i am 67 years old and had never even seen one of these. this is ridiculous. when you have never slept with a bedbug and have them in your room, sleeping with you, this is tough. who will implement and who will watch? someone has to be there. i spoke to a number of the people. a number of people have them but refused to say anything. she said that she would find them, some time. implementation is going to be the key. you have to have someone there watching, to eradicate this -- >> there be a report coming off

of that. >> i am rick chavez. a collaborative are very frightened. many believe that they have certain issues that need to be addressed. there the seniors -- i see them there, in a wheelchair. that is the regarding of the contents, this is never brought to the attention of management. they need to be informed about

these tenants. this could lead to serious repercussions. i have been there several years. they should realize that coming to us, we would really help. as for myself, i am sr., and this is an excellent model and the lookout for the people. they feel like they are people. they are now forgotten. you have to remember. you will end up in an s.r.o.

thank you. >> thank you, mr. chavez. next speaker, mr. allison? >> i am bruce allision of "port magazine. " i would like to bring up the e- mail that i got. this may affect a lot of people in the s.r.o. they cannot go to the rent board anymore. this appeals -- they have no teeth so they cannot find or anything. i read about 100 e-mail's. i will try to copy to you

immediately. with people with disabilities -- >> i was working for the coalition of homelessness. we give support to the seniors. and at the same time, i really appreciate all the collaborations we created. finding out what is going on in those other hotels. one thing i want to say today is about the seniors. seniors living in s.r.o. hotels, there is no real housing. you have a room -- and a bathroom, like a studio. one housing for one single man or woman, to have a place. there is the real housing.

if you live in the s.r.o. hotel without a bathroom or kitchen -- and this is broken and you don't have the seniors, who is handicapped, they can't get up, this is a problem. we have so many hotels. the city and the four neighborhood missions -- we don't have this with working. it is a problem, too. i am here today to give my full support to all the seniors and asking the supervisors about how we want to create decent housing, proper housing for all the people in san francisco. they have more time to homeless and seniors. this is one recommendation. please put attention to the

people who need us. have a good day. >> next speaker? >> good afternoon. i am tommy. i have spetnt the last 12 years with the housing rights coalition of san francisco. i support all of the recommendations. i have seen the need for these issues. i have been the hotels with these kinds of deplorable conditions. i would like to add a few points to this discussion. these are really in viable programs for dealing with these problems. and it would be in our best

interest to extend these programs, with these community groups with the s.r.o.'s every day. with the placement of the city agencies, let me lend the firsthand experience. he called my office, they said that this was a crack hotel. the people were acting out and it takes a lot to really scare me. but i was scared out of my mind. there were roaches bigger than anything i have seen, with a green liquid from the corner of the room. i told a social worker i was having a press conference the next day.

just because somebody is poor, or has this ability to is not mean that he/she should have to live in these kinds of conditions. the kinds of conditions we think only exist in other countries. but they exist here and this is a great shame on all of us. [applause] >> i will call a few more names. dominic johnson, deborah benedict, henry j.w., ursula mcguire, and jay sahn. >> i am gilbert, i am had disabled veteran. i was homeless for 12 years, and since then i have been in five or six different hotels. the problem is that all of these

people are unaccountable. we have the city inspector come by. there was one window that was accessible, and there was construction going on and there was an inch of dirt -- and i had to keep this closed. i was suffocating and burning up. the city inspector said that there was nothing to do. this is something he did not want to deal with. by building had the fire doors off of it for three years. you have the city, by -- and no one wanted to take up responsibility. my mail was still in four years. they did not want to deal with this. the u.s. post office did not want to deal with this. my neighbor down all killed himself and put a note on his door. it was there for two weeks until

the smell of his body came down the hallway and my neighbor told me, what is that smell? finally we got them to open the door. they did not think this was an emergency. the door said that he was dead, and a small like a dead person. they get a blank check from you guys every year. everything is ok. the contracts are fine. people are dying. he would be liable and you would be in prison, too, for accessory to murder. we have to straighten this out. thank you. [applause] >> the next speaker? can we get the speaker working? >> san francisco is the single most intolerant, anti-choice,

exclusionary, biased, opposed to a lifestyle choice city in this entire nation. you are systematically evil in your intolerance and discrimination against those who have no choice but to live a lifestyle as a disabled person. you've institutionalized or intolerance, into a substandard, third class housing system that you call an s.r.o. that is so intolerant of disabled people that this will not be reasonably accommodative. this must change, and this has been put in place but you must legislate this out of existence. the last two hours, a parade of people have come before you and

want to work within this system. you must teardown and the -- tear down the s.r.o. system. they must have a minimum of 300 square feet. a shower and kitchen only accessible from the interior. you allow federal funds to go into this from one person who receives federal funding, and another person who receives federal funds for substandard housing. you have to register all the rental units. they should be listed as an illegal unit, and within five years they have to receive double property-tax this because they are not standard housing. within seven years the need to be taxed at 70% of property tax.

>> the next speaker? it is the other microphone. >> good afternoon. i am c.w. johnson, working in the s.r.o. directly by talking with tenants and evaluating the living conditions. roaches and mice are only a few of the issues that they are facing. social services are not being allowed to do their job. they are neglected to the point of hospitalization. handrails and rams need to be addressed. seniors and disabled have lost funding and medical benefits.

fas someone who will be becoming a senior himself, the lack of funding scares me. medical students could be part of the community outreach, and community social workers could come out to help explain this with the financial benefits as well as medicare. this could help people find cheaper medicine, and affordable food. thank you, and have a good afternoon. >> i am the tent organizer -- and i also go to the mission collaborative. i live in the mission hotel.

hoi could give you some horror stories about this. i think that we should basically have movie nights for them, and we have our meeting, this week's them up. we have these pet shelters and an animal shelter so they can bring this in and the seniors can play with them, so we can -- they can learn how to raise them. and this is something they can care for and nurture, and said just letting them live in isolation. we have to get them into the common area. we have to get them out.

but now they just go into the room and lock the door appea. if we had a puppy or pets over there -- you know. the shelter could bring pets there. this is the last thing. i want to talk about the s.r.o. we need more activities. >> thank you. supervisor cohen? >> are pets allowed in s.r.o.'s? >> yes. that would make them more happy. >> dan? walter janus? lorenzo boston? betty trainer? ellen helms? benito casavos?

margarita -- danette lambert? nancy cross? catherine from family service agency. the veterans equity center -- and robert webber. next speaker? >> i am dennis scary. i stay in a private s.r.o. hotel. action needs to be taken to educate and train these people for the best of our hotels. you get home late at night and your arms are full of packages.

the desk clerk brought me in and said that i forgot my keep. i said i just needed help with the door. she said i could not forget my key or she would not let me in. other residents have been refused entry. and some are more limited ability that i am. sometimes our tourist stuck in the elevator? they could have released this from the basement. i have instructions to press the call button, and the door will be released by remote control. who is there with the door not able to open.

they say, i have used myself on -- the desk clerk -- i have to coordinate this and let them in. where is the task -- to pass key and tell them. they are lucky that i was there. >> the next speaker? >> good afternoon. i am karen fission. i am now retired. in the 1980's i was a social worker in the tenderloin. i had clients and it seemed that after hearing all of this

information, the biggest change to the s.r.o'.'s, they used to be affordable on ssi. this is seen as bad if not worse. they have tragic consequences, for people in fro conditions. there are not standard in -- they will provide and install the bars at no cost, to the owner -- until the grab bars are mandatory, they can help.

once this improves, this should not be difficult -- to add the needs for grab bars to a list of items. it will carry out the efforts to improve lives. [speaking spanish] >> i am margarita, and i am from a homeless family. >> i want the support.

they deserve to have a living in which they have better conditions. [speaking spanish} >> get to that age -- not just forget about them. i just want to support it. >> thank you, so much. mr. wright? >> disinformation i am about to give you, there is nancy pelosi, state superior court,

and the court of california. this is managed by the community housing partnership. why first move into that place, i signed the contract. with the corporation housing unit, you underlined the need. he moved into an apartment that was infested with mice. i paid my rent on time, and had my intelligence insulted. supervisor -- and gale gillman, the head of the community partner.

this is what i had to deal with. this pertains to the apartment inspection. i was complaining about the mice in the building. i did my own investigation and found out there were people complaining about mice there before i moved in. when i further complained, they told me you will go to the health department because i did not unpack my boxes because i am in an apartment infested with mice. several other units were infsted. -- infested. >> do you have any questions? i am not done. >> we have no questions.

the next speaker. >> can i speak to you about this? i have to retaliate. >> thank you. we will listen to more comments later. >> i can come back later? >> on other items. and this hearing will be open -- the senior action network should be listening. >> mr. wright, the next speaker is ready to speak. youv''ve had your time. the next speaker? >> i am a tenant organizer. at the all-star hotel. senior action network as well as the central city -- i would

relalally like to say -- the seniors and disabled members of the community are often the most vulnerable. they should receive the best care. i have one more card, along the side of the room. but i want to agree to other supervisors that are here. no so with the senior action network. i am advocating with some friends of mine.

i live with some housing -- the s.r.o.'s have a myriad of nightmare stories, including a man who was 84 years old who lived there for 13 years and this has been leaking on his bed. they say that they have fixed the room, and the only time that leaks is when it rains. every time it rains, it rains on his bed. he puts a tarp over his bed. the dripping kept him awake. he was living in community partnership housing, and it had zero heat in there, and all of the complaints, this was refused

after she made the complaint. she is blind and asked for accommodations. the community housing partnership refused and the accommodations for her, or a deaf person who was living there. i find this outrageous that people who are hired by the city to operate buildings in this community can get away with this kind of action. and the disabled people are disadvantaged at a huge level. there does not seem to be any effective administrative opportunities for them to have this in their complaint. >> at the end of the public comment -- we have the department of building inspections, maybe they could recommend to to talk to and i will make certain my office is

following up as well. >> i am on the board of senior action network. thank you for hearing us out. as it has been stated before, some people think that living in an s.r.o. is temporary but as we know, members of the senior action at work -- network, this is where many of them are going to live for the rest of their lives. this is their home. i ask you to look at these recommendations, particularly those in the beginning. please discuss these with your legislative aide and give us some legislation