but actually we are funding supportive services, and to help people, and find the greater opportunities, and so the case management, and the employment, and you know, counseling, and things of that sort as well. so i appreciate it, the presentation, thank you. >> and i think that the important take away is that the supportive housing intervention when targeted to the most vulnerable folks and that is where you are seeing the most cost safe ands making sure that this intervention is targeted to the most vulnerable folks and i think that is definitely part of the equation as san francisco is looking at coordinated entry systems or some sort of coordinated accessment process as they are trying to match up the vunerbility of the homeless individuals and families with some kind of meaningful intervention that is going to have an impact on their lives. >> thank you very much. >> i also want to take this moment very quickly to introduce, a colleague of mine, and that is beth stoke.s and

she is our new western region direct and her she has a long time roots here in san francisco and having worked and run, hampton family center and i just wanted to acknowledge her and thank you for this opportunity. >> thank you very much appreciated. >> okay, we are through our speaker list right now. so i am going to open this up to public comment. i have a number of speaker cars, if you want to get up in line, if you are not first up, line up. robert weber, robert chambers, ma lisa thompson, and joe wilson, and dan bowers, and adelman, and moniko. >> so those individuals come forward and come on up to the podium and everyone has two

minutes to speak. sir if you want to come up. >> i'm robert khamers and a participant in hospitality house and also the client of other services in the neighborhood nearby. and i was aformally homeless and in the end of 2011 and i was successful in having the table housing now, and through, the help of and in san francisco who provide the help to the community and so my point of view is that san francisco is effective with i

had to address the other parts of my life to improve those so that i could, or that i could like, basically socially and network, and get, to what ended up happening is that i got a roommate situation, and so, school, clothing pantries and everything, was important, and healthcare, and so i would say that the top quality of life, like, big businesses that are new, to the area, needed to address, and the lowest quality of life which is homelessness, and so the other, and as they get subsidized and get the

incentives they need to be directed in all of those areas that san francisco has been using. >> thank you. >> next speaker. >> yes, my name is moses thompson and just correct about the evictions, and rather than wait until the individuals and families on the streets we need to provide preventive measure to homelessness, and providing the evictions of the resources like the legal representation >> hi, i'm julia, and i work with the hospitality house and born and raised in san francisco and i just want to thank you for calling this hearing and really showing that

homelessness is a priority for san francisco. and but we can't really ignore and i am also glad to hear that there is so much support, that mental health services and drug rehabilitation are working and that they are saving us more than they are costing us both in tax payer money and human life and i do want to continue that forward thinking mentality as we continue to deal with homelessness, and because it is a multifaceted problem, and i think that you have mentioned that several times that we need to look at the short and the long run, providing legal representation for the people facing eviction and fixing some of the vacant problems under the housing authority, you know there are people on the streets and they are vacant in the housing authority and fixing those is a great to do it and we need to look at the long term problems. you can't address homelessness without also addressing affordable housing, the crisis that is going on right now.

whether that is shelters or apartments and not enough housing for people with lower incomes. and so we can't stop there we need to file the financial independence for all san franciscan and so that comes down to providing jobs and job training and placement and say safety net when the people are without an income to keep them in the housing just to reiterate that we can't sweep them into the over crowded jails and hospitals and san francisco is booming right now and i think that we should take this time of prosperity and help out the citizens that need it the most. >> thank you. >> good afternoon budget and finance subcommittee, i am walter jones and i support the people who have problems, in housing, and currently, right, i am doing the whole program

and an internship with organizing development and so i am coming to this meeting, right? and just listening to all of the things going on in san francisco with the big companies and things like that, and i guess, focus right now, is the cost effective strategies, like, for homeless, right? and so my points here is on the real important to me is i was having the money and just being in the ten dir loin housing clinic and the housing for ten years, and then participating as an community engagement organizer for the last six years under a spipend and those things have helped me i started april 4, 2004, that is when they started to carry that cash and luckily i got pushed into it and a shelter, which was a good thing in the beginning i was lucky enough to get in housing, so the thing that

helped me mostly was getting involved with the community and i speak to you guys and the other part was just recently happen is by a lucky turn not going through a drug program or not being arrested or anything like that, i have got exposed to a trauma recovery, and point being, it made me aware of the culture that we live in, and the people that do live in the sro it is like a trauma culture and i want to push out listening to the different options that were here and $11,000 for a shelter and $4,000 for the housing, and so my thing is awareness and i guess, work as a resource for people that are homeless and educational awareness. >> thank you. >> good morning, members of the committee i am joe wilson with the hospitality house and apology for holding this hearing and in the spot light to some important issue i want

to just suggest a couple of strategies, that could be effective, one, is expanding the long term operating subsidy program so that more families and individuals, can actually stay in permanent housing and i think that is good common sense proposal and we are having the vacant units and essential and i think that we are having the people on the street and the vacant units unoccupied makes no sense, and we are also grappling with the national picture and we have seen over the past 25 years of the dismentaling of the social net and we have seen a rapid build up in the complex and we have also seen a significant transition from the manufacturing base economy to a serve based economy and all of those have implications that the communities like ours are dealing with and so we can't

thing that there is a magic bull. i want to highlight a piece of the report that looked at the expenditures that are allocated and one figure that did jump out is the fact that we are spending about ten percent of the total allegation of 116 million, and ten percent of that only ten percent is going to the employment and education, initiatives and i think that we need to bump that figure up i want to close with a comment that i saw this morning and something that i was familiar with over time, several years ago a group of people gathered in this city to propose, an alternative model on or for cooperation, and i am quoting here. the reason they were proposing this model, is to reaffirm faith in the fundamental rights and equal rights of men and women and to practice tolerance and live together in peace as good neighbors.

and that is from the preamble of the charter of the united nations in san francisco in 1948 and that should guide us as we move forward to our exploring cost effective strategies on tackling homelessness. >> thank you. >> next speaker? >> brian bassinger with the aids alliance and thank you for opening up this conversation and impressed that someone is doing their homework and is listening. i have looked forward to be continued dialogue that we are going for have because you know that i have many points to may, but i think that we share some common ground on looking at the out comes for our investments that we make as a society. i started the aids housing alliance with $100 off of my disability check and yesterday, we just served our 4,000 clients and i think that is a good return on my investment

and i bought, a 2100 square foot condo in san francisco with my roommate, off of my disability income at that time, between work and disability was $20,000 a year. i have got 14 others into home ownership and so i am kind of a freak about a penny and i know and i am a small business owner and i run a cafe and a non-profit and so i think about these things in important ways and i am a freak about it and so are you. and as we look at the investment, in to a capitol projects to build more housing, and then, also at master leasing, one of the things that we want to look at is the impacts, not just on the organization, but also on the community, because as we take units off of the market we actually drive up the price for those people who are not able to get into these programs. and so, we are having this

intensive, rental inflation, in the sro market, that far out strips the inflation in the private rental market and poverty is not going to go away and healthcare need is not going to go away and aging will not go away, i would like to look at it as an investment for the future in taking as much land off of the private market as possible and putting it into these types of happeneds. >> thank you. >> supervisors, dan bower with the homeless pregnatle program, and i wanted to address the amount of spending that we are doing as a city. and the number has been kind of thrown around of $165 million a year that we are spending and yes that sounds like a lot of money, but if you look at another way that is 2 percent of the city budget that we are

spending on most vulnerable citizens, i think that i support of using those dollars, but because of the fact that more is more and we know that our programs is effective and we know that they are efficient and we have looked at the ten year, homeless plan result and we have seen, what it takes to hold the line on homelessness in a difficult economy and knowing that we can house a homeless family for $15,000 a year and knowing that we can save off an eviction for $1,000 and those are cost effective programs we can really put a serious dent in this problem, if we devote the right

resources to it. we have a plan to start hitting the ground on the various grounds, and to start investing in these programs and we can get results in today. >> janet ray, johnson, gilman, and jennifer fredeboc, and katherine, and don falk, kim, ambusto and michael wright, thanks. >> i am with the hampton emergency center and representing the emergency center association, and that he just spoke about and i want to give you a brief summary of the cost effective strategis that we are presenting to you and we met with many of you already and we will be meeting with some of you, in the coming

weeks. regarding our proposal for solutions to homelessness in san francisco, this is acting about just 8 million dollar, and ending in homelessness, and it is cost effective. and we are looking at providing aoe prevention and the grants and the subsidies, and medation and supportive service and supportive in the city, funded housing. out reach in education and this could reach 25,000 households in san francisco and prevent displacement of 3300 households. we are looking at housing those who do become that has proven

effective and opening up affordable subsidized housing through the san francisco housing authority, and throughout our lost subsidy. a annual cost of $10,000 per household and this is definitely, a lot less than the cost of sheltering families, and individuals in san francisco. and providing emergency services. the direct impact of this proposal will be on 4,000 households to assist them in obtaining affordable housing for much less than the cost of displacement, and rehousing in what you know is a very high cost market today. >> (inaudible) we are living in

the most richest country in the world. >> we need a result. >> thank you. >> next speaker please? >> robert weber and i am a part time counselor at the housing rights committee and a community activity on several levels. >> and this tuesday we are going to be going to sacramento to be lobbying for the factory form and, you know, as home sness prevention goes, this is going to be and this is a huge issue, people that become instantly homeless, they are scared to death and getting

evicted for various reasons and the bottom line is the big breed of the housing market and its impact. i believe in supportive housing and i think that is works and it is a great model, but i also, i have been on the and talking with the people about these cbas with the high-tech companies in the triangle and those funds could be... i would encourage, and i would encourage them, to put it, and put the money in the housing, for the homeless, and why not use those cba funds and tap into those, but we have another issue, of, i hear about these people, being bused from nevada, from mental institutions to san francisco, because san francisco will make care of them and let them have

them and i am sure that is not the only city in county that is doing that. so, on an individual basis, without sounding cold i would like to somehow prioritize the people on the streets here for a while and may not have the facilities to be able to physically access them. they may not be as competent as others who can come in and work the system from another state. but they have been here for years. and so, thank you for hearing me. >> thank you very much. >> next speaker. >> hi, my name is allen and i am coming over here with the hospitality house and about three years ago, jane kim had a hearing on homelessness, and some of the ideas that were put forward were pretty much put down, but some of the things that got brought up were the lines that the people have had to wait in since maybe 5:00 in

the morning or 4:00 in the morning ar 3:00 in the morning, and i just think that is outrageous and i think enough rooms are out there and i think that we are able to find rooms and bet people off of of the street in the shelters and then into the transitional house and then affordable housing and then i think that is the route to go but we need to get the people off of the streets and into the shelters. >> thank you very much. >> next speaker? >> my mame is yenna ray and thank you for allowing me to be here, there is an average two year wait, we need to work towards reducing the housing waiting lists, and due to me being chronically homeless, it tends to put limits and freeze on my success and i wanted to mention about the job because i went for a case manager, and because i am not messed up

enough, i didn't allow to get the housing through them because i helped to take care of somebody and it is just a part time job, but i found that was unfair because i want to, and in a shelter, i got a 90 day bed because of 311 thoughing is that going to last,? and you know, that needs to stop, you know? we need to build and we need to renovate and we need to occupy the vacant housing. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> good afternoon, committee members, my name is tessdavis and i am a organizer at the hospitality house and given the scope of the crisis, 166 million is not enough and i am sure that we know that, with the limited funding that san francisco does have, we need to focus the attention on the effective strategies that result in fewer doors leading to homelessness, and we need to

eliminate the vacant housing units but, the last assigning to rehab tait these units and they remain empty while 5,000 go without shelter at night, and it needs to be a city priority and in san francisco, there are five times as many people needing shelters as there are beds and all housing providers have a wait list and the wait list has been closed for more than a decade and given the housing costs, and the competitive housing market and the gap between those who need shelter and the number of beds, we clearly need to act strategically and that means more money allocated to five specific areas, rehabing vacant units and finding more shelter space and making it legal and legal resource to fight eviction and building more housing that is truly affordable for working class san franciscans and thank you members of the committee to come together to work to find the solutions in addressing the housing crisis. >> good afternoon, supervisors,

jeff, with the hampton family center and i think that everybody here agrees that supportive housing is the answer is the best way to address homelessness in our city and however, our shelters are full and it takes six months for the family to get into a longer term shelter bed and the pipeline is unfortunately getting close to empty and there are projects in the pipeline but it is not as ro bust as it was ten years ago when we started this journey to build the 3,000 sun its and the cities needs to be looking at the affordability issues and the land banking and the other initiatives that the folks are going to be talking about during these hearings and my colleagues from the affordable housing community will be talking about but right now before you is a proposal from hesba to modestly increase, i think, less than 10 percent of the current funding on homelessness to provide option and access to housing without the construction of affordable

housing which by the ways costs half a million dollars a unit to build, to answer that question. >> with the 13.8 million dollar investment we can help to prevent, 3,000 evictions and 300 families can help to get into permanent housing in the affordable and private market and over 400 adults do the same thing, supportive housing, more affordable housing incredibly important but right now we have over 5,000 people on the streets who don't have shelter and we should be looking at interventions like eviction presvenings as a way to reduce the homeless population in our city. >> next speaker. >> the city of san francisco is spending 1.7 percent of the budget on homelessness and this includes everything. about half of that is for housing, on people who are housed and the rest on shelter and behavior health and emergency homeless services

meals, intake out reach etc. and multiple studies on the connection of homelessness shows that it results in the frequent use of the systems that drive up the healthcare systems costs and as mentioned for the cooperation of supportive housing it costs $40,000 annually to keep them homeless. and in san francisco, which was mentioned it costs about $12,000 a year, for supportive housing, and as a side note, the master lease units which are only slightly less, and the money goes to private land lords, and people who are paying often, 85 percent of the income, and on the rent and leaving them to extremely des taout is just less than that, and for about 10,000 and also the same cost, we can put the people into non-profit housing, and affordable units that are run by non-profit housing providers that have kitchens,

and bathrooms, and bedrooms, and it costs 1400 to keep a household in the rent control apartment, and it costs the city, 12,000 to fix up, one time cost to publicly funded or a public housing. and it costs 15,000 on average to subsidize a household in the private market, all of these are substantially cheaper than keeping someone homeless and there are innovative solutions that could be put into place this year and they result in subnative savings and we have a proposal from hesba calling for just that, a 13.8 million invest that will do all of these things and given the city how expensive it is to force the people to remain on the streets it makes sense to invest in solutions, thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> good morning supervisors i'm gale, the executive director of community housing partnership and we touch over 1,000 units of supportive housing here in san francisco. and i do want to reiterate the

supporting housing is one, and rapid housing and eviction prevention is critical to our system and i do want to highlight a couple of just sort of fact checks and, so it costs about $33 per day, for a fully funded unit, with losp and service dollars supports by the city and it is roughly 8,000 a year for the losp and on average, it is close to, and anywhere between 2 and 3,000 dollars per year for the service package which is roughly 12,000, 33 a day which is less than hospitalization and incarceration and you should not be looking straight up and comparison to a shelter bed and a place where people that have access during the day and other amenities in the home and i do want to say that when the city invests in the permanent housing for every dollar that they spend they receive $4 in return, on average the city will invest, 9 million dollars one time cost

into the property and leverage 31 million dollars either private investment or state funding, rca which opened yesterday, costs, 51 million dollars to build, but, every dollar, again, this is the city invested came with a $4 match. i also wanted to use this opportunity to highlight the fact that zero local dollars are spent on workforce or education activitis for homeless individuals and feel that 30 percent of the tenants could go back to work if there was adequate funding in the job training programs and harvey rose that zero dollars go to that and i hope that we use the opportunity to reinforce the workforce service and supportive housing. >> thank you. >> hello, my name is johnson and i have been homeless, and i homeless for about 20 years and