quality of life in the building gets degraded. but other exits are folks do get a job and they move. folks get reunited with their family and leave the city, those kinds of better exits. what we're again sort of through this process of thinking through in a sophisticated way what the next phase looks like those are questions what needs to answer and what works internally towards doing that and moving towards a pilot, either an existing building or new building, a pilot of what a more transitional model looks like. not transitional housing because that's a forced exit after a certain period of time. but a service mix that with the intent of it being a transitional housing placement, you know, and seeing what that might look like, who might be the candidate to enter that type of program, could it be anybody, would it be folks from homeward bound. those questions we would answer

through data and maybe piloting something. >> supervisor wiener: do we have -- and i know there -- this flows into dph at some time. i know not all of the services or contacts with the homeless are through hsa. do we have data on people who are living on the streets, in it terms of what perge percentage of them are actively trying to get into shelter, other forms of housing. and what percentage report. i know there's a debate about whether there are or aren't enough shelter beds, whether people are on the streets simply because there is no bed for them as opposed to people either choosing to be on the street, or because of mental illness or drug addiction, liking the capacity to really enter into the system. do we have good data on that bakedown? >> you know we really don't but all the things you mentioned are

reasons folks are on the street, whether it's inability to access a bed on a given night, whether it's the shelter system as it is now isn't good at accommodating an individual, whether the person doesn't want to have lights out at 10:00, or not be able to use indoors, that sort of thing. whether it's not understanding the shelter system, if they're new to the city. whether it's mental illness and substance abuse, addiction preventing them to think rationally. all that stuff is mixed in. as part of our homeless count this year we surveyed over 1,000 folks on the street and it was a robust survey so we hope to glean more about things like how long have people been on the street, where they came from, why are they not using shelter, have they used shelter in the past, to answer some of these questions. >> supervisor wiener: you know, i think it's -- and this is the frustration throughout the city because we have this --

you know, for decades now, really significant challenge around homelessness. and we spend -- it's $102 million for the programs u described. when you add dph and everything else in there it's significant higher. so we're spending a lot of money, and, you know, i'm a believer in having a policy in it budget discussions based on data. and where it's possible to have that data, so we can make good policy decisions about how we're allocating our resources, and whether we're succeeding, and whether it's a good expenditure, is there a better way to expend it to address the challenge. and it seems like having more thorough data about what we just talked about in terms of why people are on the street versus in a shelter, or in housing,

knowing what the breakdown is, and also data about the people who are currently housed, and why they're leaving would be important. because i compoa in working with various segments with our homeless provider network there are some really amazing people in city staff, and in nonprofits, and amazing organizations, who a lot of people who do tremendous work, but i think in terms of the broad structure it would be really good to have a deeper understanding of that information, that data. >> you know i think we're on the same page, supervisor. one of the things i talk about is i think our system is really effective at solving the homeless problem on the individual level. we know how to do that. we know that supportive housing works. we know that we have great outcomes in supportive housing. we're a national model. but then we go bigger and systematically and you see we still have a couple thousand

people on the street, we still have 260 families on the homeless family waiting list for shelter. answering those questions as to why, you know, how can we house or reunite someone with their family through homeward bound, over 14,000 people since 2004, yet you can argue you haven't seen appreciable improvement on the street. i would argue that we have but some argue that we don't. you know, those are the big questions. you know, influx of people, influx more than outflow, you know, all urban centers, you know, claim to be sort of attracting the hoamsdz. homeland homeless. i think that's right. it's the urban areas. it is about getting smarter, about who is on the street, who's in need and why the system that's effective for so many thousands of people not effective for that person on the street. >> supervisor wiener: do we have estimates for how many

people per year are arriving in san francisco and are immediately homeless? >> no, we don't. what we will have, from the survey, and we've done this every two years, is the percent of folks who either came to san francisco homeless, or became homeless while in san francisco. and then the length of time they've been here. so we can glean some information from that. i don't want to ballpark it because it can be a sensitive sort of issue. anywhere from 25 to 40%, san francisco -- came to san francisco while homeless but that's self-reported and that's a pretty wide band. >> supervisor wiener: i would imagine there were people who were already homeless and came here and remained homeless. there are people came here wanting to make a life here and understimulated and became homeless. >> i think the homeward bound,

which reunites folks with their families or someone who can take care of them in other cities, when you look at those numbers, and we're at 8,000 who have been reunited with friends or families since 2004 that suggests a lot of folks came here, you know -- and not unlike others. san francisco is a city of refuge for a lot of folks. poor, not poor, college grads, gay lesbian youth, immigrants. but we're not a nation state. we're not going to close our borders. we need to be responsible. but that data does suggest that folks are coming here and it's not working out for them which is why we started the program when we did eight years ago. >> supervisor wiener: thank you. >> uh-huh. >> chair farrell: supervisor breed. >> supervisor breed: thank you. i just had a few questions about jobs now program, and wanted to know specifically what is

happening to help deal with the transition of employment for jobs now. for example, people may take on the responsibility of someone, and the assistance to pay them through jobs now. but there comes a point where the jobs now support runs out, and then typically sometimes we've had situations where that person is laid off, and then they're collecting unemployment, or it just -- there's no transition or no link to a maybe long-term job opportunity in maybe another field or something to that effect. just wanted to know a little bit more about how the jobs program is specifically connecting people to long-term job security. >> sure. so the goal of jobs now is to get someone immediately into employment and get income into their pocket. the secondary goal is to get

someone who has a fairly -- typically a fairly limited work history or limited educational background, to get that experience. what we have found, and this is data from when we started the program in 2009, and we have a very large sample of over 5,000 placements that very often, in the private sector, once the subsidy ran out, if the employee was successful, the employer kept that employee on, over half. i'll get you the exact numbers, i don't remember. i think it was in the 60% but let's call it over half were retained. they retained a full time job, not on the city's dime anymore. 88% of employees placed said it added value to the company. you can take any job training or job placement program in the city, whether it's nonprofit run or city run and you will never find a 50% placement rate.

it's a very, very high placement rate number for folks with multiple barriers to employment. so it shows this is an effective strategy. we have a very large public sector to jobs now. so this is a public service trainees in rec and park, dpw, hssa and other city departments. the placements tend to be six months, some can last up to a year. we have been working with dhr to allow those placements to count for mqs for city employment and met minimum qualifications. our staff is working with these clients. they're getting help with their résume, with soft skills, interview skills, things like that, they're connected with us. so we encourage folks to apply for, and get on lists for city employment, and at hssa. we've been able to hire a lot and getting former public

assistance recipients working as case worgers in our system. city employment is not the answer to long-term employment. even though we're a very large employer what we do want is for people to get those job skills. you mentioned folks who don't get jobs, and there are certainly a lot, about you what they have after their placement is hopefully a solid reference. they certainly have a solid -- now a recent work history. they are now engaged in the unemployment system so they're getting a benefit higher than what they get from the city and working to get a better job. so we're now engaged in a study, and i mentioned this last time i was here, with a national study with the department of human and health services and a think tank around employment training programs. i think there's eight sites across the country on the effectiveness of subsidized employment as a development strategy. i'm hoping it will say it has by far the best outcomes.

and sort of betting on it we're continuing to expand it, not only getting them a permanent job but paying them now and incentivizing them, and being them in the job market while being played. stand alone job training don't do that. >> supervisor breed: what categories would you put it in the private or public? >> the private i mentioned, the 50% plus stickiness was private. but we do have a large placement component for -- in the nonprofit sector as well. it's just we found it's more difficult to keep individuals on. >> supervisor breed: do you think that your case management support, in terms of job training, job support, résume building, and that component, has gotten better over the years, especially since you

somewhat inherited the program initially, and had to act quickly to get things going, and now, it's at a point of stability, it seems, and things seem to be getting better? >> i think our employees at hsa have really stepped up to the plate to adapt to this new model. we had a welfare caseworkers who became business account representatives, a liaison between the private sector and our department helping place folks. folks doing -- performing entirely new roles in context of subsidized employment and enjoying the work and enjoying the satisfaction of placing someone. we started this in 2009 it was a horrible labor market. it was a stimulus act, families coming in on public assistance competing with jobs with folks who had 10 years of job history. so they were excited and they've adapted well. and i think are really doing

great work. talk about the governor's proposal, what that would go towards would be to expand placement in terms of subsidy but also expand the number of our workers. we got to allow someone to continue to work with folks we can't have case loads of 50, 60, 70, 80 people. they can't provide good service. if we keep them lower we see nice outcomes for families and even better using funds that aren't city and county dollars but are state dollars. >> supervisor breed: just one more question about the cal fresh. is there a fraud division that helps to deal with issues of fraud around these particular benefits? is. >> yeah. hssa has an investigative division that deals with welfare fraud, deals with internal employee fraud. we're required by the feds to have what they call quality control but part of quality control is not only benefits accuracy, computing the right amount that someone is eligible

for but also to investigate welfare fraud, yeah. >> supervisor breed: thank you. >> chair farrell: thank you. colleagues, any other questions? okay. thank you very much, mr. rohr, for your time today. at this point, i'd like to open it up to public comment, if there are any members of the public who wish to comment on this item, please step forward. >> my name is vera hale. i'm a member of the advisory council to the department of aging. and every year, i come up here about cuts, and it's such a joy to be here and to be able to talk about what the needs of the people are, and what some of the things we think are coming in the future. i want to mention three things. one is the difference between -- one difference between calworks and medi-cal. cal fresh -- not calworks, cal fresh, has no asset limit.

and this means that people will be able to apply, regardless of whether they have excess money in the bank or not. medi-cal will still, unless the state changes it, have an asset limit of $2,000 for one person, and $3,000 for a couple. and that's going to make it harder to ever get everything going easily back and forth. but one of the things that we found, anne hinton held a hearing in hunters point and one of the things we found was that people were so concerned about having to pay a share of costs for their medi-cal, and for the in-home supportive services, ihss. a lot of people have shared costs of $500. and they ask that we do something about restoring share of cost program. the county used to have one that

would let people pay -- county would pay a portion. so if they had high represent or high medical -- rent or high medical expenses then they didn't have to pay the 900. the county doesn't break down the budget that way. so we wanted to restore that. and we still do. and i'm working with senior disability action on that. and we're interested and hopefully we'll bring something to you in the coming months. just one item, homeless seniors are not hopeless. and but they can't get in shelters because they move slowly, they don't want the top bunk, simple things that elderly take for granted. but other makes it very difficult for them to get through the shelter system. so we've been trying some of us to make it easier so seniors -- the big problem is the rents at

the sro. >> chair farrell: if i could ask you to rap up please. thank you very much. >> the sros have gotten too high. when we had a homeless program at north of market, senior services, 80% were placed permanently. but no more. because the rents are exorbitant. >> chair farrell: thank you very much. any other members of the public wish to comment? >> i'm teresa, i've been up here a couple of times. i work for hsa. i worked in the play room. i was under the classification of 3280. when they were bumped out, we were bumped out of our positions. we also had 9910s with their hiring now to be trained, and they stayed in the play rooms, and four of us were bumped out of our positions. we had another classification that came, that they gave us. we applied for the jobs. but i, and another person were the only one that was called for

those positions. i'm hearing that they're hiring these people, and bringing in 9910s, and here, i've been out of work for five years. and i understood the city and county of san francisco should, or should have tried to place me in another position, which they didn't even do that. so i'm just saying, i don't understand what all this -- they're saying they're trying to do, when i've been out of work, and i'm sure there's others. and the overload of -- i've been out into the offices for the union, and talked to the people that are working there. and they're saying they're overloaded, weigh overloaded. they have stacks of people's folders on their desk they can't even get to. and lo the of them are saying they just can't handle it, why is this going on. i'm helping -- i'm not even getting paid what i'm doing. i'll wrap it up.

i'm helping these people keep 245eur jobs and get had a they need for their jobs. but i don't understand why i wasn't hired back. thank you. >> chair farrell: thank you very much. any other members of the public wish to comment on this item? all right. seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues again this is a first hearing for hsa to come forward so we can preview the budget for next year. thank you mr. rohr and ms. hinton and cfo for being here. if we could continue this item to the call of the chair. do so without opposition. so moved. mr. clerk, do we have any other items? >> the clerk: that completes the agenda. >> chair farrell: we are adjourned.

i'm maria, executive director of the transit joint powers authority. i can't tell you how excited i am to be here on this special occasion. congratulations, everyone, we did it. before i jump to remarks i wanted to recognize senator boxer along with senator feinstein and pelosi has been extremely helpful to helping us where we are today. also from railroad association and secretary los angeles -- we received grants that has the project under construction today. thank you for all of your support.

[ applause ] >> as everyone knows six years ago we held an international contest to design the property where we stand today. the architects won that competition with a design for the transit center that stands as a model of elegance and functionality. 3 years ago we broke ground for the construction and now it's in full construction and you can hear the cranes next to us. now we have a record land sale of $191 million of ceremonial ground break which is the tallest tower in the western mississippi. mr. pell i has

designed the transit tower and will highlight the importance of public transit to the region and state of california. as you know, the pros -- proceeds of the sale will help construct the transit center and allow us to keep thousands of jobs to our disadvantaged communities and veterans and women and also allow us to keep our mentor ship for our youth. that's what the transit project center is doing. the development of the tower, has committed to build i am improvements with the transit center and you will see mission square which will serve as the primary entrance to the square. it will allow public access and providing a meeting and resting place for travelers

and workers and residents in the area. the workers in the tower will have direct access to the rooftop that will allow benefits to work in the neighborhood. we congratulate them to the project and welcome them to our community. [ applause ] i would now like to introduce the man who has been essential and continues to be vital to the project, ed lee, our mayor of san francisco. mayor lee firmly believed and supported the project since it's inception when he was at the department of public works and then as a city administrator. for that, i'm profoundly grateful. without your support we would not be here today. thanks to the plan to promote

transportation and development. another infrastructure for sustainable development. mr. mayor lee. thank you. >> thank you, maria, you know, i want to begin by thanking maria because she's now on her third mayor. and if you are someone who is heading up such and important project for the city and you have to transition every time a mayor comes in, one has to appreciate the anxiety, the twist and turns, the foresight, the confidence that she must continue instilling in her small staff, but more importantly in the investor community because this is where it's at. and if she

doesn't have a good story to tell, with a lot of confidence, then her job is going to be even harder and the economy did not help the last 10 years to make that story any better. so with that, i want to just give a hearty thanks to maria's leadership for the last decade-and-a-half for putting together this project and her continued perseverance to make this happen. today we celebrate the sale of the land for the transbay transit tower. to the entrance transbay transit authority, for the first time i

met mr. heinz, i can going to hang out with them more because i have heard a lot of stories between you that will help me run this city better. i will say that when this transit tower is complete, it will have the impact of transforming our city skyline with the tallest structure west of the mississippi and chicago. i'm about to leave for china tomorrow, and i get to go to china and tell them we've got the tallest building west of the mississippi, what about you? they are probably going to tell me they have tall buildings there as well but we at least have bragging rights. the state of the art, sustainable features, a plan, 1.4 million square foot office tower, developed, owned and operated by heinz. they are

reoccurring the renounced architect. this is going to bring 142 good construction jobs in san francisco. i want to thank everybody that has been involved in this. as you can see the former transbay terminal site is exciting for me. when i was by willie brown, former mayor, i remember cleaning out behind the greyhound station and moving people along inside and outside that terminal and now to know that demolition is complete, it helped people get jobs particularly because of the funds made available. there were 55,000 hours of labor all

done without any accident or injury in that demolition. 90 percent of that important work was completed by the 9 counties bay air -- area labor force. that's incredible for the work force throughout the bay area. we today celebrate it's anchor in all of it's whole region. it will be really what will be built in the near future to serve our city and our region. we have always believe that a transit center is a critical anchor for the jobs in the city. it's the best future for our cities, great transit access, dynamic mixed urban centers, a place for innovation and inspiration. we truly