i am the director of the mayor's office of housing. i want to welcome everybody to what will be a spectacular affordable housing development, yet another spectacular affordable housing development in san francisco. on this occasion, i have the pleasure of introducing a variety of people who will talk to you about this particular project and to acknowledge the

wonderful people who are contributing to the creation of this housing for formerly homeless veterans. in san francisco, we have tried very hard to provide housing for all those who need housing and provide it not just with bricks and mortar but with wraparound supportive services. this is another example of that. we have on this special occasion a special guest, a person who has been a great supporter of affordable housing, the assistant secretary. before we have heard speak, i would like to ask the mayor for a few remarks at this time. thank you. [applause] >> good morning. we have a very dedicated team. this is a very special occasion.

we get to welcome in our secretary of hud who has been a wonderful partner along with the local hud office. they have been great partners with the city of san francisco. decades. this is a very special project to us. it focuses on our veterans and what we're doing to help our veterans. that has been one of the most important goals and reflections of the values of the city. we want to emphasize every opportunity we can where we say that our veterans deserve all of the help when they come back and are adjusting in life. i know of no greater partnership and with our high offices -- down with our hud offices -- i know of no greater partnership them with our head of block -- hud offices.

we had a chance to meet with president obama at the conference of mayors. he had our cabinet members meet with us. we let him know that mayors across the country are struggling with how we deliver services and deliver on the promises made by this country to take care of our struggling families, low income families. he has delivered with the kind of programs that hud has any kind of programs we have with our local talent. i want to thank reverend fong and others. we have a new director of the mayor's office of housing opportunities, partnership, an engagement. that is bevan dufty. the veterans, the contractors, nicole from our local offices.

we have assembled contractors and a marvelous design team. their expertise is to use old buildings that look worn and unusable and recreate them with the highest level of environmental quality we could possibly have. i know the best talent is here working with cahill and our veterans and veterans' offices to make sure that this housing opportunity comes in on time and does its best to reflect our values. i want to thank everyone for assembling together to make sure this promise is delivered. a special thank you to our hud national office, the secretary, donovan. we had a chance to talk about this system -- specific project.

the deputy secretary came out to view the progress. it emanates from the national leadership by an increasing strongly that we are delivering on our promises. this is why we get to announce that we're still the third lowest unemployment rate in the whole state of california. we are delivering on these promises. thank you for all coming today. [applause] >> at this time, i would like to ask the assistant secretary to come up and say a few remarks. as the mayor mentioned, she is a wonderful supporter of affordable housing. her lifelong career as been committed to economic justice and the creation of affordable housing. she is a personal friend and

somebody in the right position at the right time. without further ado, assistant secretary marquez. [applause] >> it is my pleasure to be here. i do not get to come home very often. it is nice to be here. we have been friends a long time. we're both natives. we have watched the city changed over the years for the better. mayor, congratulations on your election. we're also proud. i want to thank you for helping us out and doing such a wonderful job in this area. at hud, we're focused on the issue of ending veteran homelessness. we have made a commitment to the president that we would end veteran homelessness in five years, along with the secretary of the va. we have worked hard to deliver on the promise. in the past year, we have brought it down by 12% in one

year. that is difficult to achieve. it comes from specific focus between the va and different offices in hud to make that happen across the country. this particular project is wonderful. it is serving those who have been on the streets along time. there are folks who have really suffered. we do not want to forget them as young girl men and women are coming home. we do not want to forget the folks who have been on the streets along time -- a long time. they have aged beyond their years. we want to help them. this is the type of program that does it. does it with special plans. the whole program has built over 1 million units in 20 years. it is a fabulous program. it helps extremely low income people all the way to home ownership for people just beginning. this is an incredible example of that.

the couple of days ago, the president made a huge announcement about housing. one thing that does not get as much play in the press is the focus on the very poor. he made a $1 billion commitment to the first affordable housing trust fund. he has said it will be included in his budget in a few weeks to congress. that affordable housing trust fund is focused on rental housing for people at 30% or below the area median income, folks like those that will get the opportunity to call this place home. we're very excited because we're already working on what has been passed but never funded. we're calling on congress to fund it. the president has also made a commitment that included in his budget will be $15 billion program called project for build. it is the neighborhood stabilization program to rehabilitate foreclosed properties across the country.

it will put people back to work. we estimate the $15 billion program will create over 200,000 jobs and treat over 350,000 units. many of them look like this and achieve these goals. today we had encouraging news. the unemployment rate in january dropped to 8.3%, the lowest in three years. over 257,000 jobs were created in the last month. we're moving in the right direction. we have a long way to go. a comprehensive list of programs like the one the president obama announced a couple of days ago, for the struggling poor, those working their way into the middle class, and ultimately a national refinancing program that will help those are current in payments to stay current. it will ease stress and help families save about $3,000 a year.

we're talking about a full complement of programs that takes you from when you need a hand up to those who just need a hand to stay where they are and keep fighting for their families. i am pleased the mayor and staff invited us to witness this. i grew up here. going to school, i was right here every day riding by. i knew exactly where this building is. thank you for to beautiful day to be home. congratulations, mayor, and your entire team on what you are doing. i have had the pleasure of working with the non-profit communities involved in this project for a long time. other members of my family continue to be involved in san francisco. best of luck. i look forward to coming back and greeting the first tenants

calling this place home. congratulations and thank you. [applause] >> thank you, very much. the mayor mentioned the development team managing the construction of the project is ccdc, chinatown community development corporation. the project manager is kim. she gets to the day to day work to shepherd this through. one of the greatest challenges of affordable housing is that it is difficult to finance affordable housing and get it constructed. it is even harder to keep it running. the organization that will be keeping a running -- it running and serving the residence for many years is swords to plowshares. they will have the heavy lifting

over the long time. to really change the lives of those residents of this particular development. they have had a long and successful track record in doing so and deserve all of the support that we can give them going forward in the future. the whole notion of it takes a village, it usually takes a whole district to do a project. in some cases, it takes the delegation in washington, d.c., also to help. there are many people to thank. i would like to thank the leaders office. i see dan and nicole, also the d.c. staff, bob edmonson, i want him to know that we really appreciate his efforts on behalf of this project.

the leaders in helping to finance this particular project also. in addition to the leader's office, we want to thank senator boxer's office. there they are. thank you very much for being here. thank you for all of your assistance. supervisor kim, she is a wonderful supporter of affordable housing. she could not be here because of a scheduling conflict. as we have wonderful leadership at the national level at hud, we also have wonderful leaders about the regional level. this is the regional office that has contributed greatly to the success of affordable housing in san francisco. i would like to acknowledge ophelia. [applause] rafael, maria.

[applause] they are the team that does the implementation. one thing about this project, we have talked about the sponsors, the bottom line is it is about the people who will be here. i wanted to do a shot out -- shout out to cheryl cooke and the county veterans office as well as john from the veterans affairs. they are the folks locally looking after our veterans. they are advocating on their behalf to ensure that they get the services they deserve. lastly, i would like to acknowledge the department heads who are here. mayor mentioned bevan, also

trent. there are awards the will help to fund the operation of this development. the ongoing operating support will probably come through his department. this shows the commitment of the city towards providing wraparound services to our veterans. leslie, i like to acknowledge -- lastly, i like to acknowledge those whose debt financing helped -- gap financing helped. you on the unit contributed to the project. this project is have we done. -- you have all contributed to the project. this project is have we done. it will be even better when we can open the doors. blogging rosenthal -- bobby rosenthal from the veterans department. [applause] we are going to pass out hard hats. we will see them before.

i am sure everybody will be here when we open the doors again for our veterans. they do, everyone. -- thank you, everyone. [applause] >> thank you very much.