>> good afternoon. welcome to the land use and transportation committee for the san francisco board of supervisors for today, tax day, april 15th, 2019. i am the chair of the committee. joint on my right by vice chair supervisor safai and momentarily to be joined by supervisor matt haney. misses clerk, do you have any

announcements? >> silence also phones and of tonic devices, a completed speaker cards and copies of any documents to be included as part of a file should be submitted to the clerk. items acted upon will appear on april 23rd board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. >> police called the first item. >> item number 1 is a resolution approving the list of projects to be funded by fiscal year 2019 -2020, road maintenance and we habilitation account fund as established by the california state senate bill one, the road repair and accountability act of 2017. >> chair peskin: on behalf of the department of public works. >> it afternoon, supervisors. i am the capital finance analyst with the department of department works. >> our loss was mohammed's game. >> the item before you today is a resolution to adopt a list of projects that would receive 20 million in fiscal year 19-20, local streets and roads fund.

the california transportation commission requires local jurisdiction to adopt this list of projects that will receive road maintenance and rehabilitation account funds. our nra was established by senate bill one. increased funding for transportation across california by more than 5 billion. we receive these funds annually. the department of public works has identified five projects for next year which include 148 blocks of residential streets and over 388 compliance curb ramps throughout the city. each of the projects includes pitching 25 and 45 residential blocks under spread throughout different streets and neighborhoods for efficiency purposes -- purposes. to provide more context, there are some maps in your packet that will show the box that will be repaved with respect to what we will receive next fiscal year i'm joined today by our paving

program manager endo be happy to answer any questions. >> chair peskin: are there any questions or members of the committee? this is the furred -- their time that we have done this. i have no questions. i have reviewed the various projects and the maps. are there any members of the public would like to testify on this item? seeing none, we will close public comments. colleagues, is there a motion to send the approved project list -- >> i want to say one thing. i want to say one thing for the record. i think d.p.w. has done a phenomenal job over the last number of years. we have had a number of street repaving projects. we have worked closely with john thomas, the director of infrastructure, as well as director rue, i just want to say that some of the ways in which the subcontractor's time has been allocated is something we need to work on a little bit better, because what ends up

happening is projects will be done about 80% or 90%, and on the contractors are pulled off, and then we start to get calls, why is the project not complete, and we understand that at one point it might be we have pulled other crews off, and this is one particular contractor that is doing six projects all over the city, and we need to complete masonic, and then masonic gets attention, so the smaller scale neighborhood projects that might be one block or two blocks that have an immediate impact of people getting in and out of their homes, and of getting d. prioritize sometimes are some of the larger impactful projects. i will just use my sonic as an example. i drove down it yesterday. it was absolutely beautiful, it is done and complete, but there are still portions of jobs, whether it is corn aging with sfmta to do the striping, whether discrimination between sewer and street repair to do

the curb, there is a significant amount of finalizing details on some of these projects that we get the calls about, and i have to tell you, there some contractors that do a phenomenal job and do a-said, and then there are others that we receive the majority of the complaints from. i want to put that on the record i'm happy to support this today, and i'm happy to keep working with d.p.w. you guys have done a phenomenal job. it is usually the one or two contractors that are taking off a little bit too much then they can bite. >> chair peskin: let me concur with you. i had that -- it was one block last year of being paved on union street between kearny and grant avenue, and they ripped it up and laid it down, and then started doing the curb ramps, and nobody could walk up and down the sidewalks. i had to call rachel gordon, and they came in for a day and would

leave for week, and all the barriers were up, and everyone was complaining. those are quick projects, and i agree if they have too much on their plates, then spread it around. all right. do we have a motion to send a someone to the full board with recommendation and a motion made we will take that without objection, and it is moved to the full board with recommendation. next item, please. >> item two is an ordinance amending the administrative code to establish a relocation assistance fund for the vehicular housed requirement --

supervisor brown the floor is yours. thank you for giving me the opportunity to join the committee as a guest today, to introduce this legislation to address our vehicular homelessness issue here in san francisco. i also want to thank my cosponsor for being open and working with me on this legislation for seven months. thank you to supervisor fewer, stefani, mandelman, haney, mar, ronin, for signing on, and our aids. i also want to thank the coalition on homelessness, and working with my office every step of the way, thank you jennifer, sam, and kelly.

one more thank you, i would like to thank the mayor's office and emily cohan for your guidance and support, and i want to thank our city departments for weighing into working with us to get this right. living in a car or an r.v. is usually a last ditch effort to stay off the streets when affordable housing is scarce, the cost of living is just too high, shelters are limited, and at their limits. people are forced to live in their vehicles for two common reasons. as transitional shelter before moving to a permanent or long-term shelter, or as a final option to avoid living on the streets. increasingly, for many san franciscans, home is often last resort on four or six wheels. this is not a real choice. this really -- living in a car

or any vehicle is a thin veil to living on the streets. the issue is not going to go away, and we can ignore it. data collected by h.s.h. during the 2017 san francisco homeless point in time count confirms that six% of those counted were living in a vehicle. and updated count count in october of 2018 estimated 432 inhabiting vehicles on the streets of san francisco, including 313 rvs, and hundred and 19 passenger cars. housing right advocates say that this may still be a conservative number, and estimate the number of people who are living in their vehicles, much, much higher. this issue can be seen in almost every neighborhood across the city, among parks, under freeways, along the ocean, and residential areas.

many of the folks living in their vehicles are displaced san franciscans. during the 2017 homeless snapshot, 69% of respondents say they were living in san francisco at the time they lost their housing. fifty% of respondents who had lived in san francisco for more than ten years. the data supports the claim that the majority of the vehicular homeless are from and have lived in san francisco for significant periods of time. many of the folks you spoken to have been displaced are low income subsidized -- from subsidized housing. the population of people forced to live in the car or r.v.s is diverse and very vulnerable. it includes undocumented immigrants, people with disabilities, seniors, veterans, and employed and unemployed families with children and students.

limit -- living in a car or an r.v. is not some camping dream, it is a real health and housing challenge. lack of access to basic hygiene facilities, high food insecurity , vulnerable in bad weather, face violence, harassment, and theft, pushing you into further debt by citations and toes, and limited access to social services. forced to share public easements and streets, waste disposal equals public health hazards. i personally understand this experience. growing up with my mother, i had to resort to living in a van or an r.v. to keep a roof or even a car roof over our heads. i had to do things like have a swimsuit on all the time so when we would shower at the public facilities i was able to shower and not be embarrassed.

i also had a situation where when i was in school and we were living in a van, that i didn't do my homework because i couldn't see when it was dark, and that really affected my school and my grades. other big cities in california are stepping up to the plate to provide options. city governments in eight cities have launched and run safe parking programs to help these populations, including los angeles, san diego, santa barbara, san jose, east palo alto, santa clara, mountain view , and long beach. it is time for san francisco not to focus on bands and just enforcement to, but to be creative and offer real assistance. this ordinance seeks to provide a safe and cost effective solution by giving a location for the vehicular housed to

attend to their vital needs, and two, provide a pathway to interim or permanent housing, and three, prevent unnecessary harassment, towing, and citations. first, it creates a vehicular triage center. this center will focus on most vulnerable and connect people to the coordinated entry system, and provides access to hygienic facilities. it will triage folks based on their situation, and directs them to appropriate social services. this will allow for a problem-solving, whether a person needs a mechanic to move along, or access to shelter. second, it allows her safe parking pilot program components we know that not everyone is going to get out of their vehicle immediately. it takes time to help people transition. this pilot will provide people a safe and secure place to park.

and with access to case management, hygienic facilities for a longer period of time then a triage center. people will have access to safe parking pilot his only after by the triage center. they can stay there for 60 to 90 days. third, against the real estate division to find a city owned site within three months. this city is also open to parking lots or church lots. fourth, it directs h.s.h. to collaborate with sfmta to develop towing hazard a notification and mitigation system or reduce fines and fees for eligible individuals.

we should not have additional barriers for services. vehicles have to be simply operable, not a registered, and we remove the section requiring a separate city fund for the vehicular housed, and this would have been an extra bureaucracy and administrative hassle. we have received one of 1 million-dollar funding commitment from the manchester office which will be much faster to speed up this launched pilot program. we have added additional finance and research, clarified language with sfmta to develop and invest in an early warning and attention mediation plan with h.s.h. to prevent unnecessary towing and to provide economic

relief for eligible individuals. we may hear certain arguments today or have read things in the press that i want to address. people living in their cars and r.v.s are service resenting. we have enforcement, bands and intense pushback to people living in their cars or r.v.s, and it really is just not working. we need a carrot catholic, expect people to give up their last resort without building trust and offering real assistance. there are so many people who are living in cars or r.v.s. the numbers provided are an estimate, but i know in my district, i have a lot more people that live in cars, and more than r.v.s. i probably have at least 50 to 60 cars, people living in cars in my district. this takes away precious

resources, and this is another argument people talk about. this takes away precious resources for more pressing issues like street homelessness. stopping homelessness means preventing homelessness. we should also be working upstream the stop people from ending up on the street. we have a funding commitment from the mayor's office and i'm committed to looking for additional resources through the budget season. and i just want to make clear, this is a pilot program, and it is flexible. this can happen in any district. if it works, we can expand. many people park in neighborhoods because they have connections to friends and families nearby, and i have connections to the community. we are currently looking for space. i've reached out to real estate and/or enterprise agencies to help identify available land as soon as possible. identifying a space will come with the community process.

this benefits super commuters and doesn't benefit super commuters like uber. this program will prioritize our most vulnerable residents, not folks who already have homes. this is why the triage center is an important assessment tool, and this will be geared towards those at risk for towing and excessive tickets and citations. in closing, we really -- my final thoughts on this as we move forward, we have worked seven months on this and we have changed a lot, and there are some other things and amy -- need to be changed and amended, but we need to work upstream to keep our neighbors from ending up on the streets or in a tent, i wish we had enough affordable housing, shelter beds, and navigation centers to tackle all of our homeless and homeless crisis. we are still working on this, but people are still suffering

today. we need to do something now. i want to thank all my colleagues, and i also want to acknowledge our department in attendance. we have commander lazar from the san francisco police department, jeff from the department of homelessness and supportive housing, emily cone from mayor's office and a real estate division was invited, but he don't think they're here. so if there's any -- i know some of you also want to speak. >> thank you, supervisor brown. >> thank you. i thank you covered most of it. i just want to give a little background and context and just praise your response in this situation. we had a situation of concentration of r.v.s in our district. we started to get a lot of pushback from neighbors who were

adjacent to residential neighborhoods, but instead of just putting up no overnight parking signs, we engaged with supervisor brown, as well as the department of slip homelessness and supportive housing, the police department, and the sfmta , and said we were dedicated to coming up with a solution. supervisor brown reached out to me to put it on the radar. she actually shared with me a photo from when she was younger of what she just described today , and said, you know, this is a very different population of people, they don't actually believe that they are homeless, they're homeless in a very different way, and she said, we didn't believe that we are homeless. i think that is an important part of the conversation. we have engaged with jeff and his team and emily, and as she said, i want to praise again secure a, cathy, and monica for the hard work that they have done, as well as supervisor

ronen's staff and others who have engaged with us over the last seven months. we believe we have a specific pilot program that i think is unique to san francisco. this is not just a drive up, park, you are good, and drive away, this is more about an in-depth assessment of where people are, an analysis of what they might need at that particular moment. some might just need some help fixing their vehicle and might not necessarily want me right away from their home on their car, so we want to have the full range of assessment tools available to us. i think that is what we have solution, have a solution that works better for seven cisco. some of our students have heard stories s.f. state students sitting in a cars with permission in an informal way because they can't afford to live in the city, but they are

full-time students. there's others that are evil who are dealing with very severe mental health issues and drug addiction issues, but they're not the vast majority. we have to do a full-fledged assessments. we want to work to get people into the coordinated entry system, and we are very happy that the mayor engaged with us on this and allocated $1 million to this program to see how we can expect that the key and in this right now, is still finding a location that we can do all the things that i've described in this legislation. i know we are investigating spaces in my district, i know that we are looking at other city-owned lots, but we want to do this in a thoughtful way, and i want to thank jennifer and her team and the department -- the coalition on homelessness for their hard work and engagement on this, into being very realistic of what we can do here in the beginning, because it is not about being overly ambitious , it is trying to do something that is manageable and

meeting people where they are. i want to thank supervisor brown for her leadership on this. we are still welcome and open to all different forms of amendments and/or direction and criticism, but i think it is a true testament that eight colleagues have already signed onto this. the mayor has allocated money to this, we have engaged with the police department, sfmta, h.s.a. , providers, advocates, people living in the situation, and we want to get this right. i just wanted to say that for the record. thank you. >> thank you. [applause]. >> supervisor brown, would you like to call folks -- you mentioned commander lazar. >> thank you. >> good afternoon. thank you for the invitation

here today. supervisor brown, on behalf of the police department, i want to mention that we are committed to working very closely with the mayor's office and your office, the department of homelessness and supportive housing, the m.t.a., and all the other stakeholders that when the site is eventually located, that the police department is involved in a safety plan that works with everyone. we are addressing any potential issues that come up, so we will be working on that plane -- plan and working closely with you to make sure that is what is it developed -- is developed and implemented. >> thank you. i will be requesting to duplicate the file so we are able to continue this forward, but then work with the police department to change the codes. thank you. >> thank you. anyone else? jeff? emily? >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm with the department of

homelessness and supportive housing. thank you for inviting us to be here today. i want to thank you, supervisor brown for working with us closely on developing this proposal. as you both have pointed out kicked, this is an increasing problem in the city, not only does the data show us that, but a drive around the city and using our eyes shows there's more and more people see leaping and r.v.s and vehicles on the streets. and we think this is a good step towards working to address that problem in a positive manner. thank you. >> thank you. i will read names, and then you can come up and get in line for public comments.

thank you, come up. >> good afternoon. figures i'm first because i'm really nervous. i am a san francisco resident, and i've been a san francisco residents my whole life. my name is meghan johnston, but he go by roadkill to most people who know and love me. i am here in support of the proposal for the pilot site. i will just give you guys a point of view from somebody who has had to live in their vehicle i have lived in a vehicle three times in my life, but i will talk about the last experience with living in a vehicle with my

children. it is scary. one sometimes the only thing that you think that you are doing right is wrong. i saved up a lot of money to get my converted bus, and in four months of getting it, it was towed away. there was multiple problems with it. i don't want to go into detail, but it was home to us for those four months. it was home to my children and my amateur -- animals for those four months. it was a struggle, like even leaving it for a moment was too risky. we were always afraid of being persecuted. it finally got taken away, and when i asked the police

department why we were being taken away, why it was being taken away, they told us that the neighbors where was parked considered it an eyesore, but to me, it was the only safe place that me and my children had. >> thank you. >> hi, i'm from the coalition. i want to spend some time talking about where lifting the voices of the people i talked to on outreach last wednesday to let them know about this legislation. i was on outreach and the bayview knocking on some r.v.s to talk to people about it, and i was met with a variety of reactions pick one r.v. i heard a mom shushed her children and fear that we were law enforcement, and none of us spoke the language to reassure her that we weren't. we also woke up a worker, a graveyard shift worker who speak -- leaps during the day and was really happy to be woken up in here about this legislation."

incidentally, he is not here because he is sleeping because to work later but he wanted me to pass on the support he has for this, and then we also spoke to a handful of other people, all of them were in favor of this legislation. one man has lived in san francisco, and like a majority of the homeless spoke here, he became homeless after living and being housed here for 40 years. he says this is my home, i don't want people towing my home. this legislation is a good idea. he has lived for ten years in his r.v. and is a disabled senior. for david, roadkill, in the hundreds of vehicular really housed in san francisco, we need this safe parking program. thank you. >> thank you. >> hello, i am currently am living in an apartment, thank you to the help of the homeless coalition, but for 12 years, i lived on the streets san francisco, and my story is different because like roadkill

said, i couldn't begin to tell you how hard it is to be on the street and to actually come up enough to have a vehicle, and you just feel like you actually did something. i have had four r.v.s and six vans towed in the 12 years that i was chronically homeless in san francisco. in my new, beautiful apartments, every tuesday and wednesday, the third and fourth, or whatever the month, i wake up in panic when i hear the sound of the street sweepers. oh, my god, i'm going to get a ticket, ptsd to the max. i'm fully supportive of this bill, or legislature, because we just need it. there's too many people out there suffering. families, seniors, and people with disabilities. thank you. >> thank you.

>> i agree with everybody and your proposal, but i have a better idea did that, to make sure nothing like this happens again. gavin newsom is guaranteeing $500 million for homeless. mountain view is building 144 unit apartment building complexes for a mere $56 million $56 million with the math and 500 million means that you can build 944 unit apartment building complexes people that are mostly this advantage of the people that all of you claim that you want to help and take care of the homeless problems. nine times three is 27, so you can build it seven story apartment building complex at this proposed location and

embarcadero, whereas the proposed navigation center is. you get more money, a bigger bang for your buck, any better turn -- return on your investment. and by the same response to the navigation center, they have helped 200 people, whereas if you use this technique that i'm explaining to you, you house permanently 1,267 people that are homeless in the streets and you take a big chunk out of that by the same response, there is an additional building in san mateo where they are building a 68 unit apartment building for $57 million and using the same techniques to build 27 story tall building that is the total of 632 units, a total of 10928 units. s.f. of the work, please. here is newsom making his statements to pledge $500 million for the homeless, okay. here is the complex in mountain view, 144 units. you build 27 stories of that you

take a chunk out of it. here is a 68 unit complex. you do the same thing and build 27 stories of a building like this and take a total of 1,628 people off the streets. >> thank you. [applause]. >> hello, my name is peter and i live in district five, represented by supervisor brown. we must recognize, as you said, that living in your car is not a real choice, it is a last resort these residents, neighbors of those of us who are house, need help, not criminalizing and poverty reinforcing measures like tickets or towing. they need services like toilets and bathrooms, they need a path back into housing, and they need peace of mind, not fear that

their home will be gone when they come back. please pass this ordinance and enact this pilot, and help with vehicular vehicular really high for housed san franciscans. [applause]. >> hello, my name is dana lewis. i have been homeless for a good time in san francisco, but i have an idea, also. this would house people in san francisco and take the r.v.s off the streets, and all the stuff that you see on the sidewalks, so your kids can't walk the sidewalks properly, and i have an idea where it can be. my friends and i, i'm thinking mclaren park. i used to be so gross there, everyone hates mclaren park. so why can't we have a chunk of it, and we, the people, who work with you guys, and make it work. we are the ones living it. it is not you guys.

you guys go home every day. that is all i want to say. they can follow-up. i'm scared to death here. >> thank you. [applause]. >> hello, my name is chris, and i am dana's friends. we had this idea, and we would like to work with the supervisors and the mayor on having a place where we can park our r.v.s, having an r.v. park, basically, or a little community , not but only for r.v.s, but for cars, have a section for tensor boxes, make it a community, with its own security, they would have showers, recreation center, all of the things that we can come up with these ideas and make it happen, mclaren park sounds like a great place. we have looked all around

ourselves just to get an idea of where a good park would be. candlestick r.v. park, that place is a joke, to tell you the truth. they charge you way over, like $89 a night. they don't have a dump station for other r.v.s that can dispose of their waste properly instead of -- i have seen r.v.s resorting to dumping in the streets, and we don't want this to continue, because it makes everybody else look bad, anyway, the idea is to get a little community started, and if i could talk to you, supervisor brown, i would like to maybe if we can put this together, me and my friends, we can work together to work on this and see if we can make it happen. >> thank you.

[applause]. >> next speaker. >> hello, my name is melody, and it's really scary to be standing here. i was born in 1958, and approximately age two, i sustained a traumatic brain injury to the left temporal lobe in 1997, is when i got the diagnosis. if you google traumatic brain injury, and homelessness, the studies indicates approximately 50% of homeless people sustained a brain injury prior to becoming homeless.

of those 50%, 75% of them sustained the injury prior to age 18. in the year 2,000, i started seeking help from the city and county of san francisco so i could retain my apartment. by the time a year had gone by, i had turned into a human ping-pong ball between all of these agencies that could not help me, did not know how to help me, and never offered me any services for traumatic brain injury. by the year 2014, i had already lost my apartments, and the last time i was seen by a dr., i was told that what you need to does not fall under our scope of

practice, so you tell me why i was seeking services to the city and county of san francisco for 14 years, jumping through every single hoop that i possibly could. when people talk to me about this r.v. park, safe parking, obviously, no one is offering me services for brain injury, and then because there are no services, i am really afraid to sign up for its because i will just fail like i have been fired from every job in my life, and then i'm told that i'm either service resistant, or, well, you just don't want to. it is like, no, i need the help that i need to sustain an appropriate living space, and so far, the city and county has not offered me that, and so far i

don't hear it on the back and of -- >> thank you. [applause]. >> hi, my name is rico, i am a representative for r.v. dwellers and homeless people, i have lost about four or five of my vehicles to towing, and i am in support of this legislation, thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hi. i am flow, i live in hilly ronen 's district, i volunteer with the coalition on homelessness, i have been here before testifying, i'm glad that we are here today talking about

a safe parking program. it is the first time i have heard that this has been tossed out by supervisors who are putting their wait behind it. i feel like it's really essential that you get input from people who live in their vehicles now. a lot of strong people have been here testifying. it is really critical that folks stay in their homes, particularly people who live in their vehicles who never should be restricted to overnight parking, which i see a lot of want to go out and do outreach, if you are forced to keep moving day and night, i don't know when a person gets enough sleep to be able to go to work, and a lot of folks who are living in their vehicles are on the street, and

they are going to jobs. i don't know how you look for a job when you don't have enough sleep, how you problem solve your life, which is very complicated when you you're not insecure housing or safe housing , i just want to say i am hoping that you really listen to what people are saying and get their input on what a save housing program would look like. thank you. >> thank you. [applause]. >> excuse me, instead of clapping for your support, can you please do this for the support, thank you. next speaker, please. >> hi. i would like to thank you guys for doing this, for thinking about it, i would also like to provide a different perspective

on mobile housing, as i like to call it. anybody who his been on youtube is probably -- has probably seen that the new generation, younger people are getting into mobile housing as a way to get ahead economically. i think the notion that somebody has to spend $1,400 to live somewhere is sort of a joke, it is obviously a great city to live in, the reason people are going into mobile housing, of course, it's because some people need to do it, but also some people want to do it as a way to get ahead, so i gets great that you guys are tackling this and i really appreciate it. i think this will be a growing trend in the future, you know, with solar panels, with electric vehicles, and self driving vehicles, it is pretty much

going to be normal to have a fridge in a vehicle in the next ten years. as soon as people start sleeping in their vehicles to go to work, you know, the line between mobile housing and cars is going to blurt really fast, so i think this is one of those problems that we will end up dealing with itself, because self driving vehicles will be able to escape restrictions. just telling it what to do, please float the streets, but again, i really appreciate what you guys are doing and hopefully we continue to work together and do more good things. thank you. >> thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is kelly, i'm a human rights organizer at the coalition on homelessness. i have to say, i'm really happy not to be here talking and being an m.t.a. about another ban, it is a very refreshing having this conversation, and to be looking

at real alternatives and to help folks. we constantly get -- we had one today during the rally beforehand, someone had their vehicle towed and had their home towed, and that is a huge hit for folks, that is a huge loss, and people have, you know, during the super bowl and all that stuff with the tense, where folks said, i just kept getting hit constantly, i was able to scrap enough together to get a vehicle, and now they are being targeted with living in their vehicle. so i think this is a good shift in the right direction of creating real alternatives, instead of enforcement. thank you. >> thank you. >> hi, supervisors, my name is sam, i work at the coalition on

homelessness. i want to give a huge thank you to the supervisors for taking leadership on this, and a huge shout out to all the on house people who are here and sharing their powerful stories and experiences around living in their vehicles on and the challenges that come around that i want to share about someone who we just found out is being towed between the time that we had the rally, and the hearing right now. she told me that she wanted to share this story with you all during public comment. she is someone who recently purchased her vehicle, had to flee her home -- home because of a domestic violence situation and now has to pay $527 just to get her car out of the tow yard, and she is someone who is experiencing homelessness, and cannot pay that fee, and i think it really speaks to why we need this legislation now, immediately, and why we needed it years and years ago, because she will be losing the most

valuable asset that she has, and it's likely going to be sold for someone to be bought, and she will either be on the streets, or waging four to six weeks just to get into shelter, so this is one thing that i have huge support for, and also, the towing stuff that is also in the legislation, but i would love of these offices here's support to help get her car out of the tow yard. the fees will increase i 3:00 p.m. today, and every day moving forward, so if we can help work on that case today, that would be amazing. thank you. >> thank you. fingers are just so much less satisfying. thank you supervisor brown and others. more than two decades ago, a

group of people living vehicles coalesced in her were organized calling them selves a residential association. they designed a program, they didn't divide property, even got funding. the porch told the property, but all these years since, folks have been calling for a safe place to park. it is such a simple request, so simple, getting chased from block to block, terrorized by ticketing and harassment, fear of losing the very last thing they have that means so much, unlocked, a modicum of privacy, a place or belongings -- for belongings. we have a housing crisis. we need innovative responses. we need solutions for a variety of people. we can no longer have a system where we are pushing people out of their housing, chasing them out of cars, and then ripping away their tents once they're on the streets, we wholeheartedly support this legislation. why? does not say let's have a place for a few and then criminalize the rest, no, it says, let's

start with a space for a few and stop criminalizing the rest. it does not say, we are going to give help if you leave town, gives people help to stay in their community, and hopefully, ideally, lead into housing. it does not force people to die or get close to dying before they get help. it stabilizes people before all is lost, so it is now two decades later. this is really wonderful, it is the time, it has taken too long, let's make this happen and pass this legislation. thank you so much. >> thank you. i have one more speaker card? -- too. please get in line. thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i work in the coalition on homelessness. first thing i want to tell you

guys is about saying thank you for introducing this legislation it has taken us 20 years to pass this legislation. we have been spending a lot of money, millions and millions of dollars in criminalizing, it is not great. we're supposed to spend this money housing people. i wanted to share this with you. this is specifically about families with children who are sleeping in their fans, and they are feeling threats when the police are coming with guns, and knock knock, on the car. imagine two or three police officers and children, the children and the parents are sleeping overnight, in the morning the police are coming. it is a problem. i don't think it is really great

that we have to think about this , so if we really want to solve the problem, we have to bring in the right people, the right persons to do outreach and talk to the families in the homeless people who are staying in their vehicles because we cannot -- thank you so much for introducing this legislation, and all the people, the supervisors who are supporting. it is time to change this. we are repressing so many homeless people, it is time to change it. thank you. >> thank you. >> hello, maria, i live in san francisco, i wanted to say thank you for introducing this legislation. i wish we already had it, but it's great that we are working on this. thanks. >> thank you.

>> good afternoon, i am the founder and executive director of the homeless prenatal program as a resident in district five. i just want to say thank you. this is really important that we have -- i don't want families to live in cars, but it seems to be what is happening now, but if they are forced to live in their cars, then it should be in a safe place, and the reason for getting up is in 2018, in san diego, a psychologist by the name of teresa smith started a program. it is called dreams for change, so it has been done, it works, and she did not started in 2018, in 2018, she got the irvine foundation leadership award, so she is recognized for this work, and it is important that we do it." be great if we could have better places for our kids. he certainly can't cook and cars

, but she set up a system that works fairly well for the time being, so thank you for even considering this. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello, my name is larry ackerman, i would like to thank supervisor brown and others for working on this -- developing this legislation. i want to tell you about my experience, or what i had learnt about people living in their cars. i had two close friends that lost their income stream, and subsequently lost their apartment. they ended up with their few possessions in a car, and they had problems, mostly because they had to always move, move around, drive around, find a place to park, it was very

unstable, there was no safe place that they knew they could park and sleep overnight. they also had to, there was some issue with the registrations, which i don't think ever got resolved, so they needed help with that legal part and the d.m.v. never had any resources for that, and one day, i also got a call that their car wouldn't start or wasn't running , and i ended up paying for a new fuel filter for them, because they had no other way to deal with this issue, so i'm happy that this legislation addresses some of these at least meekly, and will help the people that are forced into this life in a vehicle.

subsequently they left that on the streets. one got into a medical program and eventually housed. the other guy is on the streets. i saw him on the street last night, he sleeps on the sidewalk or in a park. thank you. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i have inserted myself into public comment because i'm not yet accustomed to sitting in the staff dock, but i want to let you know the m.t.a. is here. not just listening, but i want to express gratitude to supervisor brown and others, the m.t.a. has wrestled with this problem for years in a very unsatisfactory way, my board of directors has been very reluctant to move on restrictions, although we have, the agency has restricted streets, but there is a huge reluctance because of the

awareness and the effects of parking restrictions and parking enforcement. we are very grateful, not only willing to participate, we are working pretty closely with the commander and other city agencies and we look forward to wherever this legislation goes, working with this body and our partners, the coalition of homelessness and other folks to find a more humane way to help folks who don't have a choice and are living in vehicles. >> thank you, andy. that is it for public comment. >> we will close public comments thank you supervisor brown, i thank you to everyone who testified. i believe the sponsor would like to duplicate the file, she has unilateral right to do. and what would you like to do with the original file?

>> actually -- >> my bad, i did not acknowledge supervisor haney go ahead, thank you, chair peskin, i will be quick. i want to appreciate everyone who came out and spoke, especially to the folks who have experience in homelessness or are experiencing homelessness. we appreciate you all being here in the work you've done to help shape this legislation, and of course, supervisor brown for your leadership. i am very supportive of this. this is the kind of creative approach that we need, and a recognition that homelessness is experienced in different ways, and we have to be innovative and proactive and how we respond to its. i did want to ask a question, maybe this is best for the director, we heard a bit that there are a number of families

that all experiencing vehicular homelessness, and in some ways, that is a little bit of a different challenge than we face in other types of responses where generally there are places for families, and places which are more for only adults, i would like to know a bit more about how we plan to address the needs of families in this environment, and particularly children. obviously there will be some needs in and around having places to study, research and types of services, or hopefully really accelerated way to get those folks into housing or family shelters that doesn't require them to give up their car. can you speak to how you see this working for families, specifically? >> ideally, thank you,

supervisor haney. ideally, what we would do is on the site, also have vehicle storage available, and we would offer shelter immediately to every family who shows up. however, that may not work for every family, so i think it will require flexibility and partnership with the service provider, whoever is selected to operate the site, but our first efforts will be offered to store the vehicle and have the family stay in shelter. >> that makes sense. and i think that, you know, obviously we want to make sure especially for families, but for everyone who has that option, it would be more ideal than having them stay there. i imagine for a lot of folks they can't give up their car or they have nowhere to store their car, and that can be a barrier to get into shelter. i've heard this from some folks who, for example, may stay regularly at the next door

shelter, which is near where i live, and they have a lot of challenges because they have nowhere to put their car and then there is no parking and it creates a whole cycle, and i'm sure that is part of what we hope to be able to address with this. thank you, again for your leadership and thank you for answering that question. >> supervisor brown? >> i also wanted to respond to mate nietzsche check question that if there is a lot of families, and i know i've talked to people actually need their car to go to work, and they live in it, when they come into the triage center, it will be case by case, jeff talks about that. if they need for work, we will have to make sure they have that available. but thank you. so i would like legislation to move forward, and i would like to duplicate the file, cha