the lgbtq community, there is a story, and there is a story behind every individual who is young, and experiencing homelessness. and it is a tragic story, it is a story filled with fear and uncertainty and a lot of trauma and a lot of abuse. no place to call home. no feeling of safety. and it is tragic. and it is a tragedy really san francisco can avoid. we don't have to be doing this to people. and that is what we are doing, we are doing it to them. and san francisco is an incredibly afluent city and this year in particular, we have a lot of resources and right now as we speak, the mayor's office is deliberating on what direction the budget is going to go. and it is right there, across the hall. there are steps that we can take, and we really should not be okay with anything else and there is action that needs to happen and we need to fund the housing that is being talked about and we need to make sure that we are stopping

homelessness at the front end, that the tenants in san francisco, have a right to council, and many are becoming victim to land lords, and to the real estate speculator and we know what steps to take to halt it and we got to do it. we have these units sitting empty and boarded up and we have the people who are truly suffering on our streets. and we can fund subsidies in the private housing and we can make sure that our non-profit housing is affordable to the poorest people and we can make sure that the communities, have access to that housing, thank you. >> thank you, next speaker, please? >> >> good morning, my name is laura and i am a recent

graduate from the uc berkeley, and a research assistant with dr. cocoa on the we count, california a project for improving the count of homeless youth and with we ask how many, the answer depends on whether you ask the homeless out reach and the homeless and housing programs who serve thousands of young people every year are the schools that insure that 2,000 homeless young experience littles disruption in the education as possible and if you consider a young person homeless when they have landed a couch to crash on for tonight

last year, marked the first time that community required to count 18 to 24-year-olds or transitional youth as a separate population and despite the challenges of counting the young people who hide and identifies the homeless and san francisco made the significant advances to conduct and the first dedicated youth count and using practices to improve the accuracy of the numbers. youth numbers should not be marginalized from the conversations but acknowledged as a blind spot in homeless counts that is corrected through the methods and the community should not be penalized or criticized, for the homeless population but supported for a more accurate and a more picture of who is experiencing the homelessness in san francisco and contributing to a local, and state dialogue.

>> the next speaker, i want to say hello to the class from the elementary school, hello in the back. >> i am sorry. >> and welcome. >> and the next speaker please? >> hi, my name is susan and i work for the homeless youth alliance which is the program that they are talking about earlier. and we are all kind of joking and we know as the homeless youth because we lost the lease on the drop in center in january of 2014 and christmas was our last day in that space and since that happened we have been a mobile program and we have conducted all of our continual services through the street out reach and we now run a needle exchange, and from a cargo van outside of our former

drop in location on the sidewalk. and although these are less than ideal circumstances we have been reaching a lot of kids that way and we placed six youth in the housing since we became mobile. and so our program is going strong and we are looking for another permanent location from which to have the new drop-in center, but one thing that is to come clear since we lost our space, is that it is such a scarcity. of a low threshold safe place where the population of homeless kids can just come in and just sort of relax. and that is what we used to offer and you know a kid could come in or take a shower or watch tv or get a hot meal and they were not immediately pressured when ye came in to start to make a plan to transition off of the street.

the homeless that are disconnected on the street and really, there is a permanent, situation for the drop-in center for the kids. >> i just have a follow up question. >> yes. >> a couple of years ago, four years ago there was a big discussion about sit live. >> yes. >> and in the haight. >> yes. >> and i know that and i can tell that there seems to be discrimination enforcement or if it is being enforced at all. it seemed like that was a big issue. and but, i am not saying, and i didn't support the law, because i don't see that it is an actual or a real way to enforce

it, or when there are homeless people that report on the streets and don't have a place to go and you know, and sometimes they have to >> yes. >> and so what are you seeing now in terms of looking in the enforcement is like and how that is effecting young people and what kind of pressure that puts on the young people as well. >> there is an independent assessment of the efficacy there in particular and what that found is that it is a disproportionate against the homeless kids. and that it does not discourage homelessness or discourage you from being in the neighborhood or coming to the neighborhood, what it does, is enacts these huge barriers to the kids being able to access the resources or get into the housing because they have the warrant out or citations. and you know they just got all of these bureaucracy and red tape that they have to deal with. because they have no money to pay the fine or whatever and so what it ends up being is just yet another huge barrier to

getting out of the situation that is why it was supposed to prevent, which is being homeless and being on the streets. >> and so yeah, we found it to be, extremely counter productive. >> do you think that it would make sense to repeal it >> absolutely. >> yes. >> and even though the merchants and some of the merchants who were initially for the laws have reported that it has done nothing to deter the problems that they were explaining about it. and >> thank you. >> thanks. >> thank you, next speaker, please? >> let me call a few other speaker cards. >> evan alamar, franklin rarera and tommy. meca and mike and john nolty. >> thank you. and my name is justin fellow and i work at the youth

services specifically with the street based out reach team and the referral center. and i would like to thank, them on to speak here and for everyone who has already spoken and throwing up all of the numbers in the data so that i don't have to go over it. and you can tell, and we can all tell looking at the numbers, that there is a great need and a lot of folks who are going unserved. and i would like to second everything, that the folks who said before me and thank you, susan for also bringing up the points about the need. and i am up here to just to speak on behalf of the youth and i know that, from what i have been told there is always a more compelling story and argument coming from the youth directly and i am usually asked to rally a group of folks to speak and to advocate on their own behalf. and when i thought about that a lot and it is a difficult thing to ask or expect of folks. and that clock is correct, and so it is 12:10, and so my team is in there right now serving anywhere from 50 to 80 people

in our tiny referral center and maybe a tenth of a size of this room. and so it is difficult for me to really have such a compelling story. and that i am considered an expert on the matter and i think that i am considered an expert, just because i am in this work and i have a expertise comes from talking to people and so you could go to the market street and go on the 71 and make the way on the golden gate and go on the 19 and you could talk to people and figure out what the need is directly from them themselves and step into their homes and rather than asking for us to come to the venue which is difficult in my mind. >> i am zach murray for the

welcome youth services and i am rising to advocate that the board of supervisors in the department is here to do more and be accountible and give us public leadership to enhance the budget and the policy priorities to include the youth and the reality is that when compared to the homeless adult population you have the needs that set them apart from the homeless population and to date, the youth needs are rarely prioritized in the public policy and san francisco is first, and the ten year plan to abolish the homelessness, and the larger exiting foster care and represent 25 percent of the population, and the needs of 3 out of four homeless youth were not considered in that and so i am advocating that you do more to meet those needs to understand what is happening and market street has produced years and years worth of research and analyzing what the youth people are experiencing and what the needs are and we know what they need and it is time for the public resources to be behind this and end this crisis as we speak. if we are not going to take the

abundant resources of san francisco to end the crisis and i think that the board of supervisors in the city of san francisco can play a vital role in rallying that progress and this has been 115 million on the youth in the country and the reality that it is going to take a lot more than that in the federal government. and i want to talk about the education and workforce training this is the root of why the people are homeless and they are not getting the education and employment. and yes, they are only, 20 percent of the surveyed homeless youth need an education, but 72 percent of them would like the further education, and only 79 percent of the youth at market street report being unemployed but 86 percent of them want a job, they want a job that is going to allow them to live here in san francisco and not on the streets where they are forced to be criminalized and forced into exploitation and they are forced, and the reality is that

you can do more. >> thank you. >> next speaker. >> hello, i am sorry. i am daysy and i am a advocate and i just wanted to tell you my story, i was once a homeless youth and i was able to get services and on the services and if i did not able to get the services i would not know where i would be today. going to the market street and i was actually able to graduate to two college degrees and i am not advocating for the same problem that i was suffering from, i need more awareness about mental health and young homelessness, and san francisco has a lot of money and if we don't, it is going to be a bigger problem. >> thank you. >> next speaker. >> my name is franklin, and part of the community and at one point in time the used to have the native american aged projects on the market and it

is no longer there. and at the moment, i am getting help from the aids housing alliance and mine is ssi is $900 a month and my rent is $800, when i was homeless in the last year, and they saved me, mind you, the housing alliance and i am going to say this because, being on the streets had deter ated my health. and being homeless to me, felt like a crime. and sit and lie down and the policy rule, and the police department, are harassing and criminalizing homeless people and youth on the streets. and only our safe places are larger street youth center and all of these other homeless organizations. and what i wanted to say is that i am waiting for subdiced housing right now and i am afraid to die, my cousin died

on the streets. and a lot of people have stigmaized aids and other diseases and when you need your youth, and the homeless out there, they are susceptible to diseases, and harassment and violence, and death on the streets. your not, we are not only advocating for housing, but we are advocating for our lives so we can live as normal human beings in society. and the native american health center has been also helping me, the bates program they have an lgbtq pow wo w and they are trying to raise the funds and there is a lack of funds in the lgbtq community and there is a high rate of lgbtq in the native american community and i would like to see more of that and more housing for the homeless. and awareness towards the mental stages that home sness

brings to the people in san francisco. let's be a better community, thank you. >> and thank you. >> a few more speaker cards, torrey, and tony, redoc, and sumor, and ryan, minvar. >> and hi. i have been working with at the cross roads and for the homeless youth in san francisco and i am here to talk about the need to focus more attention on black street youth and in a city that is 6 percent black and 39 percent of homeless adults are black and this pairs repeating in a city that is 6 percent black and 39 percent of homeless adults are black.

>> not only is the third the most logical but it is what we are seeing at the cross roads and 58 percent of our clients are black and this number has risen dramatically over the past decade. and as the black population in san francisco declined, the black youth have fewer options in the community to turn to when the immediate home is not working. and they are turning to the streets and their needs are not being met by the social service system and they do not fit the typical profile of what the homeless youth look like. and the only people targeting them are law enforcement and they rarely identify as being homeless youth and so they do not seek out services for the homeless youth and they frequently do not meet the definition of being chronickly homeless and so they are ineligible for the homeless and they are less likely to seek help for mental health issues. and everyone in the city

complaints about the homeless and frustrated by a lack of clear solutions, create a strategy that targets black youth between the ages of 18 to 29 with the housing and employment and mental health services and these youth are on for our city and adult population and they don't have to be instead they can be the pipeline for the city. and work for the leadership and genius, and this is going to start with the government deciding to focus on this specific population and dedicate, thought, planning and resources to address these unique needs and today, is a day to do that. >> thank you. >> hi, i am tommy and i am with the housing rights committee and i have been a clear activist for the past 44 years and that has been for 17 years, working and doing the work in again for the evictions and for the affordable housing. and i also recently served as the lgbtq senior task force,

and that was mentioned earlier and i have three recommendations for how to stop the homelessness in the lgbtq community and also, just in any period, and i think that there is a workforce and i think that the first is we need to stop the evictions and there is a correlation and of these other people have said that the lower income and the working class people have said evicted and homeless and a huge correlation and we need to do everything that we can to stop the predatory evictions that are happening by speculator and real estate investors in the city. 2,000 units are lost to ellis in the move in evictions.

the housing for those folks. and but, it is going to get them and the mayor is proposing 40,000 units and i say that they go to the homeless people first and then the low income folks and we need to stop criminalizing the homeless and repeal the measures and the un said it and the violations of the human rights. and the reality folks, is that we cannot end the homelessness, unless we end the evictions. next speaker, please? >> >> and from the program director of the national youth network from 1979 to 1993. and i am also the founder and co-founder of the rocket street youth service and san francisco

needs to provide more housing for those and the additional for the family and homeless youth, 18 to 25. and there needs to be the wrap around services and the wrap around services should be i also want to point out that san francisco, is a beacon for the run aways, and you know, and we have la, and seattle and san francisco, and new york are where run aways usually go, because you can't get any further once you get to the west coast. and so, if the people are going to come here, and then we have to have the services to offer them. and if we don't have the services to offer them. then, they are just going to

become like what happens what happened a couple of years and a number of years ago, is that they come here on the bus and they go over to the polk street and that is why market street was and the various neighborhoods throughout the city and we need to meet them where they are at and get them to be productive, thank you. >> my name is john nolty, and the housing for the youth, and no new funding, on this, and we

talked about it today and i was, going to point it out for the lgbtq youth. and no more doors. and the youth needs a wrap around services for the population. and we need more education because obviously, if the youth are going to stay in san francisco, they have to have a living wage once they to the education, to live and stay in san francisco once they graduate from these programs. and turned out over 25. more a case management is needed for the population and productive, and so, to be productive and not called back to the risk behavior. and lastly, please find the funding. to secure, for the lgbtq youth. thank you. >> next speaker, please?

>> i am a resident at 1049 market street and mid market and they are trying to force us out of our space and but over the last few years, we have watched as our nation become politically more divided and more youth are actually coming here to the city. but, in the same token i see more cuts happening in the organizations that serve the lgbtq communities center, or the people here in the city. and one of them being new leaf, to the tender loin center and the medical clinic and so with this influx of people coming here i see more budget happening and banning people from sleeping in the parks and so it seems like, rather than

helping people you are finding ways to criminalize them and a lack of funding. and i just want to address that you know, affordable housing and it just comes back to affordable housing and unless we have affordable housing in the city here, we are just creating a revolving door and these people are just going to end up back on the street. so, and i think that, and i think that the representatives that are here to represent the gay lgbtqs in the community need to do that and have your priorities right and condos should fall somewhere far below that. and i don't see that. i see a lot more condos going up but i don't see any affordable housing going up. and so i think that the priorities is a big issue here. and so, i would really like to see that starting to be addressed here in the city, thank you. >> thank you. >> and as the next speaker

comes up, speaker cards,vyer gill, east and isabel and karera and adele carpenter. and jw from market street and isaac langford. >> and let me know when to start >> go ahead. >> i am a long time san francisco resident, and also i am currently fighting an eviction from 1049 market street. and for the past years, many young people have to live at home with their parents, because they can't afford to get their own place to live in this country. and if a kid is kicked out of their home, because they are lgbtq and they are suddenly homeless, and in today's job market that is practically a death sentence for them. and the homeless people sleeping there over night and a number of them are youth and to walk to the work from the district and my job at 13th and

full so many there are homeless people all over the place. i have them the resources for the homeless as much as i can and i give them change and sometimes i give them food and chat them up. but the city has more resources than i do, in the much greater quantity and faster than what the mayor is currently planning and the city of san francisco could do so much with just the right attitude and there is always resource and people that you have heard from today that we are ready to do it.

kefl has been in the top ten economies of the world and the state is as rich as any country in the world in the top ten and 15. the youth that are kicked out of their home and again i am homeless and so i like how market street is a safe haven to the lgbtq community, and also, it helps, all kinds of

homeless youth like stabilize, and like the diamond youth shelter and the larkin, and the ga house. and i think that they need to be notified of larkin street and this calls for san francisco and it is recently visited with los angeles, and over there, and that is the huge issue and i feel like it needs to be over there and the homeless youth and in los angeles and san francisco. but, since going and it costs a

lot of money and i have to say that san francisco should donate their money to eliminate the homeless views in the next five years. and so hopefully california can improve on that. thank you. >> thanks very much. >> next speaker, please? >>