of going through a formal presentation. we have had our discussions with different stakeholders including the home ownership counseling groups, but we have heard it -- is that most owners have the twofold problem. they have the subprime mortgage and some kind of under- employment. i wanted to say that -- most supports have been grants to the commercial counseling and the bloc program, and we have reported these programs. we have focused on the pre- purpose counseling. this was needed five or six years ago. in order for any homeowner to participate in the inclusion in

programs, it is mandatory that they do this with the high quality of the home ownership groups. they have been able to obtain services with our portfolio have almost never gone into foreclosure. the purpose is to avoid foreclosure. we are often looking at loan modifications, and the process is incredibly time-consuming. there is a homeowner issues -- and they are forced to go through the short sale. and the worst is out there. more recently in the past five years, the program has

supported the foreclosure prevention services. we supported 10 dozen homeowners receiving counseling, and i also wanted to talk about -- on top of the home ownership counseling -- we also offer about $10 million for a eviction prevention. those groups that we support are the ones that we mentioned before the h.u.d. approved group, including the housing court and asian income -- and credit counseling that does not receive city funding. all of those groups along with the san francisco lpgbgt center -- this is the primary source of

support that we have utilized when people have come to us for answers, and additional resources. on the counseling side for the last few years, we have supported 16 groups with counseling. we tried to support those groups, with the range of services. this includes the housing clinic, the elderly, the voluntary legal services program, and in the past -- for the last couple of months we have been able to access the general fund dollars that were in our budget for the eviction prevention. and we decided to prioritize those dollars to specifically put out an r.f.p. to ask for

organizations that the reporters office has been doing. they do send out letters to those properties being foreclosed upon, talking with the advocacy organization. it was felt that in order to really effectively reach the organizations, you need to do much more intensive work. we have received two different proposals that we hope to move forward with. to specifically expand upon the work, and we will actually have door to door knocking. this is the only way to reach some of those groups that would include a group education and organizing for the tenants, counseling education for those

that are member of the clinics and the other essential housing and social services. we were just able to go through that process, and we hope that the agencies who will be working specifically on this will be one collaborative that includes the defense collaborative and the san francisco defense union, and the others that were mentioned earlier. and the second collaborative which will include chinatown community development center, and we hope that with these two groups working together, we will be able to reach out to those organizations. we are trying this as a pilot process as we try to move forward, so that we can move forward again for the succeeding nine months, and we have as many of these as possible because we found that many of those groups and individuals have been

mentioned before but never received the letter. they were afraid to open the letter that was not addressed to them. assuming that the homeowner bill of rights is approved at the state level, they want to include that bill of rights with information that has been given to all of them -- that i have informed informally, that merely will support the bill of rights, and members of the mayor's office may be able to speak to when he will show formal support. but merely wants to offer his support to the bill of rights. i want to talk about the support for the home ownership council. the resources are available, in 2010 we had $600,000 available to support.

this included 390,000 from our department, and included a substantial amount of money from the redevelopment agency. they have dedicated to hundred $50,000 to support those organizations. we will go from $600,000 to $350,000 next year because the funding from the redevelopment agency, -- they will no longer be available. >> can you repeat how much of a reduction that that is? >> last year, the redevelopment agency offered $215,000, and the year before they offered $242,000 -- and none of that money will be available. this is a dramatic reduction in

support for home ownership counseling. >> do you mean the redevelopment agency? >> my question was, you say that there have been no dollars and i ask if this is the dissolution of the redevelopment agency? >> there is no longer the dedicated source of funding to support that our reach. >> will there be an opportunity to recapture some of this? >> can you expand on this? >> with the dollars allocated for these programs, and some of the financing tools we are looking at for these programs, with the incremental tax funding. i wonder if there is an opportunity to capture those

dollars. >> this is a possibility, and this will be the first date -- we're all struggling to understand the budgetary information. and there will be hearing in front of you to delve down into that. this is a policy called. what do we do with the smaller amount of dedicated funding, where we have to make more difficult choices. i will not say this is different than the other needs of the redevelopment agency. but there is a specific need with a specific benefit to the council agencies. i also wanted to say that some organizations have been able to receive some support from the banks for this work, with the consumer credit counseling which has received support from lenders, and with that they are

able to offer support for the full loss mitigation practices, so they can actually handhold of the residence, from the beginning to the end and submit the package, which is an incredible asset. they can only offer the full support to the clients who work with that particular lender. in the past certain lenders have supported these groups to a somewhat limited expense. and thinking about possible service -- sources for this. >> thank-you. i applaud all of the efforts that you are taking. it is great to see all of the work that is coming out of the mayor's office of housing. i have a basic question and i don't know if you would be the person to answer this or someone else in the mayor's office.

the letter and spirit of the resolution is to call for a moratorium on foreclosures in san francisco. does the mayor's office have a position on the moratorium, and will join the board of supervisors to call for a moratorium on foreclosures in san francisco? >> jeff buckley. the mayor is open to the idea of a moratorium, but i think that just pausing the foreclosures without being able to increase the number of people with access to modifications, or improving the outcome is not something that we are necessarily looking for. if we were to look at this, we would look at this in combination with a number of

different pieces. -- >> i appreciate this but i see this as a patient going to the emergency room. you have to stop more people from being foreclosed, and the new deal with the actual underlying illness. i think we're all on board for making certain that all of these steps are taken, but to make certain that there are no more people impacted by this -- that is why i think that all of us are saying that we should call for a moratorium, for the time being in san francisco. so with the mayor be willing to do this? >> one of the issues here is that san francisco is not just one part of the country that is experiencing this. this kind of epidemic of foreclosure.

while we are interested in this, we have to be aware of the regional and statewide and national implications. i think that we're interested in doing this but at this time we're not just going to do this ourselves. i don't think that would be the appropriate way to get the result we are looking for. >> i look forward to continuing the dialogue but the thing about this is that there are issues clearly of a national significance that are impacting the jurisdictions and ultimately, the solutions to those issues will require a national approach. nevertheless, with respect to those issues, we have acted locally even though we know that the answer is ultimately -- requires a national solution.

we are a sanctuary city even though the answer to the problem with the immigration system is national immigration reform. we took this step of becoming a sanctuary city before any other jurisdiction did this. and you take the action of domestic partner benefits. even though these were not recognized outside of this jurisdiction, we took the step of doing that even though no one else did this. and along the same lines we say we have a foreclosure crisis. why should we take the lead and say that we are going to have a moratorium here, and set an example for the rest of the country to follow? [applause] >> my sentiments, exactly. >> i think the sense is that this is not our moratorium to

call. >> i think that there are things that are locally our call. and i appreciate the willingness on the part of the mayor have this discussion. this is a big step forward. this is not just a resolution before the board of supervisors. this is something where all city officials and the legislative branch can join together and say that we in san francisco will not use our resources to perpetuate foreclosures in a system that is not working. supervisor avalos: to follow on that, i agree wholeheartedly with what supervisor campos has

said. the mayor's voice added to the resolution will be very powerful. the attorney general took the stand separate from 48 other states. i think new york did this as well. a history of taking stands has been done here in san francisco. so we would like to think that the mayor could actually put his best foot forward with us, in calling for that moratorium. my question to follow up with you, when we have enough investments and services locally, do you think the mayor would be open to giving more resources in the budget, that there were not necessarily able to provide, so that we can

actually grow. and we can work on the house and in san francisco? >> the attorney general settlement, this has penalty money that will be used for that purpose. we're interested in reviewing the portion of the penalty, to see the flexibility that we have to use those resources locally. we're looking at other options with stretching the dollar, so we can have maximum impact. as you know, these have been the hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis. this is something we're very interested in. >> is there anything else tad? >> we certainly want to

maintain our commitment with the federal dollars, and we have tried to protect the home ownership counseling. from the effect of a 27% cut over the last two years. we were able to do that and hold the line, although we were not able to increase that. at the time we were moving these dedicated redevelopment dollars, this is the time we see those cuts at the federal level. this is how we want to maximize these resources. we're happy to work with you all. >> i imagine that we will be able to get this resolution passed, i am not certain if it will be unanimous but by a majority of supervisors, maybe the vast majority. and having the signature of the mayor on it and being able to talk about this after worlward l

make certain that we do not have just voices on paper, we have the whole city government working together. >> we will work together to pass on that message. supervisor cohen: before you leave, mr. chu, the mayor's office of housing has few tools available. i wonder if your department has done any research to see what other municipalities are doing on the accounting level side. >> we're just trying to do that now. the focus group has been primarily the home ownership counseling groups, some lenders, some third-party intermediaries, and we are in the process of trying to reach out to oakland and san jose to see if they have any additional tools.

the primary leverage occurs when we have some sort of interest in the property. we offer the downpayment assistance loan and at those times we are able to work with lenders, to try to avoid foreclosure. we have been more limited and we are in the process -- we're going to hurt -- going to try to find out what other jurisdictions do in those situations. >> my question is, for example, what is the equivalent of the mayor's office of housing and in oakland, what are they doing? in stockton and modesto. the parts of california that have also been hit pretty hard. is there any indication or conversation about that. >> my understanding is that up

to this time, they have been struggling with the same issues. we have the relationships with the entities, if the municipality -- they have been limited in their ability to negotiate with the lenders. they have been reluctant for the regionally-based solutions. we would be able to carve out the exception to the natural rules. we have been a little less willing to do so. what we were alluding to before, is in those cases, with the statewide coalition, this would provide a better source when

working with one city. >> is this a priority of your department? >> this is a priority. i would say that four or five years ago, all of the discussion would be for the pre-purchased side. i think that walking through the hall, this is all about what we can do to avoid foreclosures. and you can see this in the work plan that we set up. this is going down and the foreclosure work, in short, yes. >> thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you, chair mar. >> i jus twant tt want to do a k follow-up. i look forward to an answer on the issue of moratorium.

one thing that i hope is also pursued, and you will have a follow-up meeting with mr. donaldson, is what is happening in boston. there is the public-private partnership that the mayor has been talking about in other aspects. you have the work being done with the hedge fund, i wonder if there is a way to do something like that. you are buying back properties, and selling them to people at an affordable price. and given some of the efforts that have been undertaken with the private sector, there is a possibility to do something like that. >> this is an excellent point. we talked about that model, we

have the enterprise and the stakeholders' meeting, and we have some information, where we start at the next meeting -- we will delve into that and look at what the model will look at in the san francisco setting. supervisor avalos: next up, we have from the sheriff's department, holmes and garcia. >> thank you for inviting us to take part in this. i am here with john garcia. and the head of the civil section -- responsible for the evictions. he will hand out something to circulate to you.

as you all know, the sheriff's department is mandated with writs of possession for a evictions. we have a small number of foreclosure-related infections that we have actually performed. if you look out the hand out, during the five months -- we have a total of 1238 provisions, with 37 that were related to foreclosures. and of the 37 we performed 25. so this is a small percentage of the evictions that we actually perform. i wanted to indicate before he talks to you about how the procedures took place -- this

has been done since the early days of the former sheriff's tenure, this works to enforce and affect the rights -- and we will talk to you about how this works. we have been gathering data on the evictions and we are doing more comprehensive data collection together to better understand the actual foreclosure-related divisions that are performed by the department. i will have lieutenant garcia speak to you. >> when the sheriff's department gets involved, this is at the end of the entire process. we have the writ pof possession,

so we -- we are at the tail end of this. this has been going on six months to year, if not more. we provide instructions to the plaintiff, and they give us all of the information that they have, if they are elderly or sick, or closure-related. we are mandated to propose the eviction notice and we do this 6-7 days off. we're the only department i know of that has this. this is with the sheriffs association, providing this.

they provide the defense collaborative information, skills and whenever they need for that information. we advise them that we cannot stop the eviction, but these are the people who will help you plead your case and help rectify this. this is my godsend in my unit and i take care of them, and we'd knock on doors -- and they leave packages that say, if you need help, call. just hear me out. he is bilingual and he speaks spanish. they will bring the deputy out, and they will interpret this for us. we will do what they -- what we

can but we are mandated by the workforce of fiction, we will give them temporary housing, if they have small children or whenever this need be. we get to this place, and this is between a rock and a hard place. we are very small position overall. this is 4-5 total in the last few months. we do what we can and offer more than any other department. we touch base with the other shares departments, and continue to see all of the foreclosures as exactly the same.