the programs that you administer or that many non-profits do not offer family health care and the few that do offer health care it's about a thousand dollar per month which assuming $15 minimum wage is half your salary so as we move forward we would like to find a permanent fix that's dignified that's enlightened and something we can be proud of as san franciscans and we have better labor policy than some of the bad actors. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon supervisors. name anymore is natalie nailer and i am the elected leader of opeiu local three and i want to say i am extremely grateful to be speaking on this topic and not fighting to retain basic services and retain the jobs of our members so thank you. what i would like to stress today is

now is the time to work on the permanent fix. local three, our members, our employers, we all are here to work together to create a permanent fix whether it be the convening of a task force to do that, but now is the time. also i would like to encourage while we're working on this that you consider the 5% cost of doing business increase. thank you. >> thank you want next speaker. >> >> hi. my name is kaitd lynn and the research coordinator with seiu 1021. it is high time that the city do right by non-profit workers and the city's moral imperative and the city can afford it and san francisco is experiencing economic growth in the country and the controller's budget report that was just released projected an end year balance of $250 million but the people providing these critical services to san franciscans who

need it the most they're not seeing any of that money. for the 10 year period cited inflationary costs have sky rocketed for non-profits and increased 143% for some cases and average rent in san francisco went over average of 80% and cpi increased 24% and the non-profits between 2009 and 12 received zero funding which basically is a cut and we're left every budget season during the process fighting for scraps and maybe getting 1.5% here and there and it's not sustainable and we need a permanent solution to provide adequate stable funding for non-profits and as larry said we hear reports from the field of non-profit workers and reliant on the services they provide to their clients. it's a disgrace and i want to point out since we're talking about

public safety later our members are providing public safety services in the true sense of the word and mental health care and supportive treatment and work force training. we don't need to invest in policing and incarceration but invest in services that benefit the communities. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> i am jessie and a mental health worker in the city. there was a question about how much funding goes into new services and how much used to maintain existing service and i took issue and made me think of the bay bridge and there is a new bridge but if you travel on the old one you would fall into the bay. if you think we can provide the same services next year with the same money you're wrong and if you think we can provide the same services with stagnant funds over 10 years

then you're deliberately dismantling the safety net and if you need proof of this you can look at the increasing number of san franciscans that end up in jails and you can talk to any non-profit worker and one paycheck away from falling into the safety net they're trying to maintain or walk across to hyde street and why are there mentally ill people living in the shadow of city hall and i encourage you to ask yourself what san francisco you're living in. thanks. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon. supervisors. i am seiu 1021 and also a non-profit work everybody here in san francisco. >> >> i want to thank you for giving us the space and public comment and time to come up and speak. i know i have been here before to advocate for non-profits and years ago for myself and make sure my job

wasn't cut when things were really bad but as you see today we have many different parties involved and wanting to find a permanent solution. there has been talk about doing working group or a task force or personally i feel i have been part of a task force and working group over the last decade with the people in the chamber today and what do we do with the large non-profit industry that san francisco created for good reason and provide the services that we do and if someone is working in a non-profit sector i think this goes a long way. right. this helps our community and makes san francisco what it is and now is the time to put the extra effort in to look out for us and help us out as workers and we know what are the services need to be given and we're at them everyday but

honesty i i am speaking as a worker and we need to being looking at as well and when i come from my house and out here and i find low wage workers everywhere and not just fast food and fighting hard and non-profits and working two, three jobs and all of this work and we're seeing a lot of that in the non-profits and a brother spoke earlier and one paycheck missing from receiving the services and being on the street and that's the first thing i learned working in non-profits 10 years ago and that is still evident today and still real so find a permanent solution and make this happen. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon supervisors. thanks for holding this hearing. san francisco is facing an affordability crisis and it's now one of the most expensive cities in the nation to live

and work. median rental -- rent has increased to $4,021 and non-profit wages have remained flaft for years and still never caught up from the recession and meanwhile for profit contractor's wages increase automatically every year. and this is highlighted by for profit contractors and minimum wage is $13 two and nonprofits is a dollar less. that is unacceptable. thousands of our non-profit members continue to earn poverty wages, pay thousands of dollars for health care, do not receive a pension. every year we come to you to ask you to give us a handout while the for profits never have to do that. that inequity, that injustice has to end and we

think the time to end that is now. we don't have too much time. we are tired of going through this process every year. i'm sure you're tired of it too and tired of seeing us here so we're asking you to fix this finally and asking to you fix it now. these folks deserve nothing less. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] also bobby blackman from the tenderloin housing clinic and anyone else that would like to speak we're going to wrap up public comment in a moment so please come forward. next speaker. >> good afternoon supervisors. thank you so much for the opportunity once again. i am a member of the opieu local three. i came last time because in front of you guys last time just to help us move forward to all that we have so you know all the services the city give to us, like -- [inaudible] higher and higher. and also the rent is

getting high so we as employees have a really hard time trying to get to work and [inaudible] ourselves. i want to know how the city can function -- we call san francisco one day without non-profits, so let's see -- let's put a test. let's shut down all of the system and the non-profit organizations for one day and see what happens and that's not our intention. the intention is to help you do this budget better. the 5% increase would really help us to serve and also it would help us as a members, the entire non-profit organizations to be a better person. we are better people and [inaudible] who we are. we are people united. we are people with really good heart. san francisco is very kind city

and also the people who represent to us. you supervisors really, really are doing hard work but at the same time we need an extra mile to outreach or to reach what we really need. i just want to say thank you for your support all this time doing for of us and i hope i don't see you next year asking for more money. thank you so much. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hi. my name is stephanie lay and i have spoken here before and a current employee at edge wood and i don't want to bring that up because it distracted from the conversation and they're funded and they don't need me here and i am here on behalf of the teamsters and everyone else not getting paychecks and granted we don't get paid crap but that's a different story and we need to stop looking at non-profits as a stepping stone and as many

mentioned and worked at fi -- non-profits and that's a stepping stone and 19 of us are workers and -- do you really want to look at this as a stepping stone? you work at a non-profit for a few years and then's politician and then a corporate office. is that what you want? because we could all run against you and we're all smart and capable and we're paid $13, $14 an hour and that is disgusting and when we look at non-profits as an option and not a necessity. just quick i work at many non-profits in the city and children and family services and boys and girls club, [inaudible] and edgewood and they're all great organizations all different and serve very high need populations but they all pay very low and they do that because they have this perception that one, they can,

and two, they have to and sometimes both are true and sometimes one is true. edgewood pays well because they know we're making less compared to the unionized workers and that is not okay. we have been fighting for a year now and making the same as the unionized people because we have so much money and throw it at lawyers but we're here fighting for money for everyone else. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello i'm my name is stan crass. i'm a counselor and part of local three and i need more of two minutes so i hope this makes sense. peer counselor is probably the lowest rung at the shelter i work with. case managers have a case load anywhere from three to eight people. i have about 40. everyone who is homeless at the

shelter is my client. let's see. and i do everything i can to give them the support and security that they need. we work on changing behaviors. i have helped clients who were so angry at going out and attacking someone and getting back into the criminal system. i have been working for womens' place for two and a half years but working with homeless people since my friends in school were kicked out of their house for one reason or another and doing everything i can to assist since then. i've also moved about eight times in two years because i can't afford peace and quiet. i can't get a studio or one bedroom because landlords don't think i make enough money. i

know what it's like when i was working grave to get -- eye a shoot out and i know what it sounds like to have bullets go my head and i am trying to go to work and i was going to get shot for $11.75. i don't have a computer because it broke. i don't have a car. i can't afford to get my girlfriend a birthday present. i can't afford to go to dancing or dinner with friends and it's a struggle and stress at home and work. >> thank you so much. >> i just want to help. [applause] >> good afternoon supervisors. my name is connie ford. i was the former -- or the former head of opeiu local three and now

work with the labor council and the vice president. since we are in a two year budget cycle that is new. that's what we're in. the union side is asking for 5% for cost of business each year. that will help us take all of this kind of meeting and organizing and begging and pleading off the table and then we want to spend the next period of time working on a permanent fix. now a permanent fix is something that the labor council executive board passed a resolution endorsing. they said it's time to stop the begging. we need the permanent fix. i want to congratulate ramsey around for a decade and many have been around for two or three decades and we won't go further than that because it's extreme. we have been asking for this and treated like a for profit contractor and have a multi-year contract and escalator that is fair and the

workers can count on wage increases and take all of this mumbo jumbo off and asking you the department heads and all of the people to look at this carefully and come together and work together and let's really fix this forever so that we all can come back and do all of the great work that all of the great people do well. thanks. >> thank you ms. ford. next speaker. [applause] >> my name is bobby blackman. okay. first of all there is two sides to this situation. how are you going to look in the kids eyes and have the people coming home from work and not too much to eat? two, i can understand the city side as well. we need professional

people to help the city of san francisco to bring forth a balanced economic system. now, you all do the math, so all i am saying it's very imperative that the city, county, state workers come together and try to find a balanced solution because i see the time is running out. you guys know it. look around. so we have to work together and move forward and that is my speech. >> thank you. next speaker. [applause] >> good afternoon supervisors. my name is richard heisel and the executive director at clinic house and employ about 170 people as chief of staff. i am responsible for among other

things looking at their compensation and not just in the short run year to year and negotiated labor agreements, but looking at the long-term, so people of color and women are disproportionality present in the work force and represent over half of the people we employ, and we are stressed by the fact that it's very difficult to maintain our work force. the last two years i have seen half of our case managers actually leave employment with us to go . >> >> elsewhere and going into the weeds to look at that most can't afford to live in san francisco in the first place so they're looking at other counties so if you have staff that would like to take a dive into the fair pay survey put out once a year about non-profit employment and look to other bay area counties you will be

shocked to see what i saw and if you want to make a better wage in the neighborhood of 15% better go to san mateo, go to santa clara, go to marin, go to alameda. san francisco comes in dead last and in order to actually find comparable wages about what we're able to pay you have to go to the valley and i am thinking there is something fundamentally wrong with that, so i don't know that -- well, i will just say that i think the 5% for two years in a row is a terrific idea that can be supported from a couple of points of view. if you want to see it as reparations for the decade that's one idea and a down payment and better future for you and us and others.

>> >> i am interested in the data from other counties. >> i am pleased to provide that. >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon supervisors i work for tenderloin housing clinic. i'm a janitor and working there for seven years. i would just like to say that the 5% that we're asking for would do a lot of good. i would like to say as a single mother that is raising four children on our own what i make now is not nearly enough to take care of my children. i don't even live with my children because i don't make enough. i can't live in the city of san francisco with the salary i make because it's not enough to pay the rent for a one bedroom i would probably need to work three jobs. right now i can only work one. the one i am working i really enjoy. i am happy to be there all the time. the people they work with

are happy to see me and i just would like to continue this work and live with my children in an affordable city. that's what the 5% we're asking for will do. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] >> good evening. my name is kenny barber and my only problem is i am 57 years old and low income housing for us we can't get. you don't want to give it to us and you give it to the younger folks and not the older folks that worked their whole life and i don't know why you don't sit everyone down as a group and go through this and there's a lot of things you're doing is not right and just you want to put the housing -- more police. you don't need more police. you have enough as it

is now. you need to fix income for people to get low income housing to make it better. you know what i am saying? you all spend a lot of money on nothing. it's bull crap but you can do better if you put your minds to it. thank you and have a blessed day. >> thank you. if there is anyone else to speak please come forward we're going to close public comment. >> thank you debbie leman and thank you for holding this hearing today. the cost of business is the number one issue in the sector for over a decade now and increases are sporadic and less than inflation and less than comparable city employees receive although it's from the same source of funding. i want to look at the issue in the context of the income inequality in the city and the primary team of the mayor's address this year. we're in the midst of an

economic boom but seeing record of san francisco poverty and 13.8% driven by rising unaffordability in the city. the cost of doing business is a key piece of this debate. it is reflected in many ways in our sector. you have heard from our workers. they can't afford to live here and the increases are less than inflation and they're falling behind. you shouldn't have to be poor to serve the poor. they deserve middle class jobs. we can't recruit or retain good employees and the wages are increasing because of increases and things done in in room and our rents are going up also and our clients need opportunities for mobility and many are hired within the sector. they deserve high quality services helped by better wages and the city as a whole we need to ask what kind

of city we have including economic diversity and good jobs. it's the ideal time to resolve this issue. we're again asking for a 5% increase in the next two years to make up for some of the under funding in the past and a working group to develop the policies and mech thism r nism tha will -- mechanism that will have a long-term fix. thank you. >> thank you. >> i'm a non-profit worker and seiu member and the reality in the shelter system people working out numbered 100 to one on the floor making less than $15 an hour for the non-profit agencies and the head of the human services agency makes well over a quarter of a million including the benefits so i think it's a dichotomy that shouldn't be represented between the administration and the city government and the front line workers dealing with people

everyday on the streets and in the shelters basically on call all the time so i just think that needs to be heard here and that needs to be appreciated that there is a huge dichotomy and gap between admin and the city and the people who are front line staff. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] and mr. chairman i think that's the extent of the public comment. >> okay. seeing none. public comment is now closed. [gavel] . >> colleagues i just wanted to thank all of the speakers from the community, workers to the various union members and leaders to the non-profit directors and managers who are here. i wanted to say the suggestions to convene a working group to deal with the complexity of a permanent structural fix i am committed to convene that type of group with non-profits and labor and city

departments as well and really looking at creating permanent fix that assures funding and stability to create a safety net that we can be proud of, a healthy and thriving safety net that has human beings and our community at the center of it. i also wanted to say too the shorter term issue that many brought up as we go through the budget process that we're starting with our major hearings today i am also really in agreement with many that we need for the next two years an increase, strong and reasonable increase within our budget and my hope is that the increase isn't contingent of a creation of a longer term solution with this working group but that we need the increase now over the next two years and i think it's really clear that the problem is complex, but i don't want to see continuation year after year of

the at times humiliating and disempowering efforts that go on. i want to see an empowered safety net with human beings paid a living wage and valued as professionals in the community so that's what i would like to see short and long-term but colleagues i want to thank you for bearing with me and all of the folks from the community who testified today. thank you. [applause] >> supervisor tang. >> thank you. thank you supervisor mar for be conducting this hearing. of course thank you to everyone who came out. i think that again as you mentioned many of us committed when the cola was up before the board this year we wanted to see a long-term solution so i do like the idea of some sort of a task force where we can move forward starting from now really to figure out how it is we can address these issues so that yes we don't have to be here at midnight or 3:00 a.m. to figure out how much funding we can give you through the add back process which we agree is

dysfunctional. number one thing i am hearing from folks is stability, predictability and i think now that we're are fully in a two year budget cycle that all of the departments are on that track that we should figure out ways where we don't have to come back in the middle of the cycle at the beginning of the two year cycle we figure out what the funding needs are and address them. i would say that i have never seen non-profits as a stepping stone or super liveious to what the city does and it's a partner and i want to assure the community of that and you see the five committee members and put us in a room and we have same goals and different goals and how we want to achieve them. i think collectively the board of supervisors wants to see the non-profits succeed but every

non-profit in each sector has different needs and we want to address them all in the most comprehensive way possible so i amit committed to doing that and through a task force and hopefully now or soon to move forward with this and i want to thank you for coming out. sharing your thoughts. ee refreshing to see you here today versus in june so thank you very much. >> supervisor yee. >> i want to thank supervisor mar and avalos for bringing this hearing to us. i want to thank the public for coming out. i didn't mention it, but maybe just in my questioning you might have guessed i'm been in the non-profit realm for 40 years in different capacities so i understand much of what you said today, and i would be supportive of a task force to look at some solutions. i don't believe

that we could ever have a permanent solution. i think what we should be looking for is a better solution because every few years we will have different challenges and to say this is permanent is silly. i have been in the area too long and see different issues that come up that you get challenged with, and you don't want to get trapped into where we're saying this is a . >> >> permanent fix and why are you coming back and look at it as a better fix and the city needs to be more supportive of the non-profits than it has been in the past. it's always a challenge and now that i am on this side of the fence to look at budget issues where you balance everything off but it shouldn't be balancing the budget off of the bax of