we want to thank all of you forcoming out. bob, phillip, antonio, dell, richard may, joe, jessica, victoria, daniel, ace on the case, gail hampton, joyce armstrong and we'll call a few more names. if you can start lining up. i want to thank hillary from my office who's worked very hard to put this hearing together and i want to acknowledge /tkaoe from the housing authority partnership of the mayor. >> i'm bob. i came to talk about problems with staff responsiveness on section eight because this goes to the credibility of the agency and especially because it involves a den tenant with a disabout

who's in section eight program. he was given one date for the annual housing certification to comply with building codes. turns out inspector never showed because he was given a different date by somebody. so there was two different dates and the tenant was told they'd be getting a no show remark on their file because they weren't around when inspector showed up. the tenant was around when the inspector was supposed to show up. that's still unresolved. that was the request, what do we do? how do we get it? a second date was set, no inspector showed up. there's no response from housing authority. third time an inspector showed up and said oh, the second person's away for some reason. fair enough,

but nobody's talking [inaudible] on their file. it may seem small to you, but there's so few acceptable units and there's really no major effort to solicit to find to rehab units into accessibility. this is a problem that a tenant with a disable has somehow a problem with section eight you're out on the street, you have a disable and your family -- that's the credibility, the lack of responsiveness that goes to more than just the money issues or management of staff. it goes to is this agency really paying attention to its tenants. thank you. >> next speaker please. >> supervisor, thank you for this hearing. my name is phillip morgan, i'm a staff attorney as bay area legal aid. i've worked there a long /paoerld of time and i've seen various directors of the

housing authority come and go. i'd like to say barbara smith, when she became acting ed has been very open booked and takes comments in making decisions on changes in policy. however, the first thing i would like to point out in the audit report is that there was a resident survey of less than a total of 100 residents participating in the section eight program and traditional public housing. a real resident survey really getting what's going on from residents is critical to get a read of how they feel. the second point i want to make is that residents have been behind on their rent and residents --

there was a period of time for a year-and-a-half where the housing authority made no serious effort to collect rent and i think it's amazing that the majority of residents did in fact pay their rent consistently on a regular basis. the second point i want to make about rent payment is that in california as well as the rest of the country, the obligation to pay rent is conditioned on the obligations of the landlord form and maintain property in a decent, safe and sanitary commission condition and that hasn't happened for the residents of san francisco. >> my name is antonio. thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. on

november 18 of 2008, i went to sit at a hotel and i applied for public housing. on march 13 of 2013 i was elected to apply for housing. i went to the place, i applied, submitted my proof of income and all the required documents, id and all that. from march 13 until today, san francisco housing authority is delaying processing the application. my attorney already contacted them, gave them an opportunity to fix the error. san francisco housing authority is not in compliance. we went to san francisco human rights commission. they filed charge against san francisco housing

authority. still today date, san francisco housing authority is not complying with what is supposed to do. [inaudible] government program -- they are allowed to public benefits. so i don't know if the mayor office is politicizing san francisco housing authority. i just feel that oversight is necessary and i don't believe that merging san francisco housing authority with non profit and private groups is going to be the solution. i think the board of supervisors should have a greater power to oversee this agency because it's not acceptable the way san francisco housing authority is dealing with my case. thank you. >> thank you, next speaker please. >> how you doing? my name is... >> if you can speak into the mic ma'am. >> my name is gail and i'm

[inaudible] tenant and i'm also a board member of the treasurer. i need some help. i have a problem dealing with the pht. i also have a problem dealing with the [inaudible] association and i need someone that's going to come out and talk with us. we don't need to be babysitted. i need you now. the residents is ready the move and help each other, but we can't move on with the problem that we have right now. thank you. >> thank you. and i'm sure that staff will follow up with you. >> next speaker please. >> [inaudible] want to commend supervisor for putting this all together and i wish i had her

time. i representing the hundreds of you tenants up there. let me say i'll go back 20 some years, same problems we had then, same we have now. [inaudible] house housing authority's being reorganized. but let me say there needs to be an audit of the phta because that is part of the resident services. now, everything has been monitored, but nothing said about the phta. it took me months to find out who controls them. i had hud dig and they sent me a letter and i will send it to you, but it also says that there has been no oversight of the phta. we don't know how much money is there. so that's kinda, like, -- kinda put the hamper into what the tenants have to say, the input. the tenants should be out there knowing what's going on. that's not taking place. also this reinvention that the mayors put together.

let me say there is a problem here. the hud, city and county -- well, somebody has to be responsible. everybody's pointing the finger at hud, hud points the finger at city and county. they have to be /aeu /koupbdable. it's not the tenants that have the problem, it is public housing, it has been hud. i want to let you know that i will be on the case and continue to be. i want to thank david campos for doing this and i hope that colleagues will join on with you to make this a more open process for the tenants and basically that is what i'm up here -- representing the tenants that have been left out of the whole process. >> thank you very much. i'd like to ask folks to keep the side conversations to a minimum. mr. -- did you have a question? oh, no. next

speaker please. thank you. >> good morning. my name is joyce armstrong. i'm president of the public housing tenant association phta. we come here today in support of the san francisco housing authority, the mayor's office and staff, the supervisors and hud and the endeavor to turn the housing authority around. we are very thankful that we have been a part of the reform that's coming up and will continue to be and we are located at 1815 [inaudible] street month through friday. we want people to know they can access us there. thank you. >> thank you. let me read some more names, frank, amber, [inaudible] lynch. next speaker please. >> good morning everyone. my name is joel, i reside at the

[inaudible] manor on turk street. like miss cohen sated, this is an eye opener and awakening because i moved in october of 2011 and woke up the next morning after thanksgiving with water around my ankles. i dealt with that best i could. another incident was when it rained real hard the december. my patio once again was flooded and water was in the living room area so i dealt with that best i could. october 13 of 2012 someone fell out of the seventh floor window and landed on to my patio. once again, i dealt with that as best as i could. i understand that things are not going to be swift. i know it takes time to do things the right way so -- what i'm asking for is if

someone can out and stop this water madness because i'm dealing with waters from the pipes. it's an old building, i understand that. i'm older than the building probably. i want to thank you for hearing us an i know you're aware of the issue. i know it will take everyone pulling together to resolve some of these issues and thank you very much. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> [inaudible]. >> if you can speak into the mic, ma'am, so we can hear you. >> good morning, i'm lucy. i'm tenant [inaudible]. i have no problem in my apartment [inaudible] my heater is broken. i shut down the heating. [inaudible] there is heating is very noisy. the [inaudible]. i make so many

[inaudible] reports. i call 311, i make report on manager. [inaudible] i did not sleep. here is report [inaudible] how they explain me how i have to sleep in the apartment everyday, every night very noisy. i need quiet to sleep. very nice apartment, very nice area, but it easterable. [inaudible] problem in my apartment, my pipe in the bathroom was broken. i [inaudible]. they tell me it's not -- tell me not high

priority. [inaudible] telephone number, i call her i got [inaudible] in my bathroom. thank you. >> thank you, ma'am. next speaker please. >> i'm victoria with independent living. back in 1990 [inaudible] that was finally settled. there were a certain number of units that had to be built, and we know they were built, but mostly they weren't done by modifying any of the economisting units. they were done by counting the six new units and the problem is that most of the people in the hope six units don't need them and if you're an old person and you get shot or something, you need to transfer to a nice new unit that's

wheelchair accessible, it's similar -- it's hope six. well, we won't take you because your credit isn't good enough. there seems to be a two tier system and on the tenant level it's very confusing. the other thing i want to talk about is that housing authority, like probably most housing authority needs to keep better track of occupancy. one of my /khroeupbts went to actually add her new husband to her lease. first she got a lot of grief in her management office. then they lost her paperwork. and as she was trying to cope with this and do the right thing and get her rent raised because her husband had moved in, a janitor said to her, why are you bothering. everybody here has people living in their unit that aren't on the lease. and i think you're going to find that probably significant portion of the [inaudible]

people aren't on anybody's lease. >> thank you very much. next speaker please. >> good morning supervisors, madam chair, supervisor cohen and thank you david campos for calling this timely hearing. i grew up in public housing also. my brother currently stay in public housing and the one thing that i notice in my 44 years here in san francisco, a lot of times commissions or committees or whatever we put in place as task force, they may have goodwill or may not, but then when we remove a commission and replace it with a new group of people, the oversight somehow get left out. how can we go forward and don't allow this to happen again. let me bring to your attention a few years ago our mayor stated in the state of

the city of dress that housing was doing perfect. he stated over and over again as he went up to hunters point and played basketball with little black boys that housing authority was doing perfect. when san francisco get the -- san francisco needs to get stronger in dealing with hud because at a certain point hud has got the pursestring and all this trickles down from money -- mismanaging money, fraud and waste and we know there's laws on the books to send people to jail when people steal money. that's what it's all about is money. 'cause at the end of the day when you move into any low income housing, it's all about you being in affordable unit, can you may, can you last and can you sustain yourself, but there's no long term vision from san francisco to take residents and to help them become self sufficient, not dependent on the city. so

we'll be here 15 years from now talking about this again. no. we need to deal with hud also going forward and make sure that hud is giving us the respect as a city and not jus bypass that. thank you very much. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon. my name is maria and i live in the sunnyville housing unit and i'm here because i've been there for seven years and i've had issues with problematic neighbors, issues with property management, they refuse to help the tenants out with neighbors. the maintenance issues have exceeded incredibly in my unit. i have come out of my own pocket to make immediate repairs in regard to mold and cracking walls and so forth. i

have lived with an issue with a toilet -- two-and-a-half months without a working toilet. it was breaking off and on. issues with units that have been empty for over a year-and-a-half that squatters break into and they're doing drugs. and police enforcement that does not do anything about it. i have been harassed by neighbors. i have been physically assaulted, i have been threatened and the police refuse to press charges or to listen to any complaints. i've become from the victim to the perpetrator in their eyes because i am make ago report because i am speaking out. i have been harassed by property management for making complaints for bringing things toe their attention that needs to be taken care of. i have lived with bedbugs -- i entered

my unit with -- that was infested for two-and-a-half years. i finally got rid of them myself and invested money in that. the crime in our neighborhoods is being overlooked and it's clear to all of us who is committing the crimes, but the police will not respond to certain things. >> thank you. i do have a question for you. in terms of your toilet, has that been fixed? >> after two-and-a-half months it finally got repaired, yes. >> thank you for coming. next speaker.. >> my name is [inaudible] i am from cuba and i appreciate [inaudible] my english kinda rough and -- see, i was -- i lived in 1750 [inaudible] and i've been noticing the situation -- [inaudible] i go

back in my beginning when i see people stay from the [inaudible] like i went, went for the [inaudible] hotel and [inaudible] place where i live now in 1750 and i don't understand why the housing authority no follow this [inaudible] to the housing [inaudible] because a lot of people in [inaudible] living there five six year with no bathroom in the room and they never miss a month of rent. [inaudible] housing authority somebody no mussing rent for six year but still live in a room with no bathroom filled with roaches an all this stuff. they need [inaudible] better place like the people in the [inaudible] in the street [inaudible] but if we go

step-by-step from the [inaudible] family and no, no, no. you go by the book, everything [inaudible] nice and smooth [inaudible] five years and don't have no problem. i want that one to be my neighbor. i wan the person to be my neighbor, not somebody you picking up from the street and putting next to my -- you don't even know the situation. follow the rule from [inaudible] you not gonna have no [inaudible]. you understand? and thank you. i [inaudible]. >> i would ask members of the public, if you need to speak to someone, maybe you can go outside so that we can hear what folks are saying. let me read a few more names -- dan,

jessica, dita, aaron, jennifer, mary anne. >> my name is carroll, i'm at 491 31st avenue. i moved there in 2005 and there's been a lot of problems at this complex, which is a very nice complex. people have brought people from seven different areas as their gets. now we have trouble sleeping in the social rooms, car break ins, all kind of things. i have it all listed here because it's from 2005 to now i haven't had the proper housing help and maintenance that we need. so from the senior citizens -- /kwuz 'cause i live in a senior

complex. from the senior citizens i have surveys that what they need done, how long they lived there and how we can represent them right. and they can't always be here because we have tenants from 91, 96 and so forth there. they're scared, we have problems still. i have invited sergeant reynolds from our precinct there and he's working to clear things up because there's crime around the corners from us. so these surveys were intended to give to barbara smith because i have not pleased with housing, but since barbara has been taken over, there's the benefit of the doubt, maybe things can turn around. will it or won't it? we don't know. there's no

trust there. i planned to give these to barbara but i got a call from the office and the office said commissions might want to see these... >> let me just finish -- so they're right behind you so they'll be happy to get that from you, ma'am. no, i'm leaving these with commissions. >> okay. next speaker. thank you very much. >> thank you everyone for being concerned. >> if you can speak into the mic. >> i live in the west side project and my concern is that everything been going well, but i have a lot of problem like these people have because before i went to van ness. my concern now is about a year-and-a-half i had continually been getting roaches in my refrigerator. i

had repeatedly asked the people and the manager and everybody i was supposed to talk to to give me another refrigerator. i haven't seen that yet. couple of weeks ago on memorial day my stove broke down. they brought me out a new stove. they say they gonna come and hook it up. nobody came. four days i had to go without a stovement some of this stuff is so ridiculous to me, i'm not being respected. i haven't had response. i'm sorry, this was inconvenient for you, but i haven't gotten anything. also, i'm 61 one -- with hud also. they suppose to be trying to find me a senior house, but with my certificate. what do i do with my certificate that i have. it's up in 2016 so i'm concerned and

i know a lot of people here has got other issues but i have the same issue they have and who do we talk to when your property manager is not listening, is not responding? where do we go then? i go to a lender that worked on [inaudible] but sometimes she don't even listen so i wanna know where do i go from here? thank you. >> thank you very much. once these meetings are televised, if something like that doesn't get addressed you'll be able to come and make sure you let the entire city know. next speaker. >> my name is frank. >> if you can speak into the mic. >> i am the president of [inaudible] as well as the first vice president of the chpa and i'm speaking on behalf of the resident development. and we have issues, we have had a few problems, but in recent

years we have resolved a lot of 'em and we have had a good collaboration with [inaudible] community center and they helped us in a lot of incidents. i could see for myself, since barbara have come aboard -- she's doing a wonderful job and i appreciate what she's doing because she's putting forth effort that the residents can see. she can't do everything overnight, but she is doing things and i can see us moving ahead, things moved forward in a positive respect. so if the residents would give her the opportunity,

i'm sure she will succeed and be a good director. that's what i have to say. thank you. >> thank you. let me read a couple more names. jazzy collins, leon, karen. next speaker. >> i'm amber and i work at the [inaudible] neighborhood center and one of the things i do every month is work with public housing working group and we work with two developments in our neighborhood. i think having that platform to be as a liaison between the residents and the resources that should be available to them through the housing authority which kind of have been lacking is very positive. i do get some [inaudible] housing now my case manager is here and i think

it's important that case management and resources are provided for residents to kind of get people to be more self sufficient because public housing shouldn't be, like, a long term goal. it should be more of a steppingstone so that people have, like, more opportunities in the future to give their children. so just public housing working group has been very helpful. i'm glad you participate in a lot of our safety walks and i'm happy this is happening now because my experiences in public housing have been pretty horrible. that's it. thanks. >> thank you very much. >> good morning. thanks for this opportunity. i'm dan, i'm here representing the