will have an immediate impact for families who are waiting for permanent housing and certainly permanent affordable housing that the housing authority provides. we do have some longer-term ideas as well with the housing authority, and henry alvarez is here to speak to them in more detail. it has to do with, again, reopening the preference criteria on the waiting list and seeing if there is a way to prioritize further homeless families in the city system of care. supervisor avalos: ideally, since we253 families on the waiting list for more long-term housing -- >> for long-term shelter. >> for shelter, we're trying to pare down that list. right now we found 51 slots, but you're looking at more slots there could be available? >> it is not simply the waiting list for shelter, which is 253

families, it is also the families that are currently in a shelter. that is the universe we're trying to pare down to get into public housing. you over that more slots in the shelter system, and then of course, degrees them. about longer term plans, reopening the discussion around preferences and preference points for homeless families on the public housing side, and looking at what some other jurisdictions have done, which is the section a program, the vouchers at a public housing and whether or not -- well, we're going to explore whether we can set aside some section 8 vouchers for homeless families, and that is a discussion that we have begun and will continue to have. i am not going to pretend to know the hud rules that are part of the waiting list dynamics. henry alvarez can speak to that. but we're very enthusiastic about our renewed partnership

with the housing authority. we have been working together for years, but this is something concrete they can have an impact in the near term and long term for homeless families. the other side of the approaches and we have been doing for years. i know you have been involved in it, the development of our rental subsidy programs for families using local dollars. we're very gracious for the family for stepping up last week to the reached out to us and ask how they could help. the answer was fairly quick, expand the rental subsidy program, as well as move in assistance in case management as well, sort of looking at the successes we had in our programs that are currently administered by hamilton, compass, catholic charities, and general housing clinic. they have had success. the biggest barrier to housing, the biggest cause of homelessness among families is

income, and lack of income to afford housing, particularly in high-cost city like san francisco. the best way to address and time is by supplementing the incumbent of that is what we plan to do. $1.5 million will be matched by over $800,000 that is currently in the marrison was fun. it is a ton were basically -- in the mayor's homeless fund. it is a fund with donations. we have had small donations over the years. we had one big one a couple years ago from the dave matthews band. the money has been sitting there for crisis situations. i made the decision last week, when discussing the family about their deaths, that the city could step up as well and madge -- discussing with the family about their gifts, about the city stepping out as well in matching the donations. we're looking at an additional amount of money, probably another $750,000, the would be

in our budget proposal to the board in june, which would be for fiscal year -- the following fiscal year, 2012-2013. that funding combined, we think we will add case worker staff to the nonprofit agencies that are currently administering the programs, both to identify the families, help them transition into housing, and provide necessary after-care, which they're in rental subsidy housing, meaning access to the services those families need to increase their income, maintain their income, that sort of thing. but the idea that there will hopefully find a permit housing on their own over a number of years. supervisor avalos: we're not creating a new subsidy program, just working with an existing program? >> we're adding money to existing programs. case workers. funding towards rental subsidies. the initial thinking is that subsidies we're of budgeting for an 18-month to 24-month time

span. which is why we will add funding in the next school year so we can maintain that commitment of 18 to 24 months. >supervisor avalos: that is for family? >> per family. supervisor avalos: our rental housing program has legislated -- >> up to five years, correct. looking at these existing programs, the bulk of the families to find permanent and subsidize hounding, that housing is between 18 and 21. that is sort of the average, the bulk, but their families, of course, that need more time. we have the flexibility, given your legislation, to give them more time. we envision, although we have not really thought about the past two years, but we would envision a similar design. so the families were targeting on the waiting list, families who have kids in san francisco schools who are on the waiting list, if they cannot find permanent housing after two

years and they are complying with the program and what we expect of them to be in the program, then we will likely extend them, similar to what we do now. the third, staffing. the rental subsidies, and of course, whether their security deposits, first month rent, looking at if they need furniture, that sort of thing. sort of tavon in those resources so families can move in to a unit soon. the other part that is not in an official city document is that we think we can leverage volunteerism from our court -- corporate partners. we have had discussions with the family about the sales force donation and using employees and volunteers to step up and help provide some of the move- support.

we are exploring an adopt-a- family approach. it is a good way to galvanize san francisco's companies employ using guinta stubhub. -- and get them to step up. the next steps on how the program will be expanded and the mechanics of the contract and that sort of thing the less i believe that the salesforce foundation reps will be meeting with our nonprofit partners. we can learn how to move forward as quickly as we can. the goal is to get as many families into permanent housing to the authority or subsidies before christmas. it is a very aggressive time line. we recognize that. we have referred -- we will refer 25 to 30 families today to the hamilton subsidy program. that is already in motion. with the 51 families processing

on tuesday and the 25 to 30 that we are referring to the subsidy program, we could get as many as 75 families in before christmas. supervisor avalos: that is in the subsidy program, but there marginally house, we still have to get them into some kind of housing situation? >> the initial target, and the family was clear on where the what the money to go, the initial target is the families in shelters and on the waiting list. our current subsidy programs target other families as well, families in sro's, and families in precarious situations. we want to target families in shelters, on the waiting list for shelter, and who have kids in san francisco's schools. that is the criteria we're looking at, and would target those families. 79, roughly, families in shelters. . 250 on the waiting list. -- roughly 250 on the waiting list.

our goal would be to be able to serve the entire universe, be able to run through the whole current waiting list with these new resources, as well as the partnership with the housing authority. with that, in the questions. supervisor avalos: let's hear from mr. alvarez, as well. thank you for your presentation. >> good morning today also from the housing authority. you have heard a lot about what we're already doing. we have been communicating with our colleagues and with the city family about our ability to put families in permanent housing situations. we have approximately 115 vacant units at the moment, and we're going to expedite and tuck these families in the city shelter and expedite those units so that we

can get those families housed. our commitment is to try to do that before the holidays. it will mean moving resources from things that we were doing to this particular priority. i think rather than revisit all the things we have already heard, it may be more expedient to more interesting for everyone to simply entertain your questions. i think he clearly articulated what we're doing together collectively. as the dialogue continues, i think we will get a better understanding of the housing authority's operations and what is that we're able to do and are consistent movement in housing homeless families. i would say, however, before we get to that discussion, that homeless families are our number one preference in our housing processes on both sides of the aisle, of public housing and in our section eight product. their number one.

as a result, we typically house a number of homeless families. what we're doing specifically different in this particular case is we are matching the intersection family-for-family between the shelter process that the city is operating in the waiting list that the housing authority operates. what we're discovering is that many of those families, there is an intersection. they're not always number one. they could be 200, 300. our goal is to try to process families in an expeditious way to get to all of those families. with that, i think there will sit and try to get to the question and answers. supervisor avalos: ok. you know, this past year, i have heard that there has been a lot of families with in the housing authority that actually have been evicted, and i am wondering if we're seeing now some of those families that have lost their housing in the house about

40 are now in our shelter system and coming back into the housing authority buildings. what has happened over the past year in terms of families being marginally house, being released from the housing authority, and what conditions lead to families end up being evicted? >> i would like to talk about those it the context. there are those families that week evict for cause, for some sort of lease a violation. violence, drugs, criminal activity, not abiding by their lease. then there are families that we have to structure it processes for rent payment. in those cases, we go to extraordinary lengths. we have had a call to the housing authorities of families not paying rent. what we have attempted to do over the last year is to change that culture by trying to find

ways to convince our families that they should pay rent. typically that rent payment is 30% of their monthly adjusted income. in some instances, what we're doing with families if they have arrearages from however long ago that has been, we have asked them to enter into payment plans. in those instances, those play meant plans to renegotiate at nominal values. it could be as little as $1, in addition to what their average a normal monthly mental -- rental payment would be. if you have not pay your rent for the last year and we get to a point where we enter into a discussion with the family about paying rent, we would say to that family, let's make a play end of how you will pay an additional not more than 5%, but maybe it is just $5. and your rental payment is $100. for the foreseeable months into the future, we're asking families to pay $105.

$100 of their normal range, and five additional dollars to cover their rear edges. additionally, we are writing off arrearages better significantly old enough that they are uncollectable by statute or simply by our collection process. so we are actually ievicting a limited number of families or not paying rent, and those are only those families who were unwilling to cooperate with the agency in terms of entering a payment plan or becoming current in their rental structure. supervisor avalos: do you know how many families that has been over the past year? >> historically, it has been about a third of our inventory. anywhere from 1300 to 1500 families have not been paying rent. supervisor avalos: of that number, how many end up becoming infected? >> there has been a minimal number of folks. i would say a handful, less than 50. in the three and a half years that i have been here, we have tried not to evict families for

nonpayment of rent. again, those families who, when we get to the eviction process, which requires a court activity, we are typically asked to go into the hallway and created a plan of action that allows the family to stay. in those instances, we're either writing off those arrearages that are older than the statutory limit, and we're coming to obtain an agreement on the back rent, and we're asking families to be current. so we have a new commuter -- computer systems. we are improving our calculations of red so we get the numbers accurately. as families report changes in income and household composition that affect their rent, and these are complicated structures, we're trying to implement those quickly so that we do not evict families simply because of their inability to pay. supervisor avalos: thank you.

ok, we have someone from the mayor's office of housing. >> yes, we will. brian and teresa will come up to talk about our supportive housing program and about some of the for closure programs that we have. supervisor avalos: the idea i had around the foreclosures was, last tuesday, there were about 20 families that were imminent of being evicted, and i guess there was a call for a moratorium from some of the families and community groups to see if there was a way to prevent the evictions of being carried out. i guess the options that the city might have, we can see the options we have to prevent evictions during the month of december, at least, during the holiday.

>> let me back up briefly and give you a thumbnail description of our efforts in this area. briefly, on the rental side, our support for homeless families primarily exists in resources river to community-based organizations. we support about $1 million or so through a combination of community development block grant funds, shelter funds, and stabilization fund, a nonprofit organization funds, eviction and services to families and individuals at risk of being evicted each year. on the for closure prevention side, our primary resistance this through our community development block grant program to a number of different homeownership counseling groups. we fund the clever to be might be aware of called homeownership sf which consists of meta, sf

housing, lgbt center, community housing, and those groups them individually and as home ownership sf, started off primarily during first-time home buyer counseling. but over the last two or three years, we have had to shift focus of efforts on to for closure prevention. it has proven to be a quite challenging situation. i think that are limited success in these areas has primarily been in working with those banks that are willing to look at loan modifications or payment default programs for those families who can show that they have some source of income. perhaps there has been a momentary loss in income due to an illness in the family, and those situations where we are able to persuade the lender that people will be able to make their repayment, where sometimes able to be able to get package loans and to that effect.

it has been challenging. i have to say that the issue that comes up every day, issues that we talk about what all of our partners that homeownership sf, unfortunately nobody has come up with a perfect solution. because none of these families are necessarily able to show that there will have the income stream necessary to fully support a loan modification. in those instances, the most our offices can do is work with home ownership sf to at least work towards a permissible short sale instead of zero for closure. at least we can try and minimize the impact on these families credit abilities so they will not be barred in the future from purchasing a home. but it is a very difficult situation unfortunately, many cases we are not able to work towards a loan modification. and short sales offer an alternative to foreclosure, but those families still have to

move out. in most of those cases, families, we found, tend to find emergency housing, often with other relatives. they often have to move out of the city. sometimes moving to another state. it has been a very challenging time for them. so we're open to working with the city for solutions. we get requests every day, but we're limited in what we are able to do for our own program, but we're happy to work with the city if there are other efforts. supervisor avalos: thank you. >> good morning. teresa from the mayor's office of housing. for our supportive housing pipeline, it is not only challenging to deal with for closures but also challenging to build affordable housing in san francisco. in our current pipeline, we have about 133 housing units that are slated for homeless families specifically.

that is funded and support with the human services agency and our local operating subsidy program, which thankfully you guys are always willing to support through the budget process. of those 133 units, and none are necessarily -- they are in development now and are slated for opening starting in 2013 and 2014. so nothing that is immediately develop will -- available. most housing currently under construction is he there for seniors are the disabled, but we definitely have staff in the pipeline. today, we have at least 179 units targeted specifically for homeless families, families in some other affordable housing developments, and that is funded through the human services agencies and our local operating subsidies program. those homeless families go to the human services agency access points. supervisor avalos: thank you.

if there are no other persons to present -- >> we did have a couple folks from the school district if you had questions about the families in transition program, and we are available to answer any questions. we're also interested in hearing from families. supervisor avalos: i think that would be best if we can go to public comment. and then if you're still available for questions, i would be delighted to have them. so let's go ahead and open it up for public comment. i do not have cards, but if folks who would like to speak and line up along the windows here, we will do two minutes per person.

again, i want to thank a lot of the folks in the community, families who are homeless, and the coalition of homelessness for your advocacy in raising this issue, raising awareness of it, and being able to get a response in court in nation from the city, which is a great thing. also to get folks from the private sector as well, the benioff family. please come forward. two minutes per person. >> hello. because of the director programs for hamilton family center. first, i want to say i am very encouraged to here then is that the salesforce and hsa collaboration. this funding will definitely be infused a need and fulfill a need in san francisco. we're currently looking at the decrease of homeless prevention rapid re-housing dollars that were infused into the city in

september 2009, which allow us to serve approximately 128 families. since that time what rental subsidies in move-in support, we're currently in the process of ramping down from the funding, because that funding will end june 2012. so this infusion will definitely allow us to provide additional and continuing subsidies and move-in support for families. i also want to bring up the fact that there is a big shift happening in federal funding that we need to pay attention to. the emergency solutions grant -- the emergency shelter grant is shifting to the emergency solutions brand, which will focus that money on prevention. yeah, at the same time, we continue to need a safety net in san francisco. hamilton family center provides a full circle, from emergency services to subsidies and move-

in for homeless families and the eviction prevention. [bell rings] we need all of these services. having shelter while waiting to get into housing, as well as support to move families as rapidly as possible into housing. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> i am assistant program director at compass connecting point, which manages the waiting list for the long-term family shelters. i wanted to talk more about what we are seeing on our end. i know that you mentioned earlier, in june 2007, there were 71 families on our waiting list for family shelter, and they could expect to wait approximately two months for placement. a family with a serious medical or mental health condition, could get a fast track and shelter within a week or two. today we have over 250 families on the waiting list, and they couldn't expect with over seven

months for placement. a family with a serious medical or mental condition still has about two to three-month wait for placement. during the time that families are waiting for shelter, they are often staying from couch-to- count, parks, hotels, emergency overnight shelters, and more. it is not uncommon that we will see families who are staying, you know, 10 people in a 1- bedroom unit in the projects. families are staying in a variety of situations. they will stay with a relative one eye, hotel lanai, car one night, and more. a lot of families cannot sustain this. families often leave the state are moved back into an abusive situation, lose custody of their children, or they drop off the radar and do not continue getting services, but they never achieve stability. one of the scary things right now that the overnight shelters are reaching capacity. the last resort shelters that we used to use the like providence, have recently had to turn families the way for the first time in history, which is pretty

scary. [bell rings] supervisor avalos: your time is right there. >> ok. so the last point i just wanted to make is that, unlike other residential programs, compass connecting point does not have programming capacity. we will continue to serve in the family that is homeless and in need of shelter, but our budget does not increase at all. the case managers are working with triple caseloads, tripoli a lot of hot line calls. there is emergency services like diapers, bus tokens, and food. but we're definitely very grateful to have this opportunity to collaborate with community partners. supervisor avalos: thank you very much. please come forward, next speaker. >> good morning, supervisors.

my name is lee. my family lives in an sro unit. [speaking foreign language] i am here to call for your help on the situation homeless families are facing. we now have over 2,000 students in public schools that are homeless kids. 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. thank you.