chicago summit occurred this time last year because of the infestations in new york, other major cities on the east coast. there was a recent training that i helped staff. many of the community members were there as well, trying to learn the new signs with respect to new treatments. i mentioned heat. recently, at a conference, and an elderly woman in a wheelchair come up to me and she was concerned about the use of pesticides. perhaps some of these other tools can be used. there may be pros and cons in terms of the heat, in terms of cost, but the jurisdiction definitely needs to look at this and talk to industry professionals, so that there are more opportunities out there for the owners and operators to be

able to react in a timely fashion and also to look at the material -- movement of materials in the building. the city attorney and i had a discussion recently with a city operator about setting up a heat room. this was a for-profit hotel, and it seems to be working. their incentive is they are spending a tremendous amount of money on the total rehab of the building. i will not mention it by name, but this is something we want to encourage other hotels to do. when management clears a room and are moving people to another location, they need to be able to address the movement of personal items from one location to another. the other thing that should happen immediately in both coasts is -- i am not sure in the health code -- but in the housing code, it is not required that mattresses are free from infestation have in

case the covers. we are starting to put that in our notice of violation. that one is a no-brainer, something that we all should do. supervisor kim: thank you. i wanted to ask members of the task force to do a brief presentation on some of their findings. how much to ask jeff buckley, brad bishop, and richard made to come up. thank you. >> supervisors, my name is jeff buckley, the director organizing with the tenderloin housing clinic. i will allow the members of the public to comment on a lot of the things that have been put forth by the department of public health, but i would like to say, without a doubt, we do not feel that two inspectors for five under 30 sro units could even remotely be called an

adequate response to the level of bedbug infestations. there are other issues that i will address, but i wanted to summarize and describe what the working group is. once we learned there would be a public hearing on this issue, we convened a working group, which was really an informal group of people who have either experienced, a treat, work with, or collaborate with, from the property manager perspective, made its workers, pest control operators, tenant advocates, involve would bedbug issues intimately. the idea is, we want to cut through a lot of the russian valley that comes with this issue. i have seen, of talking about the bugs, that people almost instinctively start to scratch. this issue inspire something within people. it also takes a lot out of

people who go through the process. you talk to someone who has not been through it compare to those who have. it has really had a major impact on their lives that many will talk about. we went through the existing rules and regulations and look at how both departments enforced existing codes and made recommendations. here are those recommendations. the first is, we need to improve the director's rules and regulations on how to control bedbug infestations. this has not been opened up for review since its inception. that needs to change immediately. we are concerned the department of public health is not interested in doing this. if they are, that they would try to control process and not allow us to implement the kind of changes that we feel are adequate. second, they need to legislate specific administrative penalties for property owners who fail to comply with the

department of public health's code requirement for bedbug abatement. if you look, generally, dph gives notices of violation to the tenant as well as property owner. dbi only gives notices of violation to the property owner. we feel there process is far more effective in debating the issue. ultimately, when you are addressing these issues, it is very difficult in a court of law to prove that a tenant has been able to infect their own units. ultimately, it is the habits of the bed bug and they're wondering ability that makes it difficult to say that the tenant brought it in. if you are charging nuisance, it is difficult to charge that to the tenant. that is why we feel existing practices need to be amended. i would also say we need to require code enforcement services, to respond to bed of

cases and complaints in all housing types, including multi apartment units and sro hotels, as outlined in the ordinance and fee schedules. we need to require dbi housing inspection of notices to issue a violation of bedbugs and also to amend their abatement process so that dph has to certify and then sign off on all of the procedures. we need to require specific time requirements 40 days to complete its certification process. that must be added into the language. we also need to examine the service delivery benefits, if we are require both city inspection services to follow the same abatement process. part of the issue here is, you go to dbi, you get one response, another at dph. that is not helping anyone. i say that on behalf of pest control operators, property management supervisors, teneant.

we'd also need to recommend a review of penn bond prevention and identification. this includes hospital and hospice care, nursing homes, public transportation, commercial real estate, retail space, student housing, shelters and traditional housing programs. lastly, i would recommend a california state structural pest control board update its licensing requirements for pest control operators to place a greater emphasis on bedbug identification, prevention, and control. i think if we do all of those things, if we go from being general to specific, to actually enforcing code, rather than recommending it, i think we will have a far better response from the owners and operators, but also from city inspection services. lastly, it is those who do not

have an adequate response that come to the city. when they're coming to the city, it is common in most cases, because the owner or operator has failed to comply with existing standards. so it is really important that we get a good response from the city. at this point, dph has not been providing that level of service. i wanted to pass it over to richard de who can talk about the specific recommendations we have provided for you. >> good morning, supervisors. my name is richard may. what you need to know about me is before i was a housing advocate for the housing rights committee, i was a property manager, and here in san francisco and seattle, for over 10 years, so i bring a lot of experience to the issue.

the first thing i would like to hit on it is, we need to legislate administrative penalties for property owners who fail to supply -- comply with this amended document. require the document to be more specific. i have seen too many instances where property owners, either through ignorance or willful intent, not follow through on their responsibility to properly update infestations. second thing -- remove all stigmatizing language in the documents. no one wants to bring bedbugs into their homes. any home can be infected. an infected person should not be made to feel embarrassed about reporting an infestation.

next thing. require san francisco, dph, department of building inspection, after consultation with affected holders in the field, produce a universal training curriculum provided to owners and operators within six months from the adoption date of this requirement. there needs to be a consistent level of response from property owners. currently, response and treatment varies greatly from owner to owner, as well as among pest control professionals. recognize that an infestation may be present, even though you cannot see a bedbug at the time of inspection. i just heard what the two gentlemen proceeding the said. i would like to say, i went on an inspection with one of their inspectors, and the inspector told me, if she did not see a

live bedbug, she would not issue a violation on this. and there needs to be better precautions against spreading infestation. have a standard for disposal of infested possessions. i was on turk street last week and i saw a bed, dresser, and couch on the streets last week, and it had caution tape spread around it. i do not know, but i have a feeling it could have been bed bug infested. i asked the property owner of that was the case, and they said they did not know. it had been put on the night before. it looked like good stuff, so i am afraid somebody walked by and said, i can use that. that is one of the main ways that infestation spreads. we use of materials. tenants need to know they have a

right to ask the property owners for treatment without repercussions. so many times as a housing advocate, i have had people call me up and say, i have bedbugs but i am afraid to report it because i am afraid my landlord is going to make me pay for it, or they will leave it to me. people need to know that they will not be evicted because of bad books. they also need to know that it did not their responsibility to pay for the treatment. has had an advocate and activist, i have often been chastised for complaining about an issue without ever providing solutions. this is not one of those times. i am not about to claim that we are what -- that what we are recommending is a comprehensive solution, but it is definitely better and an improvement over what we have now. finally, i would like to talk about the bias that i have

personally seen against tenants from dph. a manager -- i was at a hearing last year. after the hearing, a manager asked my client, who is disabled and hiv-positive, what they did to have so much time on their hands that they could send him so many e-mails complaining about their infestation. secondly, a deputy director suggested to a group of property owners that there should be an amendment in the least that they sign, stating that when they got the unit, it was passed-free, and if there should be an infestation, it should be the responsibility of the tenants to pay for it. i could not believe what i heard. anyway, these are true instances.

>> first of all, i would like to talk about the reporting procedures in san francisco. alone, i could come up with about 400 units that are infested. and we are a small company. we could come up with 400 units with bedbugs and we are a small company. i tested another company, when i was hearing the statistics. one of their technicians said that they could come up with another 500. in san francisco, we should ask pest control operators every time an infestation is found, to report it. and have one of the two entities keep track of how many units are coming up. within six months to 12 months, the enemy could find out how widespread it is in the city. it is hard for us to track units. we have tenants move from one

property to another. they invest the next property and then they move again and infest the next one. within those buildings, you are getting outbreaks. without proper inspection, follow up from dbi, dbdph, we cannot eradicate the problem if we do not know where the problem is that. if there are 4000 units in the city, there are a lot of bedbug units. the other point is, the inspection of dph does not have a particular form, nothing standardized. these inspectors, i have seen them raise a mattress cover, look around -- there are no bad books. we will go back in and verify that there are bedbugs. the city is called in again and they say, okay, there is.

in the meantime, the tenant has been living there for 30 days without help from the city. the other issue would be -- in 10 years of doing this, i have never had dph, for us, a pest control operator, any information on bedbugs, other than doing generalized city-wide meetings. no training that i know of. i have never gotten any support from dph or dbi. i am not saying that they are bad, but we need procedures in place so that pest control operators know what we need to do when there is an infestation. we cannot just go in and sprayed. tenants need to prep, sometimes they need help. we are trying to have a collaborative so that tenants,

property owners, pest control operators, has a minimum guideline. spraying is not a minimum guideline. it is more of a band-aid. you can spray three times and say that it is abated, but is there follow-up inspections? we have been doing this for 10 years now. we always follow up with a final inspection of the unit. i do not know any other pest control operator in the county that does a sign off. it has always been common procedure for us. it needs to be standardized, so that there is proof of abatement. just a letter from the past control operator to the city saying that they spray three times is not enough. in these guidelines, i think the working group could go further with the city on coming up with minimized standards.

i am willing to work with them, as a pest control operators. i am sure there are property managers that would be willing to come forth. we need your help. put these procedures together. supervisor kim: thank you. supervisor avalos: supervisor mar? supervisor mar: thank you, supervisor kim, for taking the lead on this issue. thank you as well to the working group. i have a couple of questions. on the summit's happening around a bed bugs, is there new technology that is being utilized, like high heat, steam, short of the negation and pesticides being used in other parts of the country? >> yes, there is a new process called rapid freezing. every personal item of a tenant can be frozen on site.

there is heat treatments. the problem with some of those -- we have a lot of older buildings. the capacity of the property cannot handle it electronically, so that is out of the question. hoarding -- sro units are so small that tenants do not have any place to put their belongings. so while we are treating, it is best not going to work. there are a lot of new procedures coming out. supervisor mar: i think we are going to hear testimony from a woman from around the corner where i live in the richmond district. i think it is not just south of market, tenderloin, sro's, but also in other units in many of our neighborhoods throughout the city. for people that have not experienced bedbugs, why is it

different from mosquito bites, flea infestation, other kinds of tests? why are they more of a problem? >> imagine if you went to your home and every time he went to sleep, all these bugs would come out and bite you. there is nothing you can do about it. i have never experienced it, would never want to, but i have had tenants call us crying. they call the city, property manager, social workers. dealing with this over 10 years, i do have to say one thing. there was one tenant, after informed that he had bedbugs, he shot himself because he was afraid of losing his house. we are careful to deal with tenants because it scares people to death. this guy could not handle it.

does that explain -- >> the one-word answer is stigma. that is the difference between bedbugs, mosquitos. mosquitos, that is not a big deal. everybody gets bad books, but you are embarrassed about it, you do not want to report it, you feel like it is your fault. that is a standard practice among some property owners, to stigmatize the victims so that they feel like they have to pay for it. supervisor kim: at this time, i thought we would call public comment. there are many members of the public here today. perhaps i want to thank you all for coming out. i'm going to call the names on the cards.

robert weber. anna heath. john williams. joan tetter. antonio morgan. jazzy collins. >> thank you, supervisors. i can only relate to you my personal experiences. as a community activist, i have heard many stories. there are two samaras and i could tell you about. both get city and county funding. they have a plethora of rooms at a bunch of different hotel sites, but they do not have tseo

have a clear conscience about checking for bedbugs. some of their units are being responded to by property owners better than others. some property owners are doing all they can. some do not want to spend the money. some have their own past control canister in their office and want to come up and spray their own stuff, like they are the experts. that was my experience at one of the hot team rooms. because of a lack of education, i ended up moving bedbugs into a unit that was run by an agency. this agency is very aggressive and has a good control -- could pest control service, but there are tenants in the building that do not have the capacity to do their laundry every two weeks. this agency is not providing

those funds. i was on the tenant council and we set aside funds. because the problem is so big in the building, we could not provide it for everybody, so we had to limit the number of people each month. they were able to get $20 from us to do laundry. i was also informed that the collaborative cannot help somebody if they are housed within our agency, so there is an issue of people and funding. thank you for hearing me. supervisor kim: thank you. >> i am anna heath. i live at stockton and california. my concerns are mostly about prevention and treatment and standardization of pest control

operators. and when i discovered that i had them, my property manager told me to fog the unit. later i was told that just drives them into the walls. when it was still a problem, he put a notice on my door from the past control operator showed me how to prep the room, which is more than it sounds. you put a firm mattress against the wall, take your furniture apart, put it against a wall, bag everything that you own. i was just beginning that process and they changed pest control operators who did not want me to touch anything. it seemed that i was more guilty of clutter that i was.

this pest control operators who did not want me to move things believe that you treat where they are concentrated, just like 1 foot around a bed or something. >> thank you so much for holding these meetings. i am the town that lives on eighth avenue. i gave a print out to the supervisors. thank you, supervisor mar, for mentioning this specifically. i have been dealing with this problem for the past six months. i want to reiterate the torture that i have gone through. other than a death in the family or a terminal illness, this has been the most difficult thing i have dealt with.

you cannot have anybody come into your apartment. i have children and grandchildren. it completely affects your social life. the first thing i found out from the health inspector was that the landlord is required to notify the adjoining apartment when there is infestation. i got no notification. i had them for three months before i knew about it. i even went to my doctor but he did not recognize it. finally, we discovered about 100 live bedbugs in the bedroom where my roommate lives. i have had cancer, and i could not have the pesticide treatment. my landlord, i told them, they refused, but what if i paid for it? it took them three weeks to decide to get the authorization for the treatment. i finally got it. i had orkin come, and because of access issues, they came five

times and still could not fix it. then i had another company come, diamond certified, online, and they made me pay $2,500 to them. i noticed that they cashed the checks right away but i did not get the treatment for months after. it took another several weeks to authorize this new company. they gave me two heat treatments, neither of which worked. i believe they are going back for my apartment but they came next door. they had dirty laundry out on the back porch for a long time. i finally told the landlord. ok, well thank you for this. i appreciate this. i feel like i can get something done with my landlord. i also have a few other violations, so maybe i can contact dbi. thank you for hearing me. >> hello, supervisors.

my name is antonia morgan. i just want to make a few comments about the psychological effects of bedbugs and hope that we can talk about the reasonable accommodations for my peers. bed bugs have caused san franciscans to lose their sanity. i know somebody with a phobia of insects because of bedbugs. she still love bedbugs and ants, but now it triggers something psychologically and she gets paranoid. i know how it is because i am paranoid schizophrenic. i have a friend with a disorder, and he does not get much sleep because of the irritation and the bites torture him. it makes him a very tired, he is very stressed, depressed. he is like this other person i know with this issue. he always jokes, but if