because it's not classified and someone is affiliated and recognized as lgbt. know do with t on transgander and why we're working with the law center, the human rights commission, national center for lesbian rights so we can reform policy within the local criminal justice system in the jails so we're more sensitive and accommodating and effective with the transgender population that we are seeing up tick that is in the county jail system and as sheriff i vow to make sure that we are leading and continue to lead here in the state and beyond in what those policies look like as a result of evictions and this is a whole another story and one that i had many conversations with tommi

mecca and others in the audience about by the time they come to the sheriff's department there is a court order process and we have to remain agnostic in this process and execute the order itself. the elected sheriff me and we colleagues across the country have discretion to delay an eviction if there is insufficient information about those potentially being evicted or if they're from a sensitive class meaning elderly or disabled, those suffering from illness and that has to be resolved in the court process but what i am noticing though based on my personal intervention is while the housing crisis may seem to be waning a bit nationally

speaking the eviction crisis is not and especially evictions resulting from foreclosures and while san francisco is still in an economic bubble onto itself unlike most of the counter parts in california or the united states indicators do concern -- or what indicators there are and they're limited because the city is not used to keeping data on this level but on anecdotal evidence what we were able to create thanks to my predecessor and one we're trying to build on is the eviction assistance unit and before that we scout and assist the potential evictee in seek alternative housing or being able to route them without taking a position on the eviction whether legitimate or not but route them to

alternative resources or referrals so that it is a tight process for them and they don't find themselves homeless. unfortunately the honperson that we have that is able to do this can't keep up with the demand in san francisco and that dominoes into pressure into us as a last resort to see what we can do without violating our responsibility is in terms of the courts and the law so i wanted to help paint that picture from a slide that i know you're getting great information from outside the jail system, but what happens in the criminal justice system and the evolution as it affects the lgbt community both inside the jails and criminality justice and housing is a place that intersecting with our jurisdiction and i thought that would be of interesting to you as well. >> thank you. i have one

question. you send someone out and the senior being evicted and what if you're not helpful and getting assistance from the city what happens then? >> unless they have made personal arrangements they could very well be homeless or find themselves in a shelter but we do our best to extend our monitoring of their condition with the expressed goal that they have housing and we are pretty successful on the short term, and then it becomes -- we just don't have the system able to make sure they're getting the hong term housing. >> do you have the numbers? do you have any idea how many people you save from being homeless? >> a very high percentage of them and we try to rally all resources in the city.

>> a high percentage -- >> to intervene so they're not. >> okay. >> but i wouldn't bode such a figure because we don't have contact after a period of time so i would be guard about saying we have it under control -- >> right. >> -- and less to worry about because i don't think that is true. >> right. >> thank you very much for being here. i wanted to ask you a speculative question. you were involved in developing housing as a supervisor. is there a role that you see that the city attorney could take in the housing crisis, the eviction crisis that we face now? >> well, thanks for that question because i think by the time the eviction issue comes to us it's done, and in essence the train has left the station. there is very little that we can do except what i expressed to you. the city attorney i think in tandem with the board of supervisors and the mayor could

do a lot more. there was a new sort of bill of rights established on the state level in sacramento over the last couple of years dealing with evictions. that has yet to translate down to county governments, to local governments to really make it meaningful so i am concerned. i don't know if it's lack luster or just confusion that we're not more assertive in san francisco in intervening on this process how to protect those that are vulnerable but also those maybe evicted. >> jazzy. >> thank you sheriff mirkarimi. i do have a question concerning the delay of the evictions. how many or does your department have a calculation of how many have been -- how many seniors took advantage the opportunities such as acquiring the services that are before the eviction is

fully executed? >> i don't have a hard core concrete number for you. and we are trying to work on the data and this wasn't data that was kept before. >> thank you sheriff. >> if i can be of service let me know. >> we may want to meet you to elaborate more of this. thank you. i think maybe star dust and people are other organizations and heapfully we will get everyone in. >> i am with star dust and i want to thank the task force for having this for lgbt and crucial to the communities in san

francisco. i would like by mentioning a report from the american association of retired persons public policy institute. it's called nightmare on main street, older americans in the orange crisis. as someone has brought this before the task force? >> no. >> okay. briefly this was the first report that was done on the progression of the mortgage crisis and effect on people 50 or older and it could be helpful in findings statistics for lgbt seniors here in san francisco. as of december 2011 approximately 3.5 million loans of people 50 or older were under water and they owe more than the house is worth so they have no equity: 600,000 were in foreclosure and 125,000 loans were 90 days or more

delinquent. thousands of americans lost their homes as a result of the mortgage crisis. i will not redo this but i will leave you with a summary of the report. however seriously delirchtacy rates of bowers and that group is particularly impacted by the mortgage crisissed and people of african-american and others are affected. people experience a good deal of shame and in organizing with these people we call the foreclosure and eviction fighters and we recognize this process -- it's

like a coming out process similar to lgbt folks out of the closet. when they meet other people in this situation and realize that perhaps this isn't just their fault somehow but could have something to do with nationwide conditions and the great recession that we are still in there is a tremendous pipeline of foreclosures happening, and i would like to give a few examples of local cases very briefly. i know we're not supposed to have large signs in the city hall -- >> it's fine with us. >> just to give you a picture of [inaudible] who is a disabled senior whose family got a home -- >> can you hold it this way so the camera can get it? >> yes. had a home in diamond heights and there for 50 years. they were the first african-american family to get a

home there and what happened that larry developed a disability and he was no longer able to pay his mortgage to wells fargo temporarily. wells fargo sold his home at foreclosure action. the first day he heard of it was the first day of the sale. he couldn't stop it. wells fargo sold his only in 2012 and they evicted larry on december 15, 2012 leaving his brother, -- his disabled brother still in the home with a tenant. a second case is the case of [inaudible] who is mixed race disabled senior in the bay view and mostly bedridden and ill with emphysema and asthma. she's in litigation with the bank of america who sold her home in 2011. this morning i talked to

her. she wasn't able to come because of her disability. she said she wanted to die in or own home. with current senior housing timelines she told me she feels like she would be dead before getting a placement and she is scared of being homeless. in another case a fellow named henry terminally ill gay man with aids complications living in the sunset. he's trying to get wells fargo to delay his eviction so again he can die in his own home. the financial strain and displacement and services and medical services and support contribute to much or decline of lgbt seniors here in san francisco and elsewhere. we have to often institute a suicide watch in these cases due to the feelings that people have when they are being evicted

from their homes. our goal is keep our neighbors in our homes. we work with a liances in this room and outside and we are glad that they're there to help people facing eviction. they're like the last line of defense. she said no when we can't help them we send them over to you. we use occupy style tactics. we door knock on their homes from foreclosure lists that the investors buying the homes get and we find that half don't know the house is up to sale. we have weekly meetings for the foreclosure and eviction fighters. we have ways to pressure banks and investors to do the right thing and

starting with action calls and alerts and many calls and emails. protest bank branches and we also provide referrals to hud approved counselors. get help through representative nancy pelosi's office and the mayor's office and the sheriff's office and the office of the controller of currency but even with all of these agencies we are not able to stop the foreclosure or eviction and something that judges maybe able to institute here in san francisco is particularly important and particularly in the cases of disabled people or seniors. tenants are also impacted when evicted due to foreclosures even though they're supposedly protected by the law because the new landlords are getting these homes as an

investment, not a place where they're staying and they're eager to provide incentives whether legal or not for people to leave. we had quite a few successes in obtaining loan modifications or reversing evictions through a program and we have dealt with seniors like larry fox who is losing his home. larry fox is now on couches or in his van. >> thank you. star dust at some point -- when you're finish oppose. that's okay. at some point we may want to sit down to talk about recommendations or ideas that you have to incorporate into the recommendations because this is

a serious problem that this subcommittee needs to deal with and we would like to sit down with. >>you i am happy to do that and ask the larger groups to provide recommendations as well. >> that will be fabulous and thank you that you and occupy do. how many more city people? seth open house. okay. how are we going to did this in 15 minutes? seth, do you want to come up and give us something? wow i totally -- the time just flew by. >> i can actually be really fast time with this update because so many folks have said so many important things about the needs of lgbt seniors but i am seth killborn. i am the execute execute of open house. our mission is enable lgbt seniors to overcome the challenges that

they reach and providing housing and direct services and community building programs and before i give an update on 55 laguna and where we are with that and highlight a couple of themes i have heard throughout today and one of the theme for lgbt seniors to work with groups like open house, to work with groups like aids housing alliance and tenant rights groups to get ourselves organized about getting into some of these lotteries for affordable housing. other communities are better organized than we are in terms of getting their folks placed and as i think brian said or somebody said earlier it's a numbers game. we need to get more lgbt senior folks educated about how the lottery process works, get them the applications, make sure they're in the pools. even if it takes years we need to get more people into the mix and that ties into the update on 55

laguna and what open house does with seniors and i encourage those with questions with affordable housing to really give us a call and talk to some of the staff folks so we can contribute to that process that needs to happen. the other theme that i definitely heard and want to emphasize housing alone isn't enough. we really need to have that true sense of community, that true sense of helping each other and get the services that we need to make a house a home and we really need to have that community building work that open house and other organizations do, but as sheriff mirkarimi mentioned 55 laguna has been in development for a long time and it was approved to prove lgbt welcoming housing at 55 laguna street. we have a great

develop partner in mercy california and we wi co-co-operate and manage these facilities. it will be 55% of am i or behofl and i will get to the rent subsidy in a moment and all apartments will be made available to low income seniors 55 and older. what promises to be a landmark with lgbt people in san francisco the project will include some sort of activity center as well as open house services and our vision is include not only housing for the residents but make it a real hub for the tens of thousands of lgbt seniors around the community who need community and support and assistance so it's not just about housing but the

community building. why lgbt welcoming housing? i think we heard plenty about that. so many lgbt people have come to san francisco looking for personal freedom and acceptance. over 25,000 lgbt older adults currently live in the city and they feel great pressure as we have heard to go back into the closet as we have heard to receive quality care and housing and many face serious challenges in finding welcoming and supportive housing and if not they have to relocate and leave their community and friends and leave san francisco which has its own traumas and own challenges. so what happens next here with 55 laguna? now that the planning commission has approved our development plan to proceed with developments open house and mercy housing california will work with the san francisco mayor's office on housing and we wouldn't be here

without their help and support. we will work with them and financing models to put together the financing and we are off to a good start but we anticipate we will begin the first phase of construction by late raw 2014 and fast approaching and we are looking forward to that. i want to be clear who can live at 55 laguna. any senior that meets the qualifications can live there. we anticipate that again lgbt will apply to live there because open house is the co-owner and we need lgbt folks interested in affordable housing in general to get in touch of us and provide them and all qualified seniors

about information about 55 laguna as it comes up. it's about that numbers game so it's important that we reach the lgbt seniors that need to get into this kind of housing because anybody that is income qualified drim nate -- we can't-- we are trying to secure rent subsidies so people pay no more than 30% of their income and that's really important because without that rent subsidy the rents are going to be anyway from $600 to $1,000 a month and for people with ssi

or social security that's too high of a rent and in san francisco that is described as affordable so it's important to get that rent subsidy. applications are not going to be available until construction is close to completion so the first phase won't be completed until 2015. that's when we will have the applications available. however anybody regarding of sexual orientation or identity interested in updates about 55 laguna or other programs i recommend that they get on our mailing list. it's not official list for housing. it's our mailing list but it includes updates on 55 laguna and anybody that needs housing before that comes on line please contact open house and we can -- as allen said earlier work with you

and getting the applications worked out and getting you in the lotteries and 14 of the units -- 110 total and 14 are set aside with people -- funded by opportunities for people with aids and 14 are available for a diagnosis of aids. >> i am sorry we don't have more time for you and open house is important project and we are happy with what is happening. >> are there any plans in the timeline to acquire additional property for housing? i know this would be the first of our kind for our city and county. can you hit real quick on that. >> well, it's a huge project and it's a lot of work. open house is always keeping its eyes open for other opportunities out

there and we would love to think about down the road developing future housing and those opportunities arise. hoaf anything to tell you right now while we are putting 55 laguna together but i hope down the road there are other opportunities for sure. >> great. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you for open house. we're glad it's there. really glad it's there. i am wondering if we could have robert and lupe come up together and we have to go>> i am lupe --

>> [inaudible] >> use the other mic. that one doesn't work. >> hi good morning task force members. i am robert collins and the deputy deputy director with the san francisco rent board. the director regrets she can't be here today and i am here and want to present some information based on our most recent annual eviction report. >> okay. >> i will be very brief. >> okay. >> so one of the areas that the san francisco has been a leader in many issues including equal benefits for same sex and

partners and lgbt health access and a lot has been in response auto human rights commission worked hard to implement some of the recommendations in the 2003 lgbt advisory committee report aging and the lgbt community. definitely one of the areas that we are talking about today is housing for safe affordable and stable housing for lgbt seniors. the price of the one bedroom apartment now is $2,700 and the average ssi payment is $1,200 if that, so just numbers alone most seniors are not going to afford a market rate apartment in san francisco or anyone that is disabled and receiving a government subsidy. for us in terms of housing discrimination complaints and about 65% of the complaints are discrimination complaints are regarding housing and about 40% are

alleged discrimination on disability or alleged sexual orientation and disability is the one that we get the most complaints about. a big issue for us definitely is reasonable accommodations which is reasonable change in policy and procedure for disabled people to stay in housing such as having a care giving, physical and emotional support animals and food delivery and the third party subsidies. definitely if somebody is living alone and away from their families and lgbt or otherwise and rely on people and face discrimination of providers that don't understand the concept a family that isn't biological and we just talked about this right now but definitely a big -- it wasn't me. >> it's not you. it's not you.

>> so definitely people growing older in san francisco in san francisco housing stock is a huge issue. the lack of elevators and available units and as we know ada housing is many years wait at best. definitely if the wait list is even open. so basically what we're doing right now is part of is we investigate and look at complaints of discrimination. if someone feels th discriminated against we will investigate those complaints and by the lgbt task force and with [inaudible] and serving the lgbt community and senior community and figure out what the needs and definitelying in out what are possible solutions and we will continue