>> good morning. thank you so much. i am mayor london breed. i am excited to be here today joined by supervisors safai and vallie brown. this, as you all know, is a representation of a lot of the work that we have been doing in san francisco t to come up with

creative solutions to address homelessness. we have to understand sometimes it is not one size fits all, and trying to understand exactly the challenges that people who are homeless are dealing with and meeting them where they are and getting them the help and support they need to transition into a more permanent stable housing situation is something that we care about. this is why we have been fighting so hard to build more shelter beds, to look at places that are under utilized space to identify weighs in which we can have temporary or permanent space for shelter to allow for a situation like this where we are taking a parking lot slated for 100% affordable house anything the near future and using it when it is not being used for a place for people to safely park, get supported services and

resources and make sure that we are able to help people transition into a permanent situation. i will say that i am really proud to work with two individuals who have been the leaders in this effort. starting with the board of supervisors and understanding there are so many people before the homeless count was released that showed we had an increase in the number of people living in vehicles. these two supervisors led the efforts around solutions around safe parking for those who unfortunately are sleeping in their vehicles. as a way to provide a safe place like where we are standing here today. in october of 2019, the city counted over 700 occupied vehicles in san francisco, both passenger cars and rvs so we know that this is something that we need to provide a solution

for. i want to be clear because the first thing you hear from folks it is not enough. it is better than what it was. there was nothing in the past. now this is an example. this is not from my understanding what we are trying to propose here today is not something that we are familiar with anyplace in the united states where this is happening and actually has a track record of proving successful. we are stepping out to be the first to try something different, that we are hoping could work to support people that we know need support. i want to thank not just the supervisors but i really want to thank urban because they are the ones that you will hear from them in a minute. this program is absolutely incredible in the civic center area and other places throughout

san francisco working with so many vulnerable population of san francisco, helping to keep the neighborhoods and civic center and downtown area safe and clean and accessible and treating people with respect and dignity. i appreciate the work they are doing. i also want to appreciate the lake view omi community. mr. and mrs. harris are here and steve and others. this is not something always popular to do. not only did supervisor safai lead in this effort to have community meetings to talk about this location used for this purpose, he really took a lot of hits from the community and, fortunately, so many community members were open and willing to allow this use to take place, and we truly appreciate the neighborhood for allowing us to do this on a temporary basis.

this vehicle triage center is something, i think, that can be potentially duplicated throughout san francisco. ultimately, the goal is to get people into safe affordable housing that is really the goal of this. this is a way to bring people inside, to provide showers, to provide restroom facilities, to make sure that we are doing it in a way that meets people where they are and treatings them with respect and dignity. i am grateful to be here today to kick this off. i do want to say that a lot of work through the mayor's office on homelessness has gone into identifying all over san francisco people who are living in their vehicles and trying to create, you know, a way to know what already exists. i want to make it clear that this is not an open invitation to people in other counties to

come to san francisco because the fact is we have a long waiting list of people who we have identified and they will be our priority along with other unhoused individuals who sadly are sleeping on the streets. we, of course, invite other counties to look at this as an example and to do their part in addressing this issue. this is not just an issue unique to san francisco. this is an issue that impacts the entire state of california. we are hopeful we will partner in the near future to talk about ways to move forward with solutions like this and others to make sure that san francisco is not the only city and county bearing the burden of the expense of doing unique things like we are doing today. with that since the rain is coming down and you guys know i don't like to get my hair wet. we are on dangerous territory

here. i would like to introduce the supervisor safai. [applause] >> we will pause for mayor breed to have an umbrella. (laughter) >> you know, i want to say i think this is historic day in san francisco. i know that people have been talking about doing safe parking in one form or another for over a decade, but truly we are standing here today because of the individuals that stand behind me. we had a situation where i went out and told the story a few time also. i went out on christmas day with my daughter. santa had gotten her a bike and we went to the playground and the street was lined with people living in rvs.

i thought what is happening? so i called s.f.m.t.a., got started getting calls from neighbors. they were saying they wanted these cars removed. i think that the knee jerk reaction in these situations is to just think about the vehicles but not think about the individuals that are occupying these vehicles. these are folks that are human being just like you and me. they are working, often times students, often times they are veterans, they are people who are productive members of society and want to be respected like you and me. i will tell you, my knee jerk reaction was to call and say where are the signs, we need no overnight parking signs up. s.f.m.t.a. said we are going to pause, we are not going to keep doing this. it just pushes people from one block to another.

then i got back to my office and there was a photograph of a young woman living in an rv, and it was a handwritten note from supervisor brown that said let's work on this together in a humane way. that really caused me to pause, and i walked into her office and i said don't blind side me like that again. we kind of had a laugh, but the truth was i said you are right. we have to do this the right way. we buckled down, the staff buckled down and wrote a piece of legislation. we went around the bay area and looked at best practices. we crafted a piece of legislation. the reason that this is able to happen is because of that piece of legislation. we also march would into -- marched into may or breed's

office. >> mayor breed: you walked. >> there were two of us. we marched. we had an uncomfortable conversation. by the end, the mayor committed money, and she challenged me. are you going to put one of these in your district? i said i absolutely am. i know where we can go. i called mission housing development. they had gotten control of this site. i called jeff and we had a conversation to say can this be the first place where we do safe parking? fast forward. it looked like once the census came in that there really was a justification for doing this. out of the increase in homelessness, 70% of the increase and i think it was 13% increase in homelessness, 70%

are living in vehicles. if now, was not the time then it would never be the time. we did that. the mayor allocated over $1 million for this effort. we engaged the community. as the mayor mentioned, steve and the reverend. the improvement association, 45 individuals in the room and we took a vote. after that vote it was a unanimous vote to proceed with this. we had a community meeting and 600 people showed up. by the end an and mary and i wil tell you we never have 600 people show up for a meeting. it leaned towards support. we wanted to be the first and share in the responsibility of dealing with the homeless

crisis. i want to thank the mayor and i want to give a special thanks to the department of public works. we would not have been able to move as fast as we would if they hadn't been able to get this ready you see the solar panels, security cameras, lighting, privacy fencing, restriping, bathrooms, office space and urban will be here on site 24 hours per day, at least two individuals. we have the captain, liaison with the bart police. wwe are working with s.f.m.t.a. yes there will be tough loved involved. when we go out to proactively move people out of the streets where they are living in vehicles, we are not going to invite more individuals to occupy those spaces.

s.f.m.t.a. will put up the signs to encourage people to omentalis these spaces. myself and soon pe supervisor bn called for a meeting. president yee is looking for a location. supervisor walton is looking for space in his district. it will be a humane way. i want to thank everyone today. i want to thank the individuals that made this possible, and we are going to continue to look to expand and make this model a successful model. as the mayor said, in one year we will break ground on 100% affordable housing on the site. we will see what works, what i am provements can be made and how to do it better and how san francisco can lead throughout the bay area. i will introduce supervisor

vallie brown my co-sponsor in this effort. >> thank you, super-vior and mayor breed. it was over a year ago that i did send a photo to his office of me living in a van when i was 13. as some of you know, my mom had odd jobs. she was always struggling to make ends meet. there were times she didn't have enough money for the next aren't. she would borrow a van from a friend and we would live in the van until she was able to get money for the next apartment. as a child of 13 living in a van, there is a lot of struggles. there are things you have to wear a bathing suit all of the time. why do you wear a bathing suit? because you went to the gas

station to rest up. you couldn't be naked. you had to have a bathing suit. you had to do homework before sundown because there was no light only a flashlight. you had nowhere to cook meals. these things that we don't think about are things that you think about when you live in a vehicle. you have to plan your life so carefully when you live in a vehicle. and i have to say the things sometimes are meant to be. as a child i don't have many photographs of myself. we move so much and you lose things. i found this photo of me living in the van at 13. i felt like it was meant to be of me moving forward to say why aren't we thinking differently about housing people? helping people that are struggling? iit is a thin veil from from

being homeless on the street. i never tried t to do a this wih you. you never know who lives in these vehicles. thank you may or breed for putting the money forward because it was $1 million to say let's try this out. thank you to this community for stepping up to say let us be the first. i absolutely feel we are going to need more through the city like we need navigation centers, homeless centers, we need more. this is the beginning. thank you everyone for coming and for sharing and supporting. let's move forward. thank you. [applause] >> the folks that will manage this is urban. they are the wantings who have been doing an incredible job

with the civic center, ambassadors of the community. managing the public toilets or overseeing public spaces in other areas and trying to get people help and support, and in some cases connectedded to the homeless outreach team. this are an invaluable resource in san francisco. the person in charge is lana miller. [applause] >> thank you, mayor breed. thank you. i want to thank everybody who allowed us to be part of this effort. it is very, very important. as we see homelessness is continuing to increase all of the time. we are tasked with continuing to find ways to deal with it. a lot of people, sometimes people get frustrated in the city and there is a lot of that.

what i see from my perspective because as mayor breed said we are all around the city in every intersection where you see a mix of homelessness and mental illness and addiction, there we are. from what i have seen from that perspective and talking with people from all over the country is this situation is only getting worse. we are not in a position to say we don't want to deal with it. we can't deal with it, we must deal with it and we must find creative ways to address people with love, with respect, with dignity. as supervisor brown said, that used to be her. it used to be and is a lot of our family members. it is not going anywhere. it is up to us as human beings to find ways to scale up. what we saw with the fires

recently is that a lot of people are now living in their vehicles. i think when we see more and more people displaced through climate change we are going to see more and more people who are living in the streets. now we have to get in front of this. i am really, really honored to be part of the thought partners who aren't saying it is somebody else's problem. we need to find a way to get people out of here so people feel comfortable, but people putting their headins together o find creative ways to address this with love and dignity. eventually we all have to scale. thank you very much. we are really great full for the opportunity to be part of this. [applause] >> thank you. our last speaker today is a person who grew up in san francisco in the bayview-hunters point community and one of the

first clients that we will work with here, sandra youth. (applause) >> hello, i am sandra hughes. i was born and raised in san francisco. as a child i experienced a lot of trauma. as a result i have struggled most of my life with trusting anyone. even those who want to help me. i am currently home less and i live in my rv. the neighborhood around me has changed. where i used to ride my bike as a child, there are businesses. the community members yell at me not to park there, to move away. they treat me as if i am less than human. i wish they could understand i don't want to live in the rv or have to park there either. i want what everyone else wants,

safety, dignity and a community. i don't feel safe living in my rv. it has been broken into five time also. i am scared every night when i try to sleep. i don't feel safe around people. shelters are not an option for me. when the team told me about the vtc opening up and gave me information, i thought the opportunity to move into the vehicle triage center with my rv would offer me safety and security. maybe i could learn to build trust with people until i can find stable housing. i want to have a key for my apartment, i want to connect with my family. i want safety. this would be a first step in the feeling of safety my allow me to heal and rebuild my life. thank you.

(applause) >> thank you again for sharing your story. as you can see we have a lot of work to do in the city. part of it is the opening of this parking lot as a safe place for people to park, but ultimately it all goes back to housing. you feel like i repeat this over and over again. it is not just the money necessary to build housing. we know san francisco is one of the most expensive places to build housing in the first place. it is also about having the courage to cut back on the bureaucratic red tape so we don't have to wait years to build housing so that people like sandra and so many others sleeping on the streets have a place to call home. this is what we will continue to work on.

yes, we celebrate a milestone that we have this parking lot for people to park safely, but, ultimately, they nehousing. we have to do a better job as a city to build it. thank you to the department of public works, the hot team and be the work you do on the streets, thank you to the san francisco police department and the folks who work with us. wrap it up. it is time to go. thank you. [applause]

>> good morning. today is wednesday, december 18, 2019. this is the regular meeting of the building inspection commission. please turn off electronic devices. first item is roll call. (roll call)