should do is support king edward ii and to all the weekend to make these and these 24 youth a success -- and do all that we can do. supervisor mar: i am going to call these more names. [reading names] nadia, ulma, michael tracy, berta brown, lisa and pat scott. those are all of the cards that i have paid >> thank you. my name is david gonzalez, and i am the program manager of the lesbian and gay, transsexual community center. since 2006, the center has been providing services for a transitional -- for a

transitional youth. some sort of steady or survey shows that up to 40% of homeless identifies somewhere in this spectrum. supervisor mar: mr. gonzalez, what was that number? >> up to 40%. larkin street services, on a number of projects to address in this, -- to address these. the sud is the perfect opportunity for us to provide an upstream solution for those things that rise, particularly those transitional aged youth

foster care. services as well as planning as well as community engagement. right now, we are facing some really hard fiscal times locally and family, and this is our investment not only in the future but in the infrastructure to make sure that we provide self-sufficient structures for the young people coming out of foster care systems, and that is about it. supervisor mar: thank you. >> good afternoon, my name is mark. i am about 2.5 blocks away from edward ii. i am very disturbed by the fear and lies that have been used to rally support against this project, my fellow neighbors, specifically apply to the flyers that compare it edward ii to a hotel. the hotel feels the best way to maximize their profits is to run

it in the unfortunate way it is being run. i have spent years on a board of a non-profit service at risk teenagers, so i can say that edward ii not be the bridge motel. it is owned and professional operated by community housing partnership, whose reputation is beyond reproach, and services will be provided by larkin street, one of the best in the nation. additionally, those financing the project will be regulating and monitoring. it is their prerogative. i have to wonder how many of my neighbors signed a petition because they are against the bridge hotel and not because they are against the quality project that edward ii will be. being poor does not necessarily make you a bad neighbor or bad human being, and i think the

vast majority believe in that. [bell] supervisor mar: thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. joel lipske. community partnership. you have heard and will hear plenty of people talking about the merits of the project and the competence and track level of community housing partnership, and larkin street, it is because of that record that i chose to join the board of chp. i only want to make one short point about the sud self and its importance to the project. the point was made that density is the key. there are other issues that are incidental to the need to increase density. he did point out the obvious reason why we would want to increase the density. there is also an equally

important reason to increase density because it is essential to the feasibility of the project, both with respect to its development because of funding to the state, and in large measure funded from the city. it is limited by the number of units in the project. similarly, the density is important. you have heard there is going to be 24-hour does the coverage at this 24-hour building. that is very expensive. that has to be spread out over as many units as possible so the income coming out from rent, which will be affordable but not a lot of money, goes as far as it can. secondly, the more units, the more the city is going to get for its investment. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is serena.

i am from cow hollow. i will try to make this short and sweet. i think we definitely need to move forward with this designation. for instance, the reason i chose to move to cow hollow is the at it is transit rich, near a lot of open space, safe, low crime, and this is important for any youth. any person deserves the right to a safe and affordable housing. it is also an amenity ridge neighborhood, lots of grocery store is, and library, and even the community college is nearby, which i access as a resident. if anyone lives near lombard street, they know it is a very transit corridor, and this is going to be a stabilizing factor in the community, which i think is phenomenal. when the chp and -- with chp and

larkin, fantastic for providing services for a transitional -- for transitional youth. diversity in so many different spheres. i actually creating this, it will help us immensely, and providing affordable permanent housing, and in the last few years, my neighborhood has seen no housing developments because of the economy, and those were condominiums and higher density than what is put here in this site, so it is important to think about that there is no new residential stop coming into the neighborhoods, and prices are increasing to the point that i cannot relocate anywhere else in my neighborhood.

housing is too expensive. supervisor mar: thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm chief of programs at larkin street soy have the everyday fortune to work with staff and young people, some of the young people you heard this afternoon. so i will be brief. you spoke very articulately for themselves. they are vibrant. they are brilliant. and they are really looking forward to being a part of and contributing to the marina community. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. >> my name is ann kieva and i'm a neighbor. i live on steiner street. i attended the planning commission hearing on the s.u.d. i was very, very encouraged when the vote came 5-1 in favor of granting the s.u.d. i thought that that was both

exactly what we would have expected because we feel we had such a strong case. but i also was very pleased when one of the commissioners said that this was a very, very good project. and we continued to believe it's a very, very good project. the appeal, quite frankly, is sort of a surprise. especially given it was a 5-1 vote. i'm a member of the church in the neighborhood and we had a number of our members have gotten together and talked about how we can support this project and how we hope it will go through because we're there and willing and able to reach out and give these youth as much support and help as we can. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you.

>> good afternoon. i'm here to speak a little bit real briefly about support of housing. i think it's a great thing because it's not a jail house that's being built. it's a housing for youth and giving children a chance to become better people of society. i live in c.h.p. housing. i have been living there almost three years and it helped me become a better person in society. i have a teenager transitioning from a 17 to 18-year-old and he will be looking for housing also. and i think that would be a great thing to have housing for teenagers. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. >> hi, my name is lisa. i'm a former marina resident and current resident and had this option been available to me when i transitioned out of the system, it sure would have alleviated challenges that i met. please approve edward ii. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you.

>> hello, good afternoon. my name is jose. i'm transition youth born and raised in san francisco. i think you already heard very clearly like the struggles of foster care youth which is pretty straightforward. and last as well as great track record at larkin, so i want to speak to that. but i want to say this is a great opportunity you have before you to support and move forward a project such as this. we know most opportunities for housing for foster care youth are places like the tenderloin and we know what negative influences are right there at the doorstep of a lot of our young people. this is an amazing opportunity to not only house foster care youth or emancipating youth but also provide them with amazing resources on site, which i think is unique, also in an amazing

environment, like many folks i spoke to already. so i would urge you highly to support this project, move it forward. this is a moral decision on your hands to be able to straight up improve the life of people and their chances down the line. and not only with these 24 units but as these young folks transition out of this housing opportunity, other young people will continue to take advantage of this opportunity as well. so it's past just the 24 unit there's and young people that would be living there to have that first opportunity. but this is going going to continue to serve them. so i would highly urge you to make the right moral decision and move edward ii forward. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. please come forward. >> hello, my name is alma. i'm 18 and i'm transitional age youth living in san francisco. in the context of what i want to say, when i speak about transitional age youth, i'm

talking about youth coming from the bottom in that want to change their lives and want to move forward and make good decisions and the question is, how would one building impact you as an individual on -- in your daily lives? which is greater, impact it would have on you or on 24 youth whose lives will be changed by edward ii project? i lost my home due to domestic violence when i was younger and i wish i had a clean, safe place to stay but i didn't. and i ended up moving on to an even more violent place than i was before. i see a big issue here, and don't think it has to do with measurements or space or zoning or any of that, to be honest. we want our community to be strong but how can we create that when we push those who are struggling out and top even worse places, there's only small sacrifices to be made for edward ii.

and you got to just remember that we would be creating or sustaining young adults whose circumstances have always worked against them. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. please come forward. >> good afternoon. my name is nadia and i'm transitional age youth. and i just want everyone here to take a few seconds to imagine what it's like to to navigate through violence and drugs on your way to school and work. i grew up and continue to live in neighborhoods in san francisco in very negative environments. many of the same neighborhoods that transitional age yugse live in. and just within these neighborhoods they're facing a lot of challenges to the socioeconomic success. so while i have never been homeless or in foster care, it still is a struggle for myself to have to navigate through all of the negativity in my community. so just imagine how much more

difficult it is for someone whose system involves coming out of the homeless or teen parent. how hard it is for them to stay focused and become so sufficient. i believe it is critical for these youth and young adults to have access to stable quality and affordable housing in a safe environment. and this is why i support the construction of the edward ii housing project. not only will this project provide transitional ages youth access to housing in a safe environment, but they will also receive the much-needed support they need to become self-sufficient and productive adult and citizens. so i ask you please support this project. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. >> hello, i'm here as a representative of c.h.p. and very supportive of edward ii project. one thing i find in any society you see is we all hold true to the fact is our youth is the

future. we all have a concern about the future, but whenever it comes to giving the youth the power and the knowledge on how to navigate through the world, on how to become productive members of society, there is no program that has a better than 40% to 50% success rate. c.h.p., which has 98% success rate and it engages well over 60% of the youth within the city. i see no reason other than -- other than a failure on our part to take care of our youth, to not support edward ii project. you can say it's money but it costs more to jail a youth. it costs a little bit less to afford them substance on welfare but it cost far more less to house the youth with edward ii program. and not only does it allow them to take away the psychological

damage of not knowing where your next meal is coming from, not knowing where you're going to be sleeping at, it takes all of that away to allow youth not only become a part of society but feel that maybe society cares. gives them and affords a hope today's youth will give them not by any city organization, county organization or federal organization. i'm well in support of edward ii and i am hopeful that youth will be given hope through this program, which there is none other like on the board for your decision to make. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. >> my name is jamie wilson. hime here on behalf of c.h.p. i believe it's important for the edward ii project to go through because everybody deserves affordable and safe housing. i know my main concern as a parent is to provide a safe loving home for my child and it breaks my heart walking down the

street and seeing these youth with no place to go and nothing better to look forward to. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. >> hi, my name is roberta brown. i'm from the senate. i -- center. i support the edward ii project. thl project gives youth hope and just a reason for, you know, progress. so support the project. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. >> i'm michael tracy. we're a nonprofit with the organization that works with about 330 volunteers in san francisco, and there are about that many in foster youth. we definitely want to express our support for this project. one of the real barriers are volunteers in the youth come up against is lack of this kind of housing. wait lists are really long and outcomes when appropriate

transitional housings is not available, they can be really bleak. but when housing is available, amazing things can happen. so, yes, i want to support the project. thank you. supervisor mar: i know the work but can you talk about what case does? >> i'm with court appointed special advocates so we match one volunteer in san francisco with one youth in foster care to advocate to them and mentor to them. we advocate a lot of transitional youth and using the court system. supervisor mar: thank you. >> thanks very much. >> patricia voy. i hope two things, one, we have san francisco bay marina. it's been in existence for almost 30 years and i will not bring my children to a public place to have them speak on behalf of something and drag them out.

i feel it's like slaves. i'm sorry, i treat my kids with a lot of respect. number two, there were alternative sites. one of them was baileding with over 25 units with kitchens in each unit for half the price of this. we are going to be pretending this is conditional use hearing. there's another one for sale for $1 that could have been fixed up for $4 million and been a much better facility it made with a lot of special interest for these kids. so our association, three of us, one of us places foster kids. another one works an edge to it and myself on the board are well aware of the problems of youth. my question on this case is the fact that the process, again not come to see us, the size of the rooms disappoint me to no end when it could have been a better

project and better program. i'm seeing in the city right now programs that don't -- they work partially but this is not youth. this is adults. and they need a different type of project and youth processes. it's a different story because i've got three 21 to 25-year-olds right now. i would like to talk to each one of you about my concerns. my big problem with this is it's not a.d.a. on the third floor. one of the hardest things for children to endure is to be in a wheelchair on the second floor and hear the party on the third. and the economics of the city. this is being funded greatly by the general fund, and we don't have a lot of money. it's just going to make it in the long run. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. so i see no other speaker cards. if there's anyone else who would like to speak, please come forward. >> my name is jamie hanna from iroquois.

i wholeheartedly support this housing project for all of the obvious and heartfelt reasons. thank you. supervisor mar: thank you. miss scott. >> i know you have all seen me before. good afternoon supervisor cohen, supervisor mar, supervisor wiener. when i first moved to san francisco, i lived in the marina. this is the first place i have lived and since moved a couple different places and now stuck in scott's district. >> but at the beautiful deloris park. >> oh, yes. >> if you're unhappy in eight, we will take you in ten. >> so i'm urging you to pass this legislation on to the full board without recommendation. during the whole process of dealing with the booker t. project, i think i was floored, shocked, i don't know how else i can explain it, by everything

that had to be done to get this program entitled. i hope that the edward ii project doesn't have to go through the same process. this is absolutely needed. i can go through the need. you know what that is. it's been spoken to before over the last few months and today as well and also the support service from c.h.p. and from larkin street. they have a great reputation. they have done good work and they will continue to do good work. the need in this town is just incredible. all you have to do is walk down poke street or look in the tenderloin and see all of the thousands of kids that come to this town because they have no -- and they've got nowhere to go. they have absolutely nowhere to go. they have no support. i come out of public broadcasting, so i have not done social service work before i took over booker t. i was shocked at the kids, a lot

of them emancipated foster youth that came to booker t., kids that would say nobody loves me. they've had no support. one boy, 18, had been in 18 foster care placements. we have to take care of our children. we have obligation to take care of our children. these are our children. and between 18 and 24, which is transitional age youth, they have not had the support a lot of people have had and we have a responsibility to provide that support. i hope you do what you have to do in order to make this happen. supervisor mar: thank you, miss scott. if there's any last speakers that would like to speak, please come forward. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is robert bardle. i'm president of the golden gate valley neighborhood association. in case you're a little hazy on golden gate valley, the golden gate valley library is octavia and green. this project is one block west of our westernboundries. we have supported it from day one. we think it is a good fit for

our neighborhood. we think that the fears that have been expressed many times by our neighbors are overwrought, perhaps. and the only thing i would ask is that we establish a citizen's advisory committee to go along with this so we can monitor the project for the first few years of existence. and kind of hand-hold people until everyone accepts taz an addition to our neighborhood. thank you very much. supervisor mar: thank you. thank you, everyone, for coming out. if there's no other speakers, public comment is closed. i understand that the mayor's office of housing, we have the new executive director lee with us in addition to lydia, ellie, who's here as well. is there any comment or responses from the mayor's office of housing, please come forward. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. lydia ely. i'm a project manager at the mayor's office of housing.

i wanted to just touch on one issue brought up a number of times, which is the financing piece. so when we issued the nofa in 2009, we were already realizing we were going to be suffering some pretty hard hits in our budget. so we established some points, because these are competitive applications for funds. we established points for project that's could bring other resources to the table and take the burden off the city to fund the lion's share of the project. so in the case of this flooge you're considering today, c.h.p. presented us with a project that would end up costing the city zero dollars at the end of the day. they had put together a financing package that included private equity in the form of a tax credit program. dollars from the affordable housing program, which is part of the banking, federal home loan bank. and funds from the state.

the state had a short list program that's now been spent down for housing for transition-age youth. so while we could admit this is an expensive program by unit, because as is previously mentioned, smaller projects cost us more because we don't achieve the economies of scale. that larger projects do, so while we can accept this project is on the higher side per unit within the range of projects that we fund, it does end up costing the city zero at the end of the day, which certainly lessens the blow a little bit. for us to take this first to support this project at 16 units would sacrifice pretty much all of the funds that the sponsors are bringing to the table. at ward from the state, which is close to $4 million, that would be considerably reduced if the project qur 16 units. similarly, the private equity that would come into the project from the tax credit program would be significantly reduced

for 16 projects and likewise for the affordable housing program. so a 16-unit project would actually end up costing the city more than a 24-unit project. so i just wanted to put that out there and if you had any questions? >> miss ely, mr. holden who spoke i think second or third mentioned that half of the units are for foster care and half come from mental health funds. i think he also said that we were disqualified for hud funding. can you just address those two issues that he raised? >> ok. so when originally proposed, the project had a number of funding sources including the mental health services act fund, which comes to san francisco from the state. that's no longer part of the financing plan. the project plan also had a

number of youth who would be utilizing the t.h.p.-plus program, which is a tenant-based subsidy for youth coming out of foster care. there was supposed to be four or six or eight youth using that funding source. we also removed that. it was too complicated to have too many funding sources in the project with 24 units. so the mental health project funding and t.h.p.-plus program were removed from the financing plan. supervisor mar: you did mention the state funding and so there is federal funding but mr. holden mentioned something about the project being disqualified for hud, housing and urban development, i'm guessing, funding? >> i want tout clarify what i said earlier, at the end of the day there will be no city money in the deal. however, the city has fronted $4.4 million to assist with the acquisition and predevelopment of the project