but in this entire state. thank you all for being here. now jeff and steve will lead a tour of the navigation center for those interested. thank you. [applause] >> good morning and welcome to lacasa. we are so honored to have so many community members here today. i am the deputy director here. this has been a very long journey to this moment today. i thank you all. we would not be here with each and every one of you. i have a lot of wonderful people speaking today and the amazing work that the organization does in the community. i would like to start by introducing our board president.

michelle is the board president of casa d casa de las madres. as a member of the board for over 10 years she has helped guide us through the unprecedented growth. as chair of finance committee she helped strengthen the position to creativity and passion for ending domestic violence in san francisco. i will hand it over to michelle. [applause] >> thank you for that lovely introduction. we are just thrilled today. this is such an exciting and special moment. i started volunteering about 15 years ago and joined the board 10 years ago. in year i was honored to be made the board president when our

previous president retired. during my time with lacasa i have seen the organization grow and some impressive milestones. one thing that made me proud is the unparalleled ability for our organization to partner with service providers in san francisco. today we stand together it is important to remember the work to end domestic violence is not done yet and not done alone. la casa spent many years to build relationships to ensure no survivor feels like that is nowhere to turn. many community partners are here today. we are proud to stand next to other amazing community service providers like the san francisco general hospital and u.c.s.f., the san francisco police department special victims unit,

housing authority, human services authority, hamilton families th the count less other programs. your work is live saving. looking to the future on behalf of the board, we look forward to continuing to innovate and evolve the expert network of systems to ensure no woman or child is forced to choose between safety and their health or home. now for the moment you are waiting for. i am introducing our mayor, mayor london breed. she is the first african-american woman mayor in the city's history. her priorities include the homelessness crisis, new shelter beds, expanding mental health, more housing and keeping the city streets clean and safe. please join me in welcoming the

45th mayor of the city and county of san francisco, mayor london breed. [applause] >> mayor breed: thank you. thank you for your work and all members of the board and the staff and the people dedicated to this work. we appreciate everything that you do every day to provide a safety net for those who often times feeling hopeless in the midst of the trauma and everything that they are dealing with. we know that this organization supports and welcomes people with open arms. we are so grateful for the work that you do every single day. what an incredible day it is today. i want to take this opportunity to recognize our interim attorney who has been at the forefront of supporting women and children for decades, dealing with challenges around domestic violence. we know the city handles over

3,000 cases every single year. 3,000 families or people that are impacted by domestic violence. we know that we want to make sure that not only are people held accountable who are victimizing people but the survivors get support and resources they need. it is not just one department versus another. it is a partnership. working with the victims unit and the san francisco police department, the district attorney's office and so many amazing nonprofit organizations, including la casa is important. the work they do to help raise the money to support the organizations. i am proud of the work they have done to work with san francisco to allocate more resources because we know that this is hard work. we also know that often times

many of the survivors end up working in this arena themselves from their experiences. we know that it can be so helpful to helping to change people's lives. you know, it is just -- i am looking at this building and just this is your permanents home, cathy. i know this organization has moved around quite a bit, but has never lost the essence of who they are, a hot line to provide support to people, a drop in center, place of comfort and care for so many years, and now a permanent home. it means so much because when people are dealing with a situation and in the middle of the night or any other case, working with san francisco

general and others, they will have this organization to depend on for years to come. we have this incredible program in san francisco. some of you know that i used to be the executive director of a nonprofit organization african-american art and culture complex, for someone who has run a non-profit, they know how difficult it is to raise money and to make sure that you have a permanent home, to care of the home to buy the toilet paper and keep the lights on. there is a lot of work and resources that go to places like this, and the nonprofit sustainabilitynishsive is a resource that the city now provides to nonprofit organizations to help with support to purchase buildings like this so that some of our important nonprofits have a

permanent home. they don't necessarily have to worry about the space that they are in and whether or not the lease is going to expire or the costs are going up for the space because there are so many other things that they are going to continue to need to raise money for. this nonprofit sustainabilities fund provided $1 million towards the purchase of the building. i couldn't think of a better way to use this kind of fund than to support lacasa. i am grateful to be here today. i know so many of you here are people who have been working in this arena for so long, and this although it is challenging and it can be sad and emotional to see what we have done here today and to see how this is going to help turn lives around and to change lives for the better, it is absolutely amazing.

you should feel good about the work you do and the role you played to making this possible. i am here to just see the place, of course, and to thank all of you for the work you continue to do and to especially commend cathy black and your team for just -- cathy is standing over here to the side. come up here. today i want to do something special because of the work that you all do and you do it, you know, in such an amazing way every day without a desire to be recognized but you want the results, and i want the results. it makes for a better city for each and every one of us. it is casa d cass de la madres n

san francisco. >> i want to thank the folks at the office of economic and work force development. thank you so much for your work in organizing and helping with the loan documents. we know how challenging it is to get the city to move quickly and the people that we have in this offers really care about this work and they worked hand and hand to make this happen as quickly as we could. i am grateful to be here. ladies and gentlemen, the executive director of la casa, cathy black. >> next up we have our district attorney here to speak with us.

she is a leading authority on crime prevention, experienced executive and led the police commission and served add general counsel of the california department of justice, also served as prosecutor and advocate for survivors of domestic violence. we are honored to have her here today. she is a community advocate coo of center of youth wellness and in 2014 honored for her work to found and center, the nonprofit to heal children suffering from impact of violence. she served as president of police department from 2012 to 2017. the police commission provides the use of force policy and instituted body cameras to

increase transparent and incommunity relations. she has improved police response to violence against women and children to make the streets safe. our work isn't possible without the work of people like susie loftus. >> thank you. that was very kind. thank you, mayor breed for being here. what i want to offer to you is a story from my time as a courtroom prosecutor when i was prosecuting domestic violence because i think when we talk about what la casa means. i want to ground it in what this looks like. to law enforcement i can speak to today, it occurred to me when i got my first domestic violence

cases they were not like other crimes i had prosecuted. what i was asking someone to do was picking up the phone and i was asking them to come in and testify against someone who they either loved at that moment or at one point loved or thought they loved, and my job was to encourage them to come and testify against that person, to encourage them to come in and be cross-examined. we know what that looks like, right? what i needed most was to have someone who could addvo indicate for that survivor through -- advocate for the survivor. that is cathy black. that is all of you. it is not always the answer to domestic violence there is a prosecution. sometimes it is the answer. sometimes it leads to the stay away order to save a life, sometimes it leads to a program

that an offender does that can change his life or future, let him reclaim his life and future. the partnership law enforcement has with lacasa is i often say safety is a team sport. we have learned lessons in san francisco about how we actually build safety. it is in partnership and in service of shush fivesors and their strengths and resilience and we serve them. everything i know about domestic violence i learned from someone probably in this rumor cathy black. let us continue to learn from each other in service of this idea. there is an irish proverb that says it is in the shelter of each other that the people live. this is a shelter, this

building, it is also a reminder that we are the shelter for survivors and people escaping violence and that when we lean into each other and solve problems in the way lacasa has modeled we build safety for the people that need it the most. i couldn't be more delighted to be here today and to congratulate the city and city partners for coming together. this is a reminder of the best of who we are and the work that we have to do. congratulations to lacasa. [applause] >> we often say that we are only as strong as the community that supports us. we talk about bringing community into our work. often times our work is in confidential spaces. comemestic violence is challenge -- domestic challenge is scary

and bat. we only solve this when we bring it out to the light. the next speaker is cassandra pogie. show brings this to the light every day. she is an employee at black rock and one of the strongest allies in the community. she addvo indicates for survivors -- advocates for survivors. we are lucky to have her with us today. [applause] >> thank you. i am cassandra pogie. i am a survivor of domestic violence. i was in a relationship for two years. she was charming and created the illusion and he was good to me

and i started to fall for him. as things became more serious he was jealous. he introduced intimidation and isolation. i was trapped with someone who used manipulation and violence to control my life every day. i became a shell of myself. i was his captive. the abuse was constant happening all hours. i lost count of the slaps and the punches. there are nights that he would abuse me sexually. those were the darkest and loneliest days of my life. i was able to leave after one extremely bad beating. i don't remember how many times he punched me because i started to blackout. when he finally stopped, i was able to stagger to my bathroom

and looked at myself in the mirror and i knew if i did not leave he would kill me. so i ran out the door. as i was running down the street i didn't be know where i could be safe, but the la casa image popped in my head. a few weeks earlier a colleague was doing a presentation. i looked for a second. i was running down the street. i stopped and hid in a dark corner of a garage and googled them. i found the emergency hot line number and gave them a call. not knowing what to say, all i was able to tell the woman on the other line was that i was just beat up, feared for my life and i needed somewhere safe to stay. she gave me instructions to an indisclosed shel shelter where e

would not be able to find me for the night. the comfort and security that night is invaluable i will nerve be able to put it in word. i will never forget the feeling i had laying in a bed that night. a feeling that i haven't had in over the past year. the feeling of safety. but what they did for me did not end that night. they provided legal council to file for a civil restraining order, made sure to keep in contact with me as i got on my feet. one of the advo cats attended every court date to make sure i was not alone. i faced my abusers. in each trial the following year. i cannot change my past. i can only learn and share my experiences and hope to just save one other person from a

similar story. abuse thrives in silence. i could not be more proud that we are here today to bring a voice to the social injustice that holds so many in darkness. fortunately for us in san francisco bay area, lacasa is a bright light in the darkness. this beautiful new home is a bright light. thank you la casa for saving lives and thank you for saving my life. [applause] >> next up we have a woman who needs no introduction. here we go. cathy is the executive director and she joined la casa in i is .

she has met the needs as they have evolved and globe. grown. three increased number of services by 300%. she is on oversight panels and worked to bring the gaps and service and champion domestic violence with policymaking bodies throughout the city. she brings a wealth of program and strategic experience to la casa. each day hundreds are made safer because of her leadership. as someone who has been here through the process of the moving into this building, we really cathy did it almost entirely herself. it was amazing to watch and wish i could be more helpful. we are lucky to have your leadership at this organization. i think you touched the lives

not only the survivors in the city but the people in the room individually. without further ado, kathy black. [applause] >> thanthank you, mayor breed, d welcome everybody here with us today. i was telling somebody earlier that i was nervous and fearful. then i listened to cas cassandrd realized the real fear. it puts it in perspective. it is easy to stand in front of you now. i get the best part of this event today. everybody said such wonderful things about la casa and how it has touched so many people.

i get to say thank you. almost without -- well maybe not media but some of the media people have played a role in bringing la casa to where we are today. when i joined la casa in i in 1e are omission street. on the mission street. we weren't offered the opportunity to stay. we moved to a loading dock that was in the back of the old electrical workers apprenticeship building. we were hidden in the back on the loading dock. we fixed it up and were there for a period of time until they moved in next door. they weren't the ideal neighbor. they thought they were. we definitely sudden lie a light was shown in a way that made it

scary for the employees and the victims and survivors to get help. we moved to the old ben davis factory at 1663 mission street. our lease was coming up and they didn't want to renew the lease. we knew we needed more space because we were providing more and more services, and there seemed to be an unending demand for what we had to offer. you know, there was a crazy journey to end up with this building. we ended up getting the second time i applied to the nonprofit sustainability fund. first time i couldn't get the owner to sign the purchase agreement, but i submitted the application in hopes i could

convince him before the decision was made. luckily, after a little bit of time he came around and he was offering it for lease. a payment we would not be able to afford. $14,000 more than our mortgage loan for this. keeping good financial, being frugal, i said, no, buys is better. we were able to convince the owner to sell it to us, and we applied to the non-profit sustainability fund. it is an awesome opportunity, and i tell other non-profits when they say we don't have any office space, i tell them, you have to check out this program because it is a great deal. you know, it keeps nonprofits like la casa from moving further

out of the hub of where we are needed most, right? we are in a neighborhood where we are accessible, people can come here, get services in a safe way, and we are able to -- we call it hub and spoke model in the center of the partnership with the police department, with the general hospital and the rise program, rally family visitation program, one of our founders, we are close to hsa for the program, the mary elizabeth inn which provides 157 housing units. we do case management there. it is unending amount of work that we are able to provide. this is the most amazing spot to do it. i didn't write any of these words down.

this is me talking. there are some, you know, one of the things that happen is we rallied a community of al lies, and a lot of them are here today, including the mayor's office, oewd. and every time i see them at something it makes me smile. i feel good about it. they were supportive of me. i sent many times weeping thinking this would not happen and the lease was coming up. the department on status of women, emily and carol and staff members are here. without support we wouldn't be doing what we are doing. the giants' community fund,

49ers foundation, georgia sandy and cameron foundations, businesses like back rock are just awesome. cb os, prc across the street is collaborating and helping us move in and get situated. then the individuals that have shown up and supported our work is amazing. it is because you are with us on the mission. receiving this $1 million grant gave us a boost that we needed and inspired other people in a way that has just been such a surprise. i mean people just call up and say can i come over? we want to make a donation. not that we -- i mean it is hard to raise money for programs like this.

this year has been a change. i think people see us as a force to be reckoned with. i am not going to read this gigantic printed words but i feel my message today is that we are here and we are available and if you know anybody who needs our help, please send them to us or collaborate with us. we want to be good partners. i owe everyone here a debt of gratitude, board members, employees, volunteers, and it all comes together to make this happen. with that we are looking forward to 2020 and thank you all very much.

(applause). >> i am going to invite everybody up for the ribbon-cutting. this is most excite being. they have these awesome scisso scissors. (laughter). >> five, four, three, two, one. there we go. [applause]

>> i know it is rain. we will try to make sure that we hurry up. actually, no, i am not going to hurry up. i am excited to be here today with supervisor fewer and this after we are standing in front of today to talk about how amazing the small size acquisition is in san francisco. this is amazing. let me tell you when our former mayor ed lee served as mayor, he really understood in numerous conversations we had around the challenges with affordable housing. it wasn't just about building new affordable housing, which we so desperately need.

it was about remembering people who live in apartment buildings like this, people who live in affordable housing all over san francisco and the challenges that exist with not only maintaining those facilities but making sure that they are available and remain safe and affordable for so many residents who could get displaced when the buildings go on the market. that is why this acquisition program is so important. no one on the board of supervisors has been a stronger supporter of this program than supervisor sandy fewer. [applause] >> she continues to twist my arm to say, look, we haven't been able to do a lot around investments and affordable housing in my district on the west side of town so we need to do more to invest in small

sites. that is an opportunity to help stabilize low income families who live in these apartment buildings all over the west side who often times are not getting the support they need. this is really amazing. we will be protecting 12 affordable homes. this is the second small site on the west side of town. we have not only invested millions of dollars in the past year's budget to support the small sites. because of the voters passing a $600 million affordable housing bond we will invest another $30 million in small site acquisitions absolutely amazing. to date we have acquired 35 buildings with two 90 units in the sunset, mission, excel seo, soma and eight ash bury

neighborhoods with 137 total units in the pipeline that is $135 million of city funds committed to helping support 550 residents in san francisco. absolutely amazing. i want to thank meta and someone will speak today for being an amazing community partner. the city can invest the funds. without partners and people willing to do the work, we can't get this done in a timely manner. often times they are timely. we are grateful for the partnership with meta and the san francisco housing accelerator fund. they will talk in a minute. i want to thank the residents for their patience and excitement and trusting the city to work with us to make this happen. i know dan adams is here from

the mayor's office of housing. thank you for doing amazing work around affordable housing every day. with that i want to introduce thsupervisor for this district r small site acquisition, supervisor fewer. [applause] >> thank you. first i want to start off by saying a big thanks to a lot of people. meta coming out here and buying this property for us and managing it. it is a gift. i know it is out of your geographic area. thank you for keeping these homes here. to our may orthopedic and t -- . it takes everyone together. the san francisco housing accelerator fund and of course

our rock star tenants of 359 third avenue. i want to say this is why we are able to do this and this is why we do this. i also really want to thank the housing rights committee. we have a west side site. there are partners in everything. they are the first people we go to when we hear about a building going to be for sale. when people e-mail to say, help, my building is being sold. i don't know what to do. i have lived here for 44 years. we called hrc. we are partners to keeping our residents stage. i don't want to correct the mayor. this is the third site in the richmond district. all of them. >> two here and one over here. >> absolutely. we have one on 17th avenue which we saved. that was first. seniors are in that building. people who lived in the district

over 40 years. another win where at ninth where hamburger haven is. the mayor was there celebrating the acquisition of 14 units. sro units inhabited by chinese americans that are seniors. one lady was 98 years old. they have lived there for 25 years and can live there the rest of their live also. of course, this is our third. we know the richmond district this is the strategy that we are going to use to keep people stabilized and keep these wonderful families and the residents in the richmond district where they choose to live and they love. i want to again say thank you to meta. without them we could not have done this. you know, we have lost 500 units

of affordable housing in my district alone in the last 10 years. when we can acquire buildings that are already built that already have tenants in them and tenants who love our district and that we love having them here, too, this is a perfect combination that we can do as a city and we should do more of. our office has worked very hard, as the mayor mentioned, about getting more money for it and to acquire more sites. earlier this year we penned the community opportunity to purchase act, copa. that gives the organizations first but at the apple before it goes to the market. it gives non-profits a chance to buy them first. we need on the west side to to o rekeep more neighbors in the homes. with funding we received a grant

to come together and create our own west side nonprofit so we can buy more buildings all on the west side. not just my district but in the sunset. we offer legislation to put more money every year in to this site for affordable housing. now we have a plan, we are on our way, we hope to keep more people in home also in the richmond and keep my residents stage. 65% of my neighbors are renters. they are vulnerable i in the housing market. thank you all for making this happen. this is a great celebration on this rainy day. during this holiday season these wonderful residents no longer have to worry for 99 years this will be affordable. thank you everyone. (applause) >> it was smart to put remarks

in plastic to keep it from the rain. next one of the partners to address this, some of you know how critical i am of the city bureaucracy and how long it takes to get anything done. that is why this partner is so important. the san francisco housing acseller rater fund help us with the funding so that when we have the opportunity to purchase these buildings they are really the bridge to make sure there aren't any delays to sacrifice the opportunity to get hold of these buildings for the people who live there. rebecca foster is the chief executive officer of the san francisco housing accelerator fund. thank you so much for everything you do, rebecca. [applause] >> we do our work closely with meta. i will bring up the great team with us. as the mayor said, we are -- you

have to move at the pace of the market to get opportunities like this and to not lose the affordability for residents like the amazing residents here. that is what we do. we work with amazing community-based organizations like meta and provide the capital they need to buy acknowledges like this that are -- to buy buildings and to rehab them and make improvements to the buildings and partner with the city to come in with the capital that is needed to make them affordable for 99 years. this is our 15th project. we have over $118 million since we were created less than three years ago. as the supervisor said we need to trickle down to see these on the west side and also we love

working with meta and the supervisor on this effort to build more capacity for community-based developers out here to do more work like this. >> i am director of community real estate at meta. this is castro, chief project manager that made this happen for the residents to stay. it is a hustle to buy a building off the private market and make sure the residents are aware what we are doing and also keeping the seller confident we are going to buy the building and making sure we have the financing through the housing accelerator and with the mayor's office. we have been able to do this time and time again in the mission area and we are so excited to bring this to other parts of the city, including the sunset and richmond district. as you have heard from supervisor fewer and the mayor we are excitessed to do the

capacity building now that we have more funding to look at other parts of the city and really grow our smal small agait could to the big engine and replace displacement in our city. thank you. >> i also want you to hear from the residents. first is laura. she will talk about her experience. thank you for being here, laura. >> when we heard the building was going to be for sale the second time in two years. it was now what? when we saw the ad they posted for sale saying this was not rent controlled, our hearts dropped. what do you mean? we have been her 41 years under rent control. we were going buy the date of the occupancy. then we had a meeting, thanks to the san francisco housing

committee. they introducessed us to meta. we read and we thought, okay. we still were concerned. we were half and half about rent control. we did the appeals, people's rents were raised, not everyone but some. it got to be homed. then we realized that i was here 41 years but no one else has been. that is when you put aside things saying you do things for the betterment of all, not just yourself. it meant a lot. we got it done with the help of partners sandra and ian. every time i had a question, i sent them an e-mail. next day there was a response as busy as their jobs were. i don't know how to thank them enough. nor so the mayor for backing this project. thank you everyone. we are in homes, not going

somewhere else. it means so much. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, laura. now for another resident chloe and one of the newest residents of 369 third street. >> so we found out the building was for sale for the second time when i was pregnant five months with our baby. laura found out it was not rent control the day after we found out it was for sale which meant we would have the rent hiked up or they would tear it down or put people who wanted to spend a lot of money to live here. i decided no, i was not going to be moved out of my home. i was not going to let that happen to the rest of the tenants in the home.

we are part of what makes the san francisco heart beat what it is. this is full of families and retired people. it wasn't going to happen. i am so grateful there was so much support and passionate people who put their effort to keep san francisco what it is supposed to be. very passionate people. i just i can't say enough,and i want everyone out there in the city to know you don't have to feel paralyzed. i did not know where to turn. i got a postcard from impact the next day and called them instead of throwing it away in the mail and that got the ball rolling. you don't have to be -- you are not victims. we are people who are backed by amazing humans with big heart goes to keep the city the way it is supposed to be.

thank you so much. (applause) >> well, there you have it. good news for a change in san francisco. i know we have real challenges in our city. challenges that so many people work on every single day to address, and because of an amazing group of people we have been able to create just a little bit of a good opportunity here for so many people who deserve it. i am so grateful to all of the people that played a role in getting us to this point. it took a village. now that is a home for years to come, and i am grateful to everyone who rolled up your sleeve goes to make it happen.

you can't wait to continue to do more acquisitions like this all over san francisco. thank you for braving the cold and rain to be here. it is worth it. we have more work to do. i know with supervisor fewer pushing for these acquisitions on the west side and all you alr san francisco we will save people in their existing housing for generations to come. thank you again for your support and being here today. >> good morning.

i will call to order the period meeting for the transbay joint powers board meeting for thursday, december 12, 2019. would you call the roll please. (roll call). you do have a quorum. call your next item.