas. we've got people off the streets and into hotels, that's going to mean millions of dollars. we have people in those tent cities we've set up in parking lots, $61,000 a tent per year. that's after you put out all the services provided, the security, the sanitation, $61,000 per tent. talking about other housing, that is even more. because you are not just talking about housing, you're talking about 24 hours services, care, meals, and we have about 3800 who are right now in some sort

of shelter, but we have 5000 out there that are not. so it's going to be an incredibly expensive proposition to get this done. like you said, this is just the start. once you get people in, -- -- -- also the behavior. you put somebody in a room, that doesn't mean they are not going to walk out and go back on the street again. dan: it's incredibly complicated problem and you have great passion for the issue. it's hard to know really how to solve it once and for all. the mayor trying to attract more tourism to the bay area i've heard many times that homelessness is an issue for tourists and businesses coming here for conventions and the like, as well as street crime. we are a little out of control in san francisco. phil: part of it is the videos

that routinely come out of san francisco people robbing walgreens, people having their cars broken into, that is out there. she is trying to counter it. she's trying to get the european dollar in here, back to san francisco. they need that in order to keep businesses going and keeping the lights going. we charge so much paying top dollar and you want something, like it or not, not everybody shares our values and social ideas. if you walk out and there is somebody laying on the street in front of you after you paid $500 for a hotel room, you are not thinking the same as someone going to work in the morning who sees that every day. dan: i think that is what has really compel the mayor to take action and with measures being taken. it has sort of exploded in the last couple of years. phil: in terms of the world and

such, it's become one of the icons of california, it just has, and the governor has acknowledged that. he says things have got to change. we are at that point. how is it going to change? as an example to show what works and what doesn't work. dan: one of the problems that dovetails into this issue is the shortage of police officers on the street. phil: not just police officers. dan: city workers, we will talk a little later on in the program about that. phil: there are more people leaving. a whole slew of police were hard during the administration of bill clinton when he gave cities a lot of money, they are all retiring now. the last class, there were 13 or 14 graduating.

it's not equal. dan: how long do you think it will take to fix that problem? phil: that is a problem. i'm not sure you will be able to fix it. the biggest problem for fire and police -- people were telling people how great it was. now they are not. they're telling people to go someplace else. dan: coming up next, from a life of financial hardship to a wildly successful real estate career, we will talk with

dan: welcome back, you're watching "getting answers." thank you for tuning in.

this is women's history month. we want to share the stories of women who are making a difference right now. helen came to california as an immigrant from hong kong when she was 18 or so, -- after putting herself through college working three jobs at a time, she is creating a path forward for women of color in the real estate industry. she just wrote a book entitled "power to change lives, how to leverage life's obstacles to reach financial success." we are delighted to have helen joining us live via zoom. helen: thank you so much for having me. dan: this is a topic that fascinates me and has for a long time, the idea of picking yourself up by your bootstraps and creating opportunities and making something often out of nothing. that's what you did. tell me just very quickly about your journey and how much it means to you, how difficult it

was to get to the moment you are today. helen: it was definitely really difficult at first. you almost feel like, how can i ever be successful if i start from nothing, coming here with no money, not knowing anybody, all by myself. coming to an area with the new culture, even new language. but really through perseverance and just continuing to immerse myself with the culture and everyone else, and along the way relying on people who were willing to help me out. i think that's how i found on footing and also my home here. dan: you have done incredible things in your life and now you're doing something that really can empower other women and help change their lives. why specifically the real estate industry, which is a very tough industry, obviously. is that your focus for women to find some economic power? helen: i definitely think real

estate has changed my life dramatically. i used to work for a consulting firm and i would invest in the stock market, but i felt like it was not really within my own control. when i started researching and found that real estate investment is something i could learn and also use different techniques to analyze my own future, thence -- that's when i fell in love with it. i started studying all about real estate and it definitely has changed my life. now i'm doing sales and helping my clients by their first home all the way to building the real estate portfolio and buying investment property like multifamily buildings. i've always seen real estate as a home, something you can always go back to, no matter if it is for yourself or for other people. dan: i work with with wit buying her first home in the bay area.

it's been an exciting process for her and intimidating as well, especially in california which is so darn expensive. what i think there is a sense of empowerment for her, getting into the game here in real estate. how important is it for women in particular to be able to navigate these waters on their own? helen: buying real estate is so complicated and so emotional. one of our goals is to help our clients take a step back and be their advocate and also try to make sure they are looking at everything carefully without going into it too emotionally. sometimes we have to tell our clients, don't bend over too much just because you are emotionally invested in it right now. sometimes even though this is your own home, it is still an investment. navigating these waters about how to buy real estate with all the contracts and then all the emotional roller coaster, to bid with all these different buyers,

and you have to give up all your contingencies to win something, it's such a difficult process. we want to make sure we do all the analysis and let them see everything on paper and the numbers before they make that decision going into buying a property. it always means so much to me, every time we have somebody who says this is my first home. we always say this is the memory she will start to build from this first home. later, maybe you can buy a bigger home or eventually investment properties. it's just an amazing journey. dan: it's all a step-by-step prospect to becoming comfortable and more successful as you move along. we have a few seconds left, what our life's obstacles that you can leverage, and how do you do that? helen: nobody's life is smooth sailing and sometimes you really need to leverage other people to help you succeed. for me, sometimes i was given the categorization, you're a

woman, you're an immigrant, you are young now, it will be tough for you to succeed. of these are just categories and it doesn't mean anything. but you have to rely on other people to help you succeed. don't let these categorizations. b. there was going to be obstacles -- there will be obstacles, push yourself forward and just focus on your end goal and don't ever give up. dan: there is so much gratification and satisfaction having done that. ginger rogers, the famous dancer said something about, one of the keys of success is to have earned it first. you have certainly done that, and you're trying to help others do the same. helen: i really hope i can inspire and help other women to do the same thing. dan: on. helen: thank you so much for having me. dan: san francisco city

employees are pressuring officials to fill thousands of vacant job positions. we want to explore that more. they say they are overworked and they need some relief. will

dan: welcome back. we are excited about our partnership with the digital new site the san francisco standard. they are doing great work. his focus on hyper local quality-of-life issues aligns with our efforts to build a better bay area, something we focus on every. today the standard is examining accusations of chronic understaffing in key city services. yesterday, city workers protested, demanding official spill critical job positions, saying they are far too overworked. it's easy to understand why they feel that way. joining us i i

great to be with you. kevin: thanks for having me. dan: something like 3800 job openings in the city of san francisco, that's a staggering figure, it's hard to believe. kevin: that's roughly 10% of available city jobs. dan: is one area being affected more than others? kevin: obviously those 3800 jobs are split across different departments, but some departments are being hurt worse than others. department of department of housing -- the part of environment, economic and workforce development, all of those departments are seeing over 20% vacancies unfilled. dan: and the obvious question, kevin, they pay reasonably well, they are reasonably decent jobs with reasonable benefits and retirement. why are there so many openings? kevin: there's a number of

factors that have led to the shortage problem. one is issues with hiring. labor groups and workers say understaffing was a problem prior to the pandemic, but the pandemic has led to attrition. labor groups say hiring is only picked up to about ap percent of pre-condemning levels. plus there's a lot of bureaucratic obstacles to getting people into the jobs themselves which leads to some of these issues. dan: has the great resignation been part of this in san francisco with city workers? a lot of people reevaluating their lives and may be moving out of the area? kevin: totally, i would say the understaffing is part of that. i talked to some city workers who were saying that because of those shortages, they're having to work mandatory overtime, having to make decisions of choosing their professional over

their personal lives and that leads to strains that can hurt any person's willingness to continue with their jobs. dan: i suspect so many people watching have relatively few interactions with their government, local, state, or even federal government, day today, unless you depend on city services. what would you say to people watching who say there are too many people working for the city anyway, why do they need to hire another 3800 people? kevin: that is a goodrtnto t o the background services that keep the city going. the department of public works, for example. they are responsible for keeping public spaces and city streets clean, cleaning off graffiti and focusing on some of the quality-of-life issues that we've seen definitely deteriorate since the pandemic. dan: how long do you think the problem will persist? it seems it would take months or

even years to catch up. kevin: the important context to have, this is happening amid contract negotiations. we will see how those negotiations go, but those public-sector unions are saying that because of the city's short-term budget surplus over the next couple of years, the city could be putting more money and effort into getting these position filled. dan: we are so happy about the partnership with the san francisco standard and delighted with the work you guys are doing. what makes you get up in the morning exciting -- excited to do this job? kevin: one of the things i love best about my job is, every single day it is something new, and it gives me the opportunity to talk to people who are impacting the city positively, and also get to the root of fine some of the problems in the city exist. part of what i love doing is explaining to the general public

why the city works the way it does and how it can possibly be made better. dan: thanks kevin truong with the san francisco standard. we have links -- links on on onn abc7news.com. check out our streaming tv app and scroll

tonight, a special edition of "world news tonight." president biden here in europe. the emergency nato summit. ukraine's president zelenskyy addressing world leaders -- his urgent plea. and the dramatic new images -- ukraine claiming they have hit a russian ship. tonight, verified video showing that russian ship destroyed, consumed by smoke and flames. this evening, president biden on the world stage asks how the u.s. and nato would respond if russia uses chemical weapons in ukraine. the president said it would trigger a response. and what else the president said on this. and tonight, new sanctions on hundreds of russian lawmakers, oligarchs and defense companies. ukraine's president zelenskyy pleading for more tanks, planes, air defense systems and anti-ship weapons. tonight, cecilia vega with the president in brussels. also tonight here, n