public that would like to comment? please come forward. >> i am a resident of the mission and i came here to basically oppose the proposal. listening to both sides, it is interesting. i still find that it is not where it needs to be before it goes to the voters. i would strongly suggest that it be pulled. we've that yet. we get into the point where we feel good about in and i don't think it is there yet. >> if there are no other members of the public to comment on this item, we can close public comment. >supervisor kim: public comment is closed. >> i want to thank everyone for

being here on both sides of the issue. it has been a very informative hearing. i appreciate you taking the time to be here as well as my colleagues as well. i will come forward with with the folks i work with on this legislation and taken under consideration, everything we have talked about today. i do appreciate your time and input. supervisor kim: for their outstanding questions? thank you supervisor avalos for being here. this item is now closed. yes, we can file the matter. we are going to take in a quick bathroom break that will allow time for folks that are here for item number one to exit the room and folks that are here for

item #2 to start coming in. thank you very much.

supervisor kim: think you will for your patience, i know that we have a number of items that are of interesting to the public today. we still have one more item after this one. please call item no. 2. >> hearing to consider the proposed initiative ordinance by former supervisor under the administrative code that the homeless shelter -- [unintelligible] supervisor kim: just to give a little context behind this

ordinance, we want to talk about some of the issues that the authors are trying to address. according to the san francisco homeless count conducted by the city, the 6455 individuals identified as thomas. 5000 met the definition of homeless. this includes a living on the streets, occupied cars, encampments, and a makeshift structures. 55% of the population as many of you know or disabled. we have many members of the homeless community that our veterans and seniors. with the enactment that passed in 2002, it allowed us to take a reservation in the shelter

system that was an unintended outcome of the legislation. of the homeless population in the shelter system, 300 individuals represent 6% of the homeless population. a number of shelter beds as 1134. 1094 beds are for the general public. of those, 345 vs five recipients that represent 30% of the beds in our shelter system. this came out of concern that 6% of the homeless population, we reserve 30% for the population which might make it more equitable for the veteran individuals. we are currently in conversations. i like to think the department head to see if there are at the ministry of ways that we can

fix. this has been brought about because it was something that was brought to the voters in 2002. the discussion is ongoing and we want to address inequity. we also want to address that there is anywhere from 58 to 70 beds that go vacant at night. all beds should be occupied and we're currently looking for ways to address that issue. we can open up for questions or colleagues before i go to public comment. it is still enforced to have a public airing. -- hearing. supervisor farrell: i have a

number of concerns here and love to direct my questions to trent if that's ok. thank you for being here. as i think about it, there are three kinds of buckets that i want to talk to you about. one, the details of the proposal here talks a lot about four infers that there are shelter beds allocated to the detriment of other populations. can you walk through the numbers, and what is allocated to other groups? >> supervisor kim is right, about 30% of the shelter beds are set aside. we have others said aside.

33 for veterans. 25 for the community justice center. this represents about 9% of the beds. 99 total. when you look at some of the claims of around why this initiative is necessary, a lot of the claims talk about vacancies. as a result, the client can't access them and they go vacant. when we peel back the data and look at it. the nets are not being left vacant. the majority tends to be the providence church in the bayview. we only have the big three shelters in the south, the

sanctuary, and the next door. does represent a hundred and 67 beds, the vast majority of the total in the system, 345 are for care not cash. if you look at the vent their reserve, 89% reserved are being filled by those very clients. about 11%, roughly 40 beds are vacant. so what we do is of three -- we release those beds. and allowing the general homeless population to access them. the concerns are being raised that these are not being accessed. when we look at the vacant numbers, and i get a vacancy report every morning. last two nights, on july 12, there were seven vacant beds among the hundred and 67, 0.8%.

last night, there were five. the idea is that the reserve and beds go empty and cannot cash is the cause of that is not supported by the data that we're looking at. there is a population out there who are not eligible, and the population gets squeezed out of the system. they do tend to be veterans and singers. they have other benefits that are available to them. these are mostly federal disability benefits, about $830 a month. they are getting twice what a normal cash grant in the county would be. there is an assumption that these are not the same population, but it is.

we helped them get on the federal disability benefits. we have 380 people right now. as compared to about 3007 years ago. if you look at the population, about 127 of them are self reported as disabled. another 14% are over age 55. 55 isn't a senior, but if you have been homeless for a long time, that 55 years old is a barrier. the notion that is not serving these populations, again, it is not supported by the data. i hope that clarifies how we run things. >> i appreciate that data. we just got that today about the

number of beds that go into the at night, so with v sheltering monitoring report, what is your analysis of where the vacancies come from? some of that comes from providence. i can't imagine that all of these vacancies happen at providence? >> i will be happy to provide you a copy. there were 50 vacant beds, 33 at providence. a at the use of shelter. last night, there were 48 vacancies. 2/3. small numbers in the shelters

that tend to be in the central city and the larger numbers out in the bay view. it is understandable. the transportation, providence is now out on the floor rather than beds. it serves for of the have lived out in the bayview ended services centers out there and they go to a province to sleep. >> moving half of the proposal or the ordinance itself to talking about care not cash, what has achieved. i understand the motive behind it, but my biggest fear is that we are trying to solve a smaller problem in kreplach a program that has provided incredible success. i'm wondering if you can talk to what can i cash has achieved.

>> and the notion of cannot cash was born in 2002 to address the problem of a cash assistance system that was failing. homeless individuals were on for an average of three years. a large portion have been over five years. cash was not helping these individuals improve their lives. if we do care, we can provide them housing. the study shows that support of housing, and the impact of all the other related services is much greater. greater employment uptake, better outcomes in the mental- health treatment. your emergency room visits and the like. instead, to provide housing for us populations. we shifted. the win moved $13.7 million to

cash assistance annually. no new general fund dollars. 1296 units of housing, health placed 35 and 68 folks not just in the cannot cash units, but in others. >> to translate, $13.7 million, is that since the program goes the inception? >> since the annual -- it is an annual number. supervisor farrell: so it is able to be provided other was to provide up to 1300? >> 1296. correct. it was the intent from the start. if you look at the caseload changes, we were also trying to address the problem that arises

when san francisco has a cash grant of up to $425 a month and the neighboring calories -- counties have grants of $29.50 $9 respectively. it serves as an attraction to come to san francisco with the relatively lax residency requirements. and be able to get cash aid. to restore integrity to public dollars, it was another piece. we assumed that when we reduce that grant, we would see less from other counties. the caseload decline was the principal founder of the 13.7. a decline from 3000 we could fall into the fund. so we looked at the caseload decline. what we saw in may of 2004,

almost 2700 homeless people. it will now have 360. it has been there for about the last three years. that is a decline of 86%. that represents the bulk of the $13.7 million that goes into housing. the caseload has gone from over 9300 down to 7700. that represents everyone. the rest of them get the full cash grant. the county savings goes back to the general fund to help support other programs. at the same time other caseloads are increasing, we haven't. we have gone down. i think it is a testament to the integrity.

i should say one other piece. we talk about the concern that the comptroller laid out, once the cast gets put back in the system, the disincentive to come is removed. it might start to creep up. it could be an increase that -- that money has to come from somewhere. because of legislation, it has come from the care fund that would leave $2 million left to support housing that we are already obligated to support. we would have to terminate leases. people would lose housing. supervisor farrell: so we would be issuing over $400 a month

where no neighboring county would be topping 100? >> correct. supervisor kim: can i ask a follow up question? this is something that often comes up for debate and i don't question the belief that it has reduced the number of homeless individuals the come from other counties. what is the difference between a homeless count and before and after? >> we did a count in 2002 and 2003 and it was roughly 8009 thousand. the count in 2004 i believe -- 8000 or 9000. the account in 2004, we have been hovering around that number cents. -- a sense -- since.

supervisor kim: how many have we been able to house? >> 3600. supervisor kim: going from roughly 8000 to 6000, it would be a result of the program. others will debate if it is because of a drop or because there is a real push to finally search for and fund permanent affordable housing. >> the been the that the content of those units were because i cannot cash -- of care not cash. the other is the potential increase in demand on the shelter system. the initiative is about shelter access. if we get folks from other

states, >> so removing shelter is part of the definition of what counts as a benefit, the attention may be to equalize the shelf to improve access. the result, i believe will be more homeless in san francisco and more demand on the shelter system. >> the other question that i wanted to ask is that we estimated approximately if this ordinance went to the voters in november and went into effect that we would lose $1.4 million of the $13.7 million of budget. the elimination of the program and a 10% reduction and how do you think that would impact housing. even if they refuse the housing the checks will be reduced. >> if they refuse the shelter

bed it is written into the initiative that they do get the grant reduced. there is nothing in the initiative -- >> excuse me. we will have time for members of the public to speak and you will have your time if you want to contest the statements made here today. >> the initiative defines what counts as a benefit and if shelter was refused we would reduce the grant. there is no provision in the current ordinance that says that we have the authority to reduce someone's grant if we offer housing and they decline it. and the reason that we can do that with shelter, remember this is an entitlement. the state of california requires county to provide support to single adults with county money. you apply for aid and you get it. if someone refuses shelter and they come back the next day and

say i want it, we have it for them. that is why we can reduce. that benefit is available to them and they are entirelied to it. on the housing side if they say no they are still entitled to that housing. but we are not going to keep a vacant unit open. that unit will be filled by someone else who needs that housing. that entitlement is then removed for that individual. that is why we can't reduce the grant. >> in the report they saw with the graphics said if an individual turns down the housing that is offered their check is still reduced. >> is this the controller's audit? >> yeah. it was in the audit. >> in 2008? >> 2008. there was a graph that showed, you know, a visual of how an individual going through the

system. >> supervisor, i did see that actually. and it is an error. i read it recently. >> ok. one other question that i had, is if we have a balance of reserve beds, set aside beds and unset aside beds appropriate given the population and the need from disabled clients, veterans, why is it that we have to have set asides at all? if the current balance is correct and there is not a greater need from seniors or veterans or disabled homeless folks for beds why not eliminate set asides? >> supervisor, i may have misspoke or you may have misunderstood what i said. i am not claiming that the shelter system as it currently is either -- it will provide beds for every senior and disabled and veteran that needs it. no i