i have>> i have a son who is ind grade now. when he comes home, he has. it is even hard for him to move around in the room. >> [speaking foreign language. ] >> it is difficult to find opportunities, even for affordable housing. >> [speaking foreign language. ] >> i hope that the city will provide better housing for our children. >> [speaking foreign language] >> we are concerned about

families on the street that are homeless. we ask for your help. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. >> [speaking foreign language] >> supervisors, i am one of the worker organizers for the foundation. i did collaborative. >> [speaking foreign language] >> i'd like to share with you what the families are telling me. because i do home visits all the time, they tell me that there are [unintelligible] on the rental subsidies. >> [speaking foreign language] >> about the limit of years on

the rental subsidy, although we said there was a possibility of extending it to five years, most of the families are out within a couple of years. >> [speaking foreign language] >> one of the hurdles for families in rentals such as these is that they would need to raise their monthly income at least $500. in this time, when families are getting really tough times holding on to jobs, much less getting a raise on the job,

things like that -- a lot of them feared that they could not raise -- meet the requirement to raise their income. so, they are not applying, even though they really wanted to move up. >> [speaking foreign language] >> this limited number of slots for families on the rental subsidy, some of the families might get to a point where they can use the rental subsidy. but all applications have been closed at that time. >> [speaking foreign language] >> i urge the city and supervisors to look at the soup -- situation and improve the

much needed housing that our families need. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello, good morning. my name is deborah. i am here as a resident of san francisco. my day job is the medical director of the homeless families program run by the san francisco department of public health. i also work with and for the national health care for the homeless. i do a lot of work with the homeless nationally and in affirmative front care. i wanted to say thank you to you and all of the incredible people in the city, public and private, nonprofit working currently on this issue. your work is outstanding. being poor and a vulnerable, for a family it is devastating, medically and emotionally.

for homeless families, it is exponential. the demographics between -- i have children, so i am used to it -- so, the demographics between homeless adults and families is very different. unfortunately, we are doing is building more work for the future. -- unfortunately, what we are doing is building more work for the future. sorry, i am nervous right now, my brain is not functioning as well as it could. if you were getting hit by a bus coming toward you, your brain would shut off. you would not be able to memorize the gettysburg address or remember what you had for breakfast. the 2000 children facing homelessness, and countless more out there unable to function in schools because of the level of stress for families -- i want to

just say that a long-term effects, there are studies about increased chances for heart disease and substance abuse. if you would like that data, i can provide it to you. the other issue is that in san francisco, chronic homeless adults, we have great programming and we are ahead of the nation. we do not have that parallel system for homeless families. if they follow -- if they fall through the gap in this system, there is not a lot of stabilization to get help first. that is what everyone here is working toward. i had a family, recently, that left with type 1 diabetes. she was out in her car, and it got stolen. cbs got involved. there are lots of families like that, where we do not have anyone between the gaps and the resources we are offering.

i would like to look at parallel processes for the families. >> hello, my name is kate. i am here as a san francisco resident. my day job is with the san francisco department of public health. i wanted to paint a picture of what we do every week. i sit with kids at the connecting point. once a week to shelter directors and i meet, going over the priority list. it has doubled into the 50's. usually it is in the 20's. you get on the priority list because of physical and mental health issues. we are seeing sicker and sicker families on both sides. we have to -- we listen to the

stories and they are really, really compelling. newborns. kids with immune problems. kids in wheelchairs, sometimes. parents in wheelchairs. people who are postoperative period high-risk pregnancies. and they go through the list and at the end of the session, we say -- how many rooms are available? sometimes it is zero. usually it is one or two. on a good day, we will have four. it is a difficult task. the other thing that i wanted to mention was that we only have two homerooms in the entire city for medical respite. if there is an outbreak of influenza in the shelter -- [tone] we have no where to put people. it is a very different picture for homeless adults. we do not have the resources. thank you. supervisor avalos: has that

changed, over the years? has there been a reduced number? >> it is a larger number of people. people are sicker. it is the numbers. with the same resources. so, the resources were not adequate before. now, you know, we sat around -- i am a mother of an ill child and i cannot imagine not having a roof over my head. we have to make really difficult decisions. it is unbelievable. in a city like this, where there is so much money. supervisor avalos: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good morning, supervisors. thank you for holding this hearing. in the political director of united educators of san francisco. made a job for 25 years has been classroom teacher. last week we passed a resolution to get the teachers and

professionals of san francisco involved in every way possible to solve this problem. when we throw around the figure -- 2000, 2100 children, showing up to our schools homeless, that means that virtually every single classroom in this district has at least one homeless student. educators know that poverty is the number one indicator of problems with our students. student failure, students being left behind, students not graduating, students not showing up for school. they are so traumatized, as previous speakers alluded to, they cannot get engaged with their lesson. we imagine that there are homeless students, and the studies are out there, that the problem is geometrically multiplied. they will not be able to do

their history lesson, certainly not be able to take up the challenge in subjects like geometry and physics, let alone learning to count to 10. so, we are very glad that you are holding the hearing. all of these folks from the community, we want everyone to know that the teachers and professionals of san francisco are joining in this effort. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. >> [speaking foreign language] >> good morning, my name is theresa. >> [speaking foreign language] supervisor avalos: you want to pull the microphone closer to you for the translation? >> working as a supporter for the homeless and housing.

she thought it was very important. >> [speaking foreign language] >> we know that there are a lot of things that are open for people. she stayed in a shelter for one and half years. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> she said that four years ago, her children had academic problems. she said that for an adult is ok, we are strong. we can support that. but children are different. they have really bad trauma, a lot, being homeless. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> she says that the only thing that we act -- that we ask is for those units to be given to the homeless people. she thinks the city will be looking better with less people on the streets, sleeping in the streets. i think that they deserve to have a place that is decent. >> [speaking foreign language] >> thank you. >> hello, good morning. jennifer from the coalition on homelessness. i think that all of us here today think it is a wonderful thing to see how things have

changed over the last several weeks. we went from a situation where we had an action plan laid out by homeless families who had no response from the city to a " in the paper claiming a huge rise -- quote in the paper claiming that this huge rise in homeless families was not a crisis, to what was indeed, as we can agree on now, a crisis. this is a testament to the homeless families standing up with courage, side by side with service providers, making sure that the media embraces their voices and here's the tragic stories of the families in san francisco today. has led to this huge outpouring where families have been joined by teachers, nurses, private citizens and donors to really address this response. that is what i think, at least

we believe, the embracing of this fundamental right to housing is. we would like to see, as we step forward, an engagement directly with homeless families and service providers to figure out the best way to respond to this. we would like to see an inclusion of every family in crisis. not just families with school- age children, although it is important -- due to the educational impact. [tone] we also want to make sure that the impact on how -- newborns and homeless children, 0-5, is addressed. we would like to see a list of the families living in hotels, who for some reason are not on the list for shelter -- families living in cars, these situations that we cannot comprehensively addressed until we meet that time -- [tone] when there are not men, women,

and children living on the streets of san francisco. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. hello. excuse me for being emotional because of my condition. my name is and that,sa and i -- is annette. in nine months pregnant. i have been waiting on the housing list for three years. i finally get my -- what did you call that? appointment. they say that i will get a unit in six weeks to eight weeks. then they give you the run around with paperwork. then they say that i am ineligible because of a misdemeanor charge. now, i go to legal aid and they changed their tune. they did not -- now they say

that they did not say that i wasn't eligible. it has been six months, waiting for unit. i have been in a shelter. in this shelter, there are more and more families and no beds. it is sad. they do not have enough for the families who are homeless. a lot more pregnant women have become homeless. and i think it is because of the same problem that i thought would happen. i hear stories about this city worker giving them problems getting their housing units. [tone] i think it would be good that maybe by the next holiday, a lot of us have houses. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you.

next speaker, please. [applause] i appreciate your coming and telling your story. i know it is very hard. it is important that we know. >> [speaking foreign language] >> hello, my daughter and i lived in a shelter. we are asking for a house.

a better place to live. we are demanding a solution to this problem. actually, today my husband left us. we are alone in these shelters. >> [speaking foreign language] >> the separation between my husband and i is due to economic problems. when we arrived at this country, we had no job. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> today, when i arrive to this country, we looked around for jobs. we walked through the city and could not find anything. today, myself i found a job. i support my child by myself. it takes everything possible for me to support her. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> i said that i had to tell these people that we need these houses. i am here, talking to you. begging -- not begging, demanding a solution to this problem. we are thankful. and when she is alone with the daughter, they are doing better than they were with the husband. but the problem is it is not just about housing.

it is what you people can do. a lot of things to find solutions to this problem. [tone] >> [speaking foreign language] >> she said that she woke up this morning to fight for this. to support her daughter and leave with her this life. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. [applause] >> [speaking foreign language]

>> good morning. my name is nosorio. i came here today for -- [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> she came today to ask for help. she is struggling. she is struggling with the life she is going through now, with four kids. her husband does not work now. she cannot work now. she cannot get a bigger place, due to their economic situation. >> [speaking foreign language] >> sometimes she thinks to take her family to shelters, but the

people there said careful and have no place for them. >> [speaking foreign language] >> sometimes she asks when they will have space for themselves. a place to live. to play. >> [speaking foreign language] >> she fills out a lot of applications, but every single place tells her that they are full. they have. >> [speaking foreign language] -- they have no space. >> [speaking foreign language] >> the place that they live now, her daughter needs something to

cover her ears so that she can sleep. if they wake up in time, they feel tired because they cannot sleep well. >> [speaking foreign language] >> she says that the kids deserve a better place to live. they ask why this country, this city is so rich, why there are so many homeless on the streets. she cannot give an answer to this question. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> she is asking for some help. she is asking for the help of you people to get a solution to this problem. thank you. >> [speaking foreign language] >> she asked not just for adults, but for the children. it is for the future of this country. thank you. [tone] [applause] >> hello, good morning. my name is barbara. i am a business owner and employer in san francisco. i just started to get involved over the last couple of weeks to volunteer to help the homeless. i can see what a big problem is. i was concerned by some things that i read in the newspaper,

that the city was not taking this problem as seriously as it seemed to need to. i see some of that changing over the last couple of days. i am here to stand up for the homeless in san francisco. there is a woman asked me to read her statement. she is not able to stand up. you will hear why. this is from this woman -- to the mayor, i came here to give support to the people who are homeless, and their families. because of my situation, i have to secure my identity to protect my safety and children. i am homeless. i became homeless because my domestic partner worked in the same company as i did, but he was violent. i was forced to leave my home to

escape his violent behavior in get a better environment for my children and the transition has been difficult. i am going to school let this time. i lost my job because of a domestic issue. i have three daughters, however two are currently not staying with me because of the domestic violence situation. i am currently separated from my two daughters. i am currently staying at the shelter, doing my best to finish my program, battering myself and this -- battering myself." that is one example. one thing, even the founder of capitalism -- adam smith -- touted -- [tone] as the free enterprise man, said "no civilization should allow the poor is to go without the basics of food, -- poorest