we will begin with... >> microphone? >> can you hear me? can you hear me back there? good. good afternoon, welcome to the mayor's disability council this friday, january 17, 2020 in room 400 of san francisco city hall. city hall is accessible to persons using wheelchairs. assisted listening devices are available and our meeting is open captioned and sign language

interpreted. our agendas are available in large print. ask staff for additional assistance. to prevent electronic interferes with the sound system, please silence all mobile phones. the mayor's disability council public meetings are generally held on the third friday of every other month. please call the mayor's office on disability for further information or to request aecom -- accommodations at 1-415-554-6789, or by e-mail at mod@sfgov.org. our next regular meeting will be on friday, february 21, 2020. 1 to 4 p.m. in this hearing room.

i'm not sure that was actually accurate. it says every other -- we have changed our meeting schedule so that we are now meeting nine months out of the year. so what i just read is fake news. [laughter]. we are meeting pretty much monthly. the months that we are not meeting are -- heather, help me out here -- >> july, december. >> it's the months -- the off months are december, june and august. >> thank you, nicole. okay, i'd like to read the

action item. it is an action item. i'm going to read the agenda and we will vote on approving the agenda. we've had the welcome -- >> next is roll call. >> oh, i apologize. roll call. >> stephen herman here. co-chair is absent. lily marshall-fricker here. council member alex madrid here. council member helen pelzman present. council member orkid here.

council member smolinski here. kate williams here. tiffany yu absent. read ongoing of the agenda. a reminder to our guests to speak slowly to assist captioners and interpreters. public comment. items not on today's agenda but within the jurisdiction. we welcome the public's participation during the public comment period. there will be an opportunity for public comment at the beginning and end of the meeting as well as after every item on today's agenda. each comment is limited to three minutes and the council will respond to your comments following the meeting with you provide your contact information. you may complete a speaker's card available in the front of the room, approach the microphone during public comment or call our bridge line at 1-415-554-9632.

where a staff person will handle requests to speak at the appropriate time. co-chair report. report from mayor's office on disability. accessibility progress in response to the executive directive, 1702 and 1301, mayor's direct tiff on housing. question and public comment. break. the council will take a 15-minute break. reasonable accommodations in housing. council questions and public comment is welcome. public comment. correspondence. council member comments and announcements. adjourned. to receive notices of the mdc meeting and copies of the agenda, please contact the mayor's office on disability. thank you, heather. did nicole -- did you want to go

first with a report, or did you want me to go into co-chair report? i think you had some items you wanted -- >> i think next is public comment. items not on the agenda. >> oh, and then the reports. >> nicole: and then the reports. >> very good. i have three cards. >> nicole: okay, great sorry. go ahead. we're good. >> this is my first public meeting with the mdc. i have had a lot of experience with other public meetings, but if it seems a little woozy today, just give me a little space. i would appreciate that. okay. let's go with robert fitch, who submitted the first card. >> thank you. my name is robert fitch and i'm instructor with city college of

san francisco disabled students programs and services. i'll try to make this quick. you've all been seeing articles in the paper about class cuts. there have been meetings at the board of trustees and supervisors about possible funding solutions, et cetera. there is a glaring omission to the coverage and that is city college has a dual role. it is the community college and the adult school. san francisco unified does not provide classes with adults with disabilities or older adults or people needing english as a second language. that function has been carried out by city college since 1970. when you read the newspaper articles you would have no idea there are two different fundi streams. many of our non-funded classes are base no facility cost to the

college. when they refer to the accreditation crisis and change in the funding for credit classes, it has nothing to do with city college's obligation as the adult education provider for san francisco. i have left more demographic information about things like 50% of all noncredit students being over 40 and that adult ed is part of their mission. if they're trying to give it away, there needs to be a much more thorough discussion of what the impact would be and who would carry out those functions. thank you. >> just for the sake of transparency, i want to just mention that i was a faculty member and administrator with city college for 30 years. and i'm very well aware of the situation. and i'd like to talk to you

after. >> great. i'm on my way to a workshop in honor of change-makers and disability culture over at the library, but we'll certainly be in touch. i left my e-mail. thank you so much. >> okay. zack? okay. >> thank you. i'd like to request an extra minute so i can speak slower for the sign language interpreters. i have a lot to say because this is the first meeting this council has had to address, is that all right? >> no, it's not an accommodation issue. but thank you for trying that.

>> hi, my name is zack. i'm a disability advocate. i'm disabled myself, san francisco resident and journalist. i'm here today for a number of reasons. i'm highly concerned about the recent actions of the mayor's office on disability and the mayor disability council. it seems this office which was created to help people with disabilities overcome unnecessary bureaucracy and have increased access to services, is increasingly becoming the opposite of that. there are new barriers this office has put in place. meetings reduced from 12 to 6 and then after my constant dmran complaining about that, we have nine meetings a month, it's good, it's an improvement, however last november was cancelled and this is the first i'm i've been able to address the council since september.

the e-mails for the disability council have been removed from public access now. i'm told to reach out to mod to contact you directly. i have no idea if my e-mails are making it to this council. there is a five-day response time that is sent to disabled people, that's in addition -- that's five business days to respond in addition to a 30-day time to investigate any ada complaints or issues. there is now a two-day presubmission requirement. i have -- which i think is really silly. and i've also requested that announcements that are made at this meeting be included as handouts for those of us with disability and special needs that can't use a computer and that has been denied to me as well. wa is worst of all, i've been ignored by the mayor's office on

disability. i have half a dozen e-mails dating back to october 2nd. i hesitate to use the word ignored, but when it's half a dozen e-mails dating back months and months, i don't know what else to call it. i don't know what else to call it. i've made reasonable disability accommodation requests, suggestions for improvements because i think these meetings are helpful and i fail to get a response. i sent certified mail letters. no response. these are issues where i'm asking for help filing grievances, which is what this council is supposed to do. one of the letters i've not received a reply from. it says, these meetings are helpful for the community, however, 2019 has been a poor show of support from mod and mdc. i don't know if there is a budget issue or change in leadership, but the staff's

willingness to assist me has dropped off considerably. thank you for your time. >> thank you, zack. robin. >> hi, welcome. i'm robin currently secretary with save muni. and i'm here to talk about the new muni rail cars which are going to be up and ordered soon. the first 50 are going to have four forward seats in them and then they're adding two seats which is are transfers in the back for a total of 6. i can't stand, i can't sit sideways, i can only sit in the forward-backwards seat. we're going from 20 down to 6 which is a huge drop in terms of the public for the disabled and

seniors. we've gone from 20 to 6, which is 14 minus. the next 101 cars are going to have eight plus four in the back for a total of 12 transfer seats. that is going to be equal to the longitudinal ones which are sideways, which is a good solution for the cars. the bench seats cars, they're going to be retrofitted because everyone is complaining with the benches. they're going to look like the first 50 with four forward seats and two in the back. the reason i'm here today is because the graphic for the extra two or four in the back shows the seats facing backwards. so let's say we're entering the front of the car and those of us who can't stand or sit sideways need that seat and those people are facing backwards. it's going to be impossible to make eye contact with them to say, is anybody able to provide a seat for us, we're disabled or

whatever we are. or the driver even to get their attention. if they're facing backwards, we're going to be yelling over the car, disrupting the riders, to get the attention of the people who are confused why they're being addressed in the first place. what i'm asking for is no not in the add. it's -- ada. but i'm asking for assistance for all of you to communicate with the sfmta and ask them to turn the seats around, so they face forward. so those of us entering a car or the driver who might want to help us can literally get eye contact and say, are you able to get up and provide a seat for someone who needs one? that's what i'm here to do. i think i'll fill out a comment card again. i saw i can get feedback and i'd like to do that. it's a current issue. it's happening right now. so thank you for your attentions. >> thank you for bringing that

to our attention. before we move on to the co-chair report, is anybody else -- has anybody else submitted a card? are you submitting another card for now? oh, very good. thank you. okay. so we are now moving into co-chair report. and i'm happy to report that at our last executive -- nicole, did you want to go first? >> nicole: go ahead. >> at our last executive meeting which was the end of last year, we had a very positive meeting, i thought, in which we reviewed a lot of the action items that were completed or needed

follow-up. and it was very helpful that we had a good meeting by the sense that everybody raised their hand pretty much and said they would work on specific issues that they felt were important or that they had a particular in working on. we now have a road map for this coming year in which individual council members will be working on various items that were addressed last year that may not have been completed. we did increase the number of meetings to nine so there would be more public availability to public comment and public hearings. and we have reduced the number of presentations from three to two. so that there is more time for public input and hearing and that we're not as rushed as we

seem to have been in the past. i would like to turn this over to two other people very quickly. one is nicole and one is helen p. to maybe talk about her ideas about working -- we have tasked her to help us work on the development of a website that would then link to the website for mdc. so let's start with nicole. and then maybe -- >> nicole: go ahead with the council business first. and then i'll follow. >> helen, are you okay with giving an update? >> sure. >> ms. pelzman: i am a brand new council member and my stated mission when i became a member was to create a comprehensive listing of resources that are

available for the disabled community in san francisco. and that is what i'm pursuing and what steven just referenced. we are hoping to be able to coordinate with the newly named disabled and adult services commission. i believe that is the new acronym. so i'm going to refer to that as d.a.f. my understanding is they're under way in trying to do the same task. so in the interest of being efficient in government, what a novel concept, i will be working with them to coordinate what i hope will be a very comprehensive list of services. this will -- my vision for it will include not only city-based services, but also state resources and community-based and nonprofit resources. and i'm doing this basically as

a result of my own personal experience as a relatively new san francisco resident who became disabled as a result of an accident. and needed to find out what kind of resources were available to me to help with transit and health, et cetera. and to my disbelief i discovered there wasn't one. and as a result of that motivation -- or that experience, i feel very motivated to do this to help. my other people who are in our community. and if there are any specific interests or requests from the public that you would like me to consider as part of the content for this, i would be happy to review them. right now, we're working on trying to figure out how to have

our e-mails and our e-mail correspondence become a little more fluid between public and the commission members. so that's why we have suggested -- or we have recommended that e-mails go through the mod and then are distributed to us as it relates to, i think, both content and whomever the individual has been identified as the recipient. and if anybody has any questions -- do i open this? i guess i don't open it up to the report. >> no, it's just a report. >> ms. pelzman: i'm new, too. i would like to hear from you who are interested in learning more or have suggestions what we can include in content. >> mr. herman: thank you, helen. nicole? >> nicole: good afternoon, everybody. thank you for coming. thank you to everyone who is

watching on sfgovtv and anyone on the bridge line. i have a number of announcements today that, due to time constraints i need to provide orally, but the events i'm talking about are all posted and about to be posted on the mod website, so we'll have them available there for now. the first announcement i'm very excited about, as of monday, this past monday, january 13, we have a new staff person in mod. i would like to welcome eman who is our new grievance referral and training coordinator. she's in the audience today, so you'll get a chance to know her also. we're extremely excited she has started with us. and we appreciate everyone's patience as we have been -- we continue to go through staffing

transition and folks on leave. we have two other positions whose postings just closed. so those positions, interviews will be happening by the end of this month. so i am very excited as we continue to rebuild and bring everybody on so we can respond to everybody in the best way possible. so welcome eman to our office. we're very glad to have you. the next announcement that i have pertains to better market street. i wanted to mention that this did go out to the mayor's office on disability distribution i believe this morning, but this thursday, january 23rd is the second community meeting about better market street and accessibility, specifically geared towards community members with disabilities, although if

you do not have a disability and would like it attend, please do. the intent is to discuss the following. mta and public works are going to be talking about quick-build implementation, including new vehicle restrictions that are going into effect at the end of this month. there will be sharing information on the overall better market street project, including loading zones and passenger pickup and drop-off, and also how that will impact taxi, paratransit, über and lyft and address any questions or concerns you may have. so, again that meeting is thursday, january 23rd, it is being held along with the colleagues at the white house for the blind and visually impaired at 1155 market street on the 10th floor.

it is in the early evening from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. if you would -- there will be asl interpretation provided, so you don't need to request interpretation. for other reasonable accommodation requests, should there be any, the contact for that is p.g. (415) 558-4498. the next thing i would like this mention is this morning, mayor breed and speaker pelosi formally kicked off census 2020. i wanted to make sure -- i know this council has heard from our group who have been helping to coordinate census activities, but the dates are approaching. the census will go live in mid march of this year. i wanted to let the public and

the council know that senior and disability action is helping to coordinate disability-specific outreach. if you're interested in being part of that effort, please let me know and we can get you in contact with senior and disability action. the mayor's office on disability will continue to be involved as well. also for any other community groups or advocacy groups, disability-related, there are mini grants available for your organizations if you would like your organization to have some funding to do census outreach. that is available. so you can speak with me more about that if you would like more information. the next thing i'd like to let people know about is that the city hazards and mitigation plan has been submitted to fema for review. we submit our hazard and mitigation plan every few years

to ensure we'll continue to have funding from the federal government in the event of a disaster. i did want to highlight a few recommendations that pertain to accessibility that were mentioned in the plan. both of which have been brought up by this council before as a concern. one is recommendation that we will do an assessment of our ongoing emergency shelters that are available to make sure that we are meeting our accessibility requirements. and also, emergency evacuation for people with mobility disabilities has been elevated and highlighted as a need the city needs to continue to address. as we move forward, i would encourage the council to consider violenting our -- inviting our colleagues so she can learn about the implementation there. i have two more things i would like to announce today.

one is last week, we kicked off the final year of the current phase of the recommendations for the age and disability friendly task force. their formal report is public and online on the disability and aging services website. the implementation task force is co-chaired by myself and my colleague kelly dearman from in-home supportive services public authority. this effort incorporates many things over eight domains. just a few that i would like to highlight are efforts around reducing ageism, disability, aging and employment, technology, public spaces, and also this is where the resource guide that supervisor -- or council person -- i met with the supervisors this morning --

council person pelzman mentioned earlier. those meetings meet every other month and are also open to the public. i'm happy to provide more information about that as well. finally, i wanted to let folks know that conversations are starting to happen around celebrating the 30th anniversary of the ada, which will be in july of this year. which is very exciting. and speaking of disability, i wanted to draw your attention to an exhibit that was mentioned by one of our public commenters just a few minutes ago. change-makers, bay area disability pride is on exhibit at the library now through march 15th. and it is a fantastic exhibit of people with disabilities, their art, portraits of people with

disabilities who are selected by their peers as change-makers and all of the art was also completed by people with disabilities. so, please do take time to go to the sixth floor of the library and check out the exhibit. there will also be several activities coming up in march. there is one going on right now. an artist workshop. but there are four more activities connected with the exhibit. the one that i think that the council may be particularly interested in, although i think you should go to all of them, but the one i think you would really enjoy is conversation with alex locust in conversation with change-makers of the future. he's going to be talking to young people with disabilities about what they see as what it

means to be disabled and activist. so that particular session is wednesday, march 11, from 6 to 7:30 in the latino hispanic community room, lower level. this is posted on the mod website as well. and please do take advantage of these great opportunities to come together in community. and that is what i'd like to highlight for today. thank you. >> mr. herman: thank you, nicole. adding onto your last comment. i would just lining to mention that -- like to mention that the council has taken a position that july would be a great month for us to inaugurate a yearly disabled pride month event and activities. and that we are hoping to

solicit support from the mayor's office regarding that. so, thank you for that. so, we are now doing well on time. and we're having a presentation, is that correct? are you doing that? >> nicole: yes. yes. i'm going to switch gears. if it's okay. i'm going to stay here and talk about -- i do have a few slides. were those loaded? it would be great if someone could drive those. thank you, dawn. i'll let you know when. thank you so much. let me -- i need to get it, though. hang on a second.

>> nicole: okay. so, we were hoping today that we would have a presentation that council's hope was that we would have a presentation from our colleagues in the mayor's office on housing and community development on overall housing stock, and the housing search process through dahlia. unfortunately, we had a relatively short notice cancellation, so in lieu of their coming in -- and i do hope that council does invite them back -- i believe that's the intention as of now -- in lieu of their presentation, i thought we would talk for a few minutes on the mayor's office on disabilities direct involvement in accessible housing and our little piece of that. so that's what this presentation

will focus on. so this is about our accessibility progress in response to the executive director on housing that were set by the mayor. so just to give you a little bit of background. mod, the mayor's office on disability, our architectural staff, our senior building inspectors, do reviews for new affordable housing and renovated affordable 100% public housing. and we have a specific accessibility triggers that we look at in order to identify that. and there are certain things we are always looking at in terms of mobility accessibility, communication access, and adaptability. all other nonpublic housing that the city has and those housing projects that are standard

market rate are reviewed for accessibility by our colleagues in dbi. so group's awareness, today's data is going to look specifically at the public housing progress that we've made in terms of accessibility review, but it does not incorporate and encompass all of the housing stock that is reviewed by dbi and also managed through our colleagues at mohcd, the mayor's office on housing and community development. the mayor's executive directive, we're asking city departments to accelerate housing production and improve our processes, both internal and external. and so what that means in terms of mod's involvement is that we were able to receive authorization for a staffing

position that would review our affordable housing projects, housing specific projects. so that was one. the item we were able to proceed on because of the directives, which is good news. we were also able, through our process, we're working on identifying common errors that we see when we're working with our colleagues, architects and developers on the plans and in the field. we're in the process of finalizing nine technical bulletins on common errors that we see around egress, closets, cabinets and a variety of other things to help get the information out there, so that folks know what to do in terms of providing accessibility without needing to make corrections. and finally, we're working on internal routing procedures to

make sure that the mayor's office on disability architectural staff are seeing and reviewing every project we're intended to see. so we're making sure that accessibility is being provided to the greatest extent possible. >> nicole: so with that, i'm going to flip to our -- the first slide today which i will describe. the first slide talks about -- i apologize that the captioning goes over the bar, but i will talk through it. so the first slide talks about new projects by district and type for last year. so this is one year's worth of data that we were able to pull together in the time that we had. we have more data than this, but this is the most recent data that we have. so what this first graph shows

is that mod reviews affordable housing projects and then also we have other projects that come to us as part of our city responsibility to review accessibility for our city facilities also. so this also does not incorporate every city facility, but to the ones that came to mod, the -- there is a blue bar that talks about housing. and orange bar is nonhousing projects that we receive and that we've reviewed. so what the graph shows is that the majority of the projects that we receive for both housing and nonhousing is in district 6, which makes sense, because a lot of our city facilities are right here in district 6. and we also had a fair number of

projects in districts 9 and district 3. and it varies from there. but that's the majority of the projects are in districts 6, 9, 3. and then the next slide shows the number of total units when we're breaking down just the housing projects, the kinds of units that were providing accessibility comment on. so we focused on districts 3, 6, 8 and 9, because that is where we had the majority of our projects last year. and you will see that the graph indicates -- we break things down by the number of mobility

units, so that means mobility units are units that are accessible by code for people who use wheelchairs. communication units are units specifically for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. and then adaptable units means that the infrastructure is not currently in the unit, but it is built so is that if we need to adapt a particular unit for accessibility, we can easily do that by adding grab bars and doing other things. and the number of units that were required to review is set for us by code and also by tax credit. so generally, with 100% affordable housing public housing, what that means is 10% of the total number of units must be mobility units.

4% must be communication units. and everything else needs to be adaptable. okay? so what the graph then shows, in district 3, we had 151 adaptable units, 19 mobility units, and 8 communication units. the majority of the units that we reviewed, again, were in district 6 as i mentioned, where we had 89 mobility units accessible for folks with wheelchairs. 38 communication units. and 802 units that we reviewed that were adaptable. district 8, 71 adaptable, 10 mobility and 4 communication. and district 9, 92 mobility units, 287 adaptable units, and 22 communication units.

then our final slide. talks about the finalized projects by district. can you still hear me okay? my phone came off, my microphone. okay. so we'll set that over. so the finalized projects by district. so finalized means in the mayor's office of disability we get the projects in several phases. so the first phase that we review is just the plans. and then we go back and forth with the architects and the design teams and the developers to provide them feedback. and then once the projects are approved on the plan, and construction is under way, then we have a series of site

inspections that we provide until the project is finalized. so mod is lucky in that we're able to both see the project plan and then typically the same inspector will be then going out once it is starting to be in the ground and continue to give feedback. that total process takes about three years right now between -- by the time we first see plans and the time the project is all the way up and finalized and we're ready to do ribbon-cutting. so this graph here is talking about the projects that we finalized last year. i'm not going to read each data by district, but the graph indicates that -- so on this graph, when it says e.d., that means executive directive, those are housing projects.

other, are the other city funded housing projects that mod looked at. so the majority of the housing projects that we finalized last year were in districts 5 and district 6 and 9 were the majority of our public housing. that is what that graph represents. and then just quickly to close out, looking forward, we were able to do some projection for what is in our housing project pipeline for public housing accessibility review for the next two years. and we expect that 17 new projects will be coming to mayor's office on disability of various sizes from medium size to very large projects between 2020 and 2022.

so that is a very brief snapshot of what mod's work looks like in terms of housing. i'm happy to take any questions that the council might have. >> mr. herman: you need to -- >> i have to hit my? >> mr. herman: alex. >> mr. madrid: good. happy new year. couple of questions. what is it you review on all of the accessibility on housing. >> for public housing. not all housing, but public housing. >> mr. madrid: public and city-owned housing. >> city facilities that are not project managed by public works.

if public works is the primary project manager for the city facility, when the public works access team is doing those reviews. >> mr. madrid: thank you for that. and so my question is, when you're saying that some adaptable units for someone who needed grab bars, showerhead, whatever may be, i just wonder how come it has to be --

written? so if someone needed that -- needed to move in, it's ready for them to use that. i have to work six months to get it done. can you tell us how that process -- how come it's like that? >> nicole: well, i can try. some of this is all set by the code. so there is -- so in terms of percentages and the numbers, that is all identified through the california building code. and so i think -- but i think the city's intention and i think this would be a good question for when our colleagues in the

mayor's office on housing come in, the intention is that if people have a need mobility units, that those mobility units will be first prioritized for people with mobility disabilities to use them. and i think the intention then with the adaptability is that the adaptable units would go to folks who wouldn't necessarily have mobility as their primary need, but maybe as folks age, they have different needs for different kinds of features, right. and so in the public housing, we want to make sure that we're making sure that all of our spaces get filled so we don't have vacancies when we have so many folks waiting for housing. we want to prioritize mobility units for folks with mobility needs. and we want to make sure we're

addressing as many other concerns of folks that would be in our public housing facilities as possible as they age, so that they can ideally age in place. >> mr. madrid: thank you. >> mr. herman: helen? >> thanks. hi. so i'm on the dahlia website right now. are these the same types of units that you're providing support and advice for? and guidance? >> nicole: some of them are, but the dahlia website focuses on below market rate housing, i'm talking about 100% public housing. >> i didn't get a chance to -- where are those units available for the public to see? >> so this is why we need our colleagues at mayor's office on housing to come and talk to us, because this is -- this is what they -- this is what they --

this is what they do. once we sign off on the actual accessibility of the projects, it is the responsibility of our colleagues to make sure that then becomes part of the inventory. that would be a good question for them in terms of the how, once they come and visit and give the presentation. >> okay. i believe they presented the dahlia project to us last september, is that correct? >> nicole: they presented on the accessibility features of dahlia, but not how the dahlia portal actually works. >> right. and at that time i mentioned that -- and there currently are still not any visual images of actual units in -- on their website. so you see the exterior of a building, but if you are somebody interested in finding something that is accessible and

it sounds like you guys have done on enormous amount of work around this, those individuals who are in need of that resource can't even see what it looks like. >> nicole: i really encourage the council to provide that feedback to the mayor's office. >> we did in september. i made that same comment. >> nicole: and i think we need to continue to talk to them. and if they -- it's my understanding they're going to be invited to attend again in february. that would be great conversation for them. >> okay. i guess, can the council ask for not just a conversation, but some degree of accountability? like where are you in the process of making this happen? >> nicole: absolutely. i think you can follow up with, there is letters that are out there, that have been written by the council. the council, however you'd like to follow up, i think that's

great. just trying to make clear that they really are the ones that need to respond to that piece of it. >> thank you. >> mr. herman: just to follow up on your question. i think a letter was sent to them to ask specifically for follow-up on this particular issue. and the other issues that were raised in that meeting. if it never got sent, i'd like to make sure that we review that. i think we did, didn't we? >> nicole: i think there were multiple letters. so it would be good maybe in the executive meeting to review what -- because there have been some responses. but if it's not the response that the council is looking for, then that would be good follow-up between january and february meeting. >> mr. herman: exactly. >> ms. pelzman: we'll take care of that next week. >> mr. herman: can we put that on the agenda for the executive

meeting. orkid? [inaudible] >> nicole: those are specifically communication units for people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. [inaudible] does that mean... >> nicole: so maybe -- do you want to say something to that? [please stand by]

>> often public housing does not provide that and it can take a

deaf person having to explain a lot to the landlord in terms of how to get accommodations. that can be a serious challenge. it can be a lot of work in public housing. that becomes the responsibility of the landlord so providing that information to make sure that that is available can be very expensive. the expense can put the landlord off. it's something that deaf people need to consider when they're going into public housing. that was my last comment. >> agreed. i think the stuff has really taken a responsibility seriously and so i can say with confidence that the units we have signed off on will have those features as appropriately identified. >> i have a question. i don't know how to add my name

to this list. >> that's ok. go ahead. >> i would like to get a copy of slide 3 that you presented, if that's ok. at some point. >> sure. >> and also, when you review the accessibility of the particular units for mobility and other issues, do you include access to the building and exit from the building? do you require generators for elevators in the case of electricity going down? >> so in terms of, i can speak to in terms of path of travel, we look at path of travel and egres, entering and exiting as part of our review and there are other pieces that we work with with our colleagues around power sources and things. what we're looking at

specifically are those items that are identified as required by the code. there are other entities that are also looking at other elements so fire department heads, review, and our colleagues will look at electrical and other things. we are specifically looking at accessibility. >> got it. great. thank you. >> you are welcome. >> are there any other council members who have any -- >> i actually had a -- >> you are back. >> a question popped into my head. nicole, is there training for the landlords or property managers of these buildings that are designed to accommodate disabled residents so that they have a greater awareness and sensitivity to the needs of their renters? >> so, i would say a couple of

things. one, we can never do enough training. as part of their lease agreements, they're required to provide reasonable accommodations when they are requested. our colleague, matthew, i don't know if matthew is here but he is coming today, correct. and we'll talk a little bit more about the reasonable accommodation process in-housing and we know between mayor's office and disability and human rights commission there is more work we want to be doing in terms of making sure that people are educated around their responsibilities. >> is there a way we can formalize that as like a -- something that we want to include in our request for feedback or information on the progress of the units. >> perhaps. let's -- i'd like to hear what

matt has to say and then if there's a way council can take action i'm happy to facilitate. >> thank you. >> ok. we have a few minutes for public comment on this area. are there -- are these fees related to the presentation? ok. come on.

>> it would be great for a lot of people. i want to speak on the fact that we looked at the these graphs and talk about affordable housing, public housing, this is an issue dear to my heart. i spoke about how many people who are disabled and seniors that are living homeless on san francisco streets right now, it's over 6,000 by the official san francisco point in time count and there's 802 senior citizens right now that are homeless in san francisco as of the 2019 count and many of those served bravely with our united states armed forces and when i see these graphs and i see these presentations, they're seldom given any explanation of how much rent these people are being charged. what qualifies as quotas

affordable housing. according to the government website for social security, the maximum california social security benefits a disabled person can receive right now is $943. i believe that was recently increased to $968 a month. $968 a month if you are severely disabled in san francisco that is what you get to live on. $968 a month. i would like to know of a single, any available public government housing of any kind, that will have a rent that someone living on that could pay and survive and not be homeless and they could make rent. i've asked council for that over the past couple of years and all sorts of city department and i've not been able to get a single answer tie single place that will rent to people with severe disabilities living on social security and come at $96. thank you for your time.

>> thank you. >> are you on the list for something else? >> no. >> ok. >> oops. sorry. i guess i -- so, if there are no other public comments, we'll take a 15-minute break. >> just a little thing. so just briefly, zack, are you listening? i understand that the affordable housing, that is a big, big issue. i have seen the people who come up to me and say wow, that is not enough money to meet the rent. it's not enough money and enough f.s.i. so it's not affordable so unfortunately that's become a pattern right now and so you are not the only person but the situation is difficult for

everybody. so i just wanted to put that out. >> thank you. >> do we have information on what qualifies for affordable housing? >> our colleagues at mohcd do and they should be able to talk about subsidiaries and the subsidy program available. >> ok. >> i think we would like to add those requests to them when they finally get here? >> great. >> exactly. >> ok. >> all right. let's take a

i'm a mee meet eight -- claims g discrimination and housing as well as employment and business establishment and city funded programs and services and i've been with the human rights commission for a little over six years. one other item about my work is that we did provide trainings as requested by including

requirement that's can sometimes also come up as a requirement as settlement for discrimination complaints. and i want to briefly introduce the human rights commission as well for those who may not be familiar did works to promote equity and eliminate discrimination in san francisco. and has staff who work on a variety of issues including providing policy guidance for city leaders and collaboration with other local agencies to improve local policy as i mentioned in my role, we do investigation and mediation of

discrimination complaints and we have a number of community relations programs provide contact information for anyone that wants to learn about the rum an rights commission. to give a guide for the topics, i'll be discussing today we're going to start with the legal framework for reasonable accommodations and housing. and then i will talk about some of the basics and definitions and examples that will help to flush out the and talk about the process of modifications and housing and i will cover some

data and trends at the federal and state level and will provide some resources for more information and more public engagement with city move on these issues. and then at the end, i hope we will have time to address any questions that the members of the council or the audience may have. >> it's worth noting that there are similar protections that exist at the federal and state and local levels. but there are some difference in the definitions and the scope of those protections. and i'll mention a few of those differences. one example is the federal affair housing act, which is the main federal law that applies to

reasonable for disability and housing and it applies to housing with four or more units. i think it's also worth noting that the fair housing act has designed and construction requirements which mandate minimum accessibility features for new housing built since march of 1991. and that is important because, as folks here san francisco has a lot of older buildings that do not have accessibility features and so it's something to keep in mind.

>> in addition to the fair housing act, there are some other federal laws worth mentioning. section 504 of the rehabilitation act of 1973 governs federally funded programs and requires those federally funded housing programs to make reasonable accommodations for tenants and applicants. and it's also worth mentioning that the americans with disabilities act, the a.d.a., does not apply to most housing, certainly not most privately housing and the a.d.a.

>> the a.d.a. may be applicable but for the tenants who live in that building, the a.d.a. won be the law that they would file a complaint under it. it would be the fair housing act more typically. continuing with the legal framework, california has a few important laws that apply to housing. the california -- like race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and many

others. so the fair employment and housing actor the fee-ha is an important state law that covers much of the ground as the federal law as well as a number of other characteristics. another state law that applies to housing is the civil rights act and it prohibits discrimination establishments in california including housing. we have the california disable persons act which has specific requirements for non discrimination in-housing as well as some coverage in other areas. these laws are all primarily enforced by the california department of fair employment and housing and also known as dfeh. and i'll mention, as i said earlier, federal law is

primarily enforced by hud and california laws primarily enforced by dfeh and individuals who have a claim under either of those lies can file a lawsuit in court to enforce their rights. at the local level, we have a few laws that apply to housing and the two that are most for disability and housing are article 33, section 3304 of the police code, which prohibits discrimination and housing based on disability as well as discrimination based on other factors like race, religion and sexual orientation. we also has san francisco add

administrative code with city and county contractors who receive local funds for that housing program. and the san francisco human rights commission implements these laws so people can come to us if they have a complaint about discrimination including fail your to makfailure to makee accommodation. one limitation i think is worth mentioning is that california state law has a pr-emption effect that limits what an agency like the human rights commission can do, with complaints involving discrimination based on disability or other factors that are also covered under state law. and so it means that we can investigate and we can try to meet aimediate those claims ando

not have enforcement power allowing us to issue a fine or force the housing providers to o something they're not willing to do. in our work, we often do our investigation and mediation while also advising people of other ways that they may want to enforce their rights through state or federal law. now i want to move on to talk a little bit about some basic definitions and concepts that are important to understand with regards to reasonable accommodations and modifications. so, the first item is reasonable accommodations. what does that mean? and the basic definition is that a reasonable accommodation and housing is a change in policy

practice or procedure that gives a person with a disability an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. it maying worth mentioning the laws for reasonable accommodations in-housing are similar to the laws for reasonable accommodations in employment and so courts and administrative agencies look to examples and press a dents to help guide interpretation of the requirements for reasonable accommodations in housing. one thing that i think is challenging and important to understand with regard to reasonable accommodations in-housing is the tension with the general notion of equal

treatment which is fund mental to most fair housing laws and so, when we do trainings for housing providers to help them understand fair housing laws and how to comply with fair housing laws, we usually emphasize strongly the applicants cannot be treated differently due to their personal characteristics such as race, religion, sexual orientation or other similar characteristics. we emphasize that people need to be treated equally. and, reasonable accommodations for disability present a different perspective on how fair housing laws apply. reasonable accommodation laws mean that some tenants or applicants should be treated differently in some situations and they may need to have a an

exception to a general rule and it's a challenge for housing providers who are trying to treat everyone equally and may have difficulty seeing how they can comply with reasonable accommodation laws that sometimes require different treatment. so, i'll mention a few examples of reasonable accommodations housing. the first and by far the most common example we get questions about at the human rights commission is permission to have a support animal or emotional support animal in-housing. if the building has a no-pets policy, the reasonable accommodation is making an exception to that policy to

allow someone to have a support animal. service and support animal laws are different for housing as compared to employment or access to business establishments. and so there's a lot of confusion around those differences and there are a lot of complexities to how hauser vis and support animal accommodations are treated. i don't have time to go into much details. i will just mention briefly that equal access to housing and the goal of reasonable accommodations means people cannot be punished or put in a worse position because they need an accommodation so we see housing providers will allow you to have a service or support animal but we're going to charge you an extra security deposit or we're going to charge you extra

monthly pet rent as a condition of allowing that accommodation and those extra charges would not be allowed that would be essentially punishing someone or charging them in exchange for granding an accommodation. so that is one example of complexity that can come up. we don't have time to address this issue in full right now. we may be able to answer some questions about that later but i do want to move on so we can cover the rest of the topics for today. another example of a reasonable accommodation in-housin in houss addition of a live-in caregiver to assist a tenant with personal care or household chores and this is something that can be important because a caregiver is not considered part of the household and that can be

important when someone, who lives in a subsidized housing situation, has their household income counted to determine whether they qualify for a housing subsidy so the person who is living with them providing care because of their disability is not considered part of the household and that person's income is not. >> transfer to another available housing unit. or a large print application form or work due to their

disability. >> i want to cover reasonable modification which is physical changes to the building structure, grounds, or facility. and reasonable modification is similar in many ways to reasonable accommodation. the legal framework is mostly the same and regarding the cost or payment of the modification and the basic difference is that publicly-funded housing requires the housing provider to pay or absorb the cost of the

modification. in contrast, privately owned housing does not have that requirement and so in private housing, the tenant or applicant would be responsible for paying or identifying a source of funding to pay for the modification. a few examples -- one that we see commonly for reasonable modifications and housing is installation of grab bars in a bathroom, which may also require reinforcement of the walls to support the grab bars. and again, ac as i mentioned, te cost is paid by the tenant if it's privately owned housing. or it would be paid by the house provider if it's publicly funded housing. i will mention, at times there

are funds available from non-profit organizations and other sources to help people with disabilities who may not be able toll afford to pay for modifications to enable them to get that modification done. and i'll also mention that in addition to paying for the cost of the modification itself, the tenant and private housing is typically required to also put down either a deposit or money in escrow to provide for removal of the accommodation if it's something that might need to be removed after they leave or no longer live in that property. and so that's an issue that can be challenging and it can be complex to determine what is the appropriate amount of money in that situation.

some other common modifications examples we see include lowering the height of counters, cabinets, or other fixtures in the kitchen or bathroom. and installation of a ramp or chairlift. or installation of visual door bells and visual fire alarms and again, because these are modifications, these would be situations where the cost is paid by the tenant accept in publicly-funded housing. so, now that we have some of the basic concepts and the legal framework in mind, i want to move to talking about the process for getting a reasonable accommodation or modification in

housing. the process needs to start with a request from the tenant or applicant. that's an important concept that some people struggle with. there may be times when you might think that a particular accommodation or modification is obviously necessary. but the law really sets things up for the housing provider, not to assume or guess about what someone's disability related needs are and so the law and the legal framework puts the burden on the tenant or the applicant to make that request to indicate what their disability-re lated need is. it's definitely important to note that only a person with a disability is entitled to a reasonable accommodation or reasonable modification. we'll talk in a moment about what that definition of

disability means and how that is verified. >> can i jump in for a second. how much longer do you think your presentation is going to go? >> about five minutes. >> great. >> thank you. >> sorry. >> and the request for a computation may be oral or written. either way is valid under the law. we strongly recommend that request be made in writtenning or by e-mail so that can be documented clearly if there's ever a dispute about what was requested. and the housing provider may offer a form for tenants to use for requesting an accommodation but they cannot require that form to be used. they need to accept a request however it may be presented.

once a request is made, the housing provider may request verification of disability related needs for the accommodation or modification unless that need is obvious. and the verification must come from a knowledgeable third party but it does not need to be a medical doctor, it could be a therapist or nurse or someone else who has relevant knowledge and experience. the verification must confirm the individual has a disability but it does not need to specify that diagnosis or condition s the verification must explain the relationship or the nexus between the disability and the accommodation that is being requested. i'll mention that a person requesting a reasonable

accommodation or modification may chose to disclose the condition or diagnosis but they're not required to. regarding the definition of disability, i think it's important to highlight the key difference between federal law, which says that a disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities and major life activities including a broad range of things like walking, sleeping, talking, seeing, hearing, working, and california law has a similar definition but does not require the limitation to be substantial. and so that means that california law protects a broader range of conditions and impairments under our state law than federal law does.

continuing with the process for a computations and modifications, it's supposed to be an interactive process so if there are concerns or questions about the request, both parties need to engage in a good-faith interactive process to discuss how to meet the ten apartmen ter applicant disability needs. each side may have information the other does not and so it's important to be a dialogue. there are limited reasons for why a housing provider may deny accommodation or modification. the housing provider generally must grant the request unless it creates an undue financial or administrative burden or fundamental alteration of their

service and it's important to note every accommodation or modification request must be annal sized to determine if there's an undue burden or fundamental alteration. when we talk about an undue burden, we mean to consider the nature and cost of the accommodation and the financial resources and size of the housing provider and the impact of the accommodation on the housing providers' operations. delay or inaction, if the housing provider does not respond promptly to an accommodation request, that may be considered a fail your to make a reasonable accommodation. but there's not a specific timeline in the law for their

response. it's also important to consider alternative. a housing provider is not required if there's an alternative that would meet the tenant or applicant's needs. one example, as i mentioned earlier, of an accommodation in the application process would be providing a large-print copy of an application form. if a housing provider said our printer is broken and i don't know how to do that on our computer but here is another solution, how about i'll ask you the question and i will write in the answers for you. that could be an alternative that would accomplish the same goal and would be sufficient to meet the needs in that case. i'll quickly mention a few trends that we see in federal and state statistics on housing

discrimination. hud statistics at the federal show that almost 60% of complaints in 2017 fiscal year involved disability and that was up from about 53% in 2013. so disability complaints are a large portion of housing discrimination complaints nationally and 41% of those involved failure to make reasonable accommodations. at the state level, dfeh has reported in 2017, 37% of their housing complaints involved disability and our local numbers in san francisco also reflect that disability is commonly one of the most prevalent types of discrimination that is alleged in our local process. for more information, i have a few resources to recommend.

first, the san francisco human rights commission and our contact information is listed, people can visit our office at 25 van ness avenue on the eighth floor. or visit our website or give us a phone call and i do have here listed a resources page for housing-re lated resource that's contains links to a lot of helpful information about housing and disability accommodations as well. in the earlier part of today's meeting, i know there were several questions about some of the local housing programs that are run by the mayor's office of housing and community development. and so i do have their contact information here. they're at 1 south van ness on the fifth floor. and i'll just briefly mention a couple of things about mohcd.

mohcd runs the local below market rate housing programs and the dalia portal on their website is the access point for a plying. they have accessible unit opportunities as well as obstacles to accessibility. one example that i noticed on a recent listing was units are not ada accessible because of fairs center the street and certainly one of the key concerns for anyone who uses the dalia portal is the limited number of housing units that are generally available in the below-market rate programs as well as the limited number of accessible units. [please stand by]

that starting probably in february, there is going to be some draft plans for the consolidated plan and the acknowledgment of impediments to fair housing choice.

and anyone interested should check the website to see those drafts and how you can submit public comment or participate in that process. >> mr. herman: great. >> last, i do have the contact information here for hud, which is the federal agency that i mentioned earlier. they provide very acceptful guidance on -- helpful guidance on implementing modifications. and the information for dfeh for anyone interested in state law and how they process reasonable accommodation claims. so that's the presentation i have. thank you very much for your time and attention. and i'm happy to do my best to answer any questions. >> mr. herman: thank you very much. it was very comprehensive and good presentation. i have two very quick questions. and then we'll open it up. the civil rights act, it looked

like they also address business establishments. >> yes. >> mr. herman: i'm always curious about new restaurants opening and the accessibility that is required in permits that are granted to restaurants or business -- new business entities that open. are there requirements for accessibility? >> there are, and depending on when the building was constructed and whether there were major modifications made to an older building, or if it's an entirely new building, the ada may apply to that restaurant and the unrwa civil rights act does apply. there has been in the last 10-20 years, a lot of lawsuits against businesses for not meeting

accessibility needs. and a lot of those lawsuits have been filled under the unrwa act or the ada. >> mr. herman: right. then one other question. i was a little confused about one of the slides that said that you need to provide a nexus to the condition, but you don't have to reveal the condition. so how does that work? >> that is a challenge. [laughter] and one of the complexities with this framework is that it's typically a doctor or a therapist or nurse who provides verification and they don't always have legal knowledge or training. so the person providing that verification is supposed to confirm that this person has a disability under the relevant definition, whether it's the state or federal definition, and to explain what the need is. so to give an example, someone

who is requesting permission to have an emotional support animal may have a verification letter that says that this person has a disability that affects their ability to interact socially and in the workplace. and it may not be necessary to specify that disability is a particular diagnoses or condition as long as the verification says they meet the definition of disability and explains what the relationship to the request. that's the nexus. and it may be that having a dog that provides companionship and reassurance in a physical way can help to overcome the disability. and it's possible to present that information without specifying the diagnosis. >> mr. herman: i can see how that would be a little tricky. >> and that's a challenge. and that's something where we

can offer guidance if someone doesn't know how to present that request. >> mr. herman: thank you. okay, helen? >> >> ms. pelzman: i have a number of questions. thank you, matt for the present. i'm a little confused between state and municipal or city regulations. does sf adhere to what the current state regs are or do they have additional regs for ada compliance and disability compliance? >> so we don't have very specific regulations. our local definitions in some ways track more with federal law, but because state law applies to most housing in san francisco, that is typically what matters more in our analysis of particular -- >> legally, what matters? >> so as i mentioned, the

california state law has preemptoio preemption, so in terms of enforcelible requirements, it would be state law in most cases. >> when i hear most cases, i'm assuming it doesn't apply to federal land. >> right. that's one example. >> what would be another? >> in some federally funded programs -- and this is not my area of expertise, we focus on the local ordinances -- but in some federally funded, the federal requirements take precedence over the state requirements. >> fair enough. i'm struggling with the whole concept of enforcement and also the whole concept of the fact that it can be acknowledged that a reasonable caccommodation nees to be made but there is no time

line. both of which are ridiculous in my view. and certainly don't address the issue which initiated the whole request to begin with. how is that handled? and the issue of enforcement came up, i think, a couple of months ago in one of our executive meetings and we had noticed that the city, i think it was the board of supervisors, had extended waiver to a number of -- i think it was commercial facilities that had not met their required ada regulations. their accommodations and nothing was being done. and so how do you incentivize getting the correct accommodation provided if there is no penalty associated with it? >> that is certainly a concern. i don't think i'm familiar with the waivers that you're

describing, so i don't want to -- >> that's fine. i'm just using that as an example. >> to go back to part of your question, the issue with time lines is a challenge. like i said, there is not a specific provision in the law that says you have to respond in three days, or 10 days, or a specific time frame. and i think part of the reason why there is not a specific requirement is because accommodations are supposed to be handled on a case-by-case basis. for a lot of type of accommodations, it may be reasonable for the housing provider to respond within two weeks. that gives them time to investigate and determine what they can and cannot do. but there are times when accommodation have more immediate need. if someone has a situation where they cannot use or access their home immediately, it would not be reasonable to say that the housing provider can wait two weeks to address that concern. and so i think the law wants us

to focus on a case-by-case basis in some situations, waiting 48 hours may be too long, but in other cases that may be prompt and reasonable. >> i guess a little confused. so it's the time line for correction is established on a case-by-case basis? and how is that enforced? is that a legal action or through a mediation? and when what is the follow-up in order to make sure it's done? >> so in terms of what we can do at hrc, as i mentioned because of the state law preemption, we can't force someone to do something they're not willing to, but we can help them understand what the ramifications may be if they don't. and what their legal liability may be, but to get an enforceable court order or judgment, that would typically need to be handled either through court or through hud or

dsch. >> in your experience, when there is pushback in a mediation around accommodation, what happens? and how often does that happen? >> there is a lot of variation. even just to talk about the service and support animal claims, i could -- >> let's forget about service and support animals. let's talk about physical needs and accommodations. >> so there are -- i'd say really a wide range of responses. some landlords and some of their attorneys are clearly well meaning and just trying to figure out what is a fair way to address someone's disability-related needs and there are others where, you know, they seem to have other motivations. they may want to encourage a tenant who has rent-control to move out and make things difficult, so they may push back

hard. in my role as a mediator in a case like that, as i said, i can try to encourage them to comply with the law and help them understand the potential liability they would face in a lawsuit if they don't. but i can't twist their arm and force them to do something. >> who can? >> so, hud or dfch, or a court if someone files a lawsuit. >> and again, in your experience, how often does that happen? give me a percentage. >> in my experience, most claims where there is strong evidence of the disability-related need for the accommodation, most housing providers do comply, but the difficult cases are the ones where they don't. i'd say more than 75% do comply where there that kind of evidence. but i will say also, there are

times where there is, i think, legitimate room for question about whether someone actually has a disability-related need for a particular accommodation or not. just to give one example. there might be someone who requests an accommodation who says they're hearing loud voices from a neighboring apartment and it keeps them from being able to sleep at night. because of their disability, they need to get sufficient sleep in order to recuperate at night. and if there is not any other corroborating evidence of loud noises at night, it may be very difficult to prove that there is a need for that accommodation. and so it's not always easy. >> i can understand the complexity with something like that. >> mr. herman: i think we're going to need to move on.

>> well, i just -- i just have one comment or observation because i'm also wondering what happens when the city is in violation of its own accessibility laws? and how does that get resolved? or who resolves that? and the example is, my street currently, which has been torn up for three weeks, and does not provide me access to get out of my apartment. >> so in those types of situations, the human rights commission, i think in some cases the mayor's office on disability, or in a lot of cases, the particular city department, whether it's public works or which ever department is doing the project may have the responsibility to accommodate and help resolve that issue. >> mr. herman: okay. i think it would be good for you to talk to nicole about that particular issue.

>> well, also in general, too. >> mr. herman: alex? did you have -- >> mr. madrid: i have a question. i just wanted to think about on what my colleague suggest that you cannot enforce the law, correct? >> correct. >> mr. madrid: and if they say for time sake i'm going to give my -- for example, let's say i come to you and complain about physical access and you cannot enforce of course, and there is money to pay, and what then?

do you go obligated for me or would you suggest to be call hud to complain, or what? i'm trying to understand what is your ultimate decision does, because if you cannot enforce the law, why -- i'm sorry if i am confused -- >> that's okay. i understand the confusion and it is a good question. a few of the things we do in that situation, we offer our services to inform the housing provider about the issue and their legal responsibilities and to offer our mediation services.

that is often helpful to resolve the issue. >> mr. madrid: free? >> we do that for free. and often i will say that housing provider that may not take a tenant's request seriously, may take it more seriously when it comes from a city agency and that may get their attention. that's one of the things we can do. second, we can help put people in touch with other advocacy organizations. in our role as investigators and mediators, we're supposed to be neutral so we can be fair to investigate and mediate in an impartial way. but when there tenants who may need advocacy, we can help connect people with appropriate resources, including some of the legal aid organizations here in san francisco, as well as statewide organizations that can provide an attorney or other advocacy services.

and we can also help people to file a complaint with hud or dfeh so that process gets started. and i think it's worth mentioning in response to your question, that the processes at hud and dfeh can take a significant amount of time to move forward. those are large administrative agencies. and what we can offer is that while that process may be starting, we can attempt our investigation and mediation to try to resolve the issue and if it is not resolved through our process, then you would have that other option available. >> mr. madrid: and the second question i have is, maybe this is clarification, is that the work with office of disability and see if this, let's say, my

apartment is complying and i say it's not. >> so in some cases, we have overlapping scope of authority with the mayor's office on disability as far as housing providers are concerned if they receive city contracts to operate a particular property. and so, in those cases, we do try to collaborate with the staff at the mayor's office on disability to make sure that the appropriate city department staff are involved so that we can resolve that accommodation issue as soon as possible. >> mr. madrid: last thing, my question is that your office only handles public city funded

and possibly public owned housing? >> no. we help people with issues in private housing as well. and that is where we offer our investigation and mediation services and help inform the landlords and tenants to understand their rights. but in those cases, we don't have enforcement power. >> mr. madrid: and you guys don't have any restriction on things like that in san francisco, right? >> shelters are generally considered housing. if they're places where people will be residing, so the relevant federal, state and local laws also generally apply. >> mr. madrid: thank you for that clarification, because my

next question is very touchy because as you know, there is not a lot of shelters in san francisco that is ada compliant, but that -- from my experience -- >> yeah. i can say we generally handle complaints as they come to us. i'm not personally aware of many accessibility complaints about shelters in san francisco. this that may be the case, but if we get those kinds of complaints we work to address them on a case-by-case basis. it certainly seems there is a need for a bigger picture approach to that as well. >> mr. madrid: thank you. >> mr. herman: thank you so much. i think we want to open to public comment?

please. >> hello. thank you, heather. thank you so much for coming. i just wanted to really underscore matthew's point around commenting on the consolidated plan for mohcd and the five-year plan. those comments will be due before they visit us in the next public meeting. so we need to -- i really want to encourage everybody to complete that and we'll forward it out through m.o.d. as well. and i just want to emphasize, in addition to all of the regulations and enforcement procedures that matthew has talked about, we also have the state and local building codes as enforcement mechanism also. i want to make sure that is part of what we're using when we're doing review for accessibility

compliance, reviewing our city facilities, our homeless shelters, all of that. we're looking at requirements and we can enforce under the building code if something is not accessible. >> mr. herman: how would you suggest we deal with putting together recommendations on this if it's going to have to be in before we meet? >> nicole: so, those -- the public comment period is going to be open to the entire public and those are online i believe. is that right? >> yes, i don't believe it's online yet, but i haven't seen it yet. >> nicole: okay. i thought i saw something come in my e-mail, but maybe not yet. so we'll get that out as soon as -- as soon as we can, but generally it will be electronic. and there will be opportunity, at least there was last time, for paper comment as well. >> mr. herman: do you think this would be an item that we should

discuss at the executive meeting? >> nicole: that would be a great idea. >> mr. herman: let's put that on the agenda, please, heather, for that meeting on tuesday. okay, i think we have a couple of -- did you want to add one or two more things quickly before we open it to -- >> no, i just want to agree with and support your recommendation. what i was thinking about was whether or not -- not even a question. i think it would be valuable for a representative from the mayor's council to be participating actively on whatever advancements or whatever this process is for public housing. as a representative of the community and so that would be something i would really encourage us to try to do. and now i sort of feel like i'm going to be volunteered to do

it. but i also think alex could probably add some really valuable input in that. and public comment is great, but being at the table when things are being discussed is really, i think, where with we can get -- where we can get a lot accomplished. >> mr. herman: good. >> and thank you, matt. >> mr. herman: thank you, matt. that was an excellent presentation. did anybody else have comments from the council? okay. zack, you're up. >> mr. herman: sorry, alex, what were you saying? >> what is your question? >> mr. madrid: i think that she is raising a hand?

>> i didn't see that. >> mr. herman: i'm sorry -- >> there is someone on the phone who wants to comment. >> okay. go ahead. >> hi, thank you, it is possible to turn up the mic a bit. my back is hurting. if i could applaud without pain, i would. that presentation was phenomenal and he went clearly to a lot of trouble to provide amazing amount of information. i strongly encourage m.o.d. and the council here today to publish the public record of that presentation on the website. would the council or m.o.d. be willing to consider that proposal? >> nicole: the -- our meetings

are archived, all meetings are always available online. >> okay. well, they're hard to find. and i have to do a lot of digging. it would be great to have that front and center. that presentation was fantastic. to learn about housing, you have to be a para legal. you have to know so much about the law. helen -- council member helen had great questions, i want to try to respond to those. i've had personal experience. i don't have a lot of time. but i will say that one of the big problems, of course, is that hrc with the great work they do, they don't have enforcement power and the teeth to make landlords do things. so in my experience, landlords ignore them. and for what happens in mediation, i can tell you that -- i can't tell you what happens in the mediation, that's confidential.

what i can tell you, immediately after the mediation, the next day, i had a landlord take down a disability parking sign in front of the property. so, when you ask for reasonable accommodation requests in my experience, there is a lot of retaliation. not just in housing, also in employment. my injury with my hands was originally on the job. when i reported that as a disability injury i was successful at my job and there was hostility in the workplace. i want to state that those who handle the complaints on the state and federal level, very hard to get a case taken. i think they take around 13% is the number i was told. i know it's a very low number of cases that are actually taken. we do have a huge problem in san francisco of landlords not providing accommodations, not following the law and there is no enforcement body to make them

do that. i want to say quickly that most of my disability accommodation requests are ignored, so the time line issue is a huge one, because if you don't have a time line to reply, you can keep ignoring it. with access barriers, i don't have a ramp to get out of my apartment, i have to crawl on the floor to get to the garage to the wheelchair i'm in right now. and there is no law that requires my landlord to do that. most buildings in san francisco are built before 1991. the ada duds not apply. -- does not apply. so if you're living on disability, how are you going to get the money for the escrow deposit and access to the unit? i want to say really quick, i would love it if m.o.d. and the mayor's disability council would work with non-profits, like rebuilding together, which is the only nonprofit i'm aware that helps people with disabilities get funding for

their homes. >> mr. herman: thank you. robin. >> hello again. i, too, want to thank matthew for an outstanding presentation. so i first started thinking about this question when we heard earlier from nicole, i think, when -- i think it was you talking about landlords getting educated about issues in public housing. i think orkid was also struggling with it. i started wondering to myself, are landlords supposed to know already? is it their responsibility to be educated? is there any licensing entity that has them acknowledge they do know the laws? or is the city supposed to send out information about disability laws. i want to ask that question in both public housing and for regular housing. for me, i'm in regular housing

and twice i had to fight for reasonable accommodations. and twice i had to go through attorneys. the first was a private attorney threatening a lawsuit. that's how i got back in my place. the second was with bay area legal aid, attorneys threatening a massive lawsuit and that's how it got back in the right place. my sense is that we have to go through legal recourse to get what we need would be my guess. so i just wanted to say those two things. thank you. >> mr. herman: thank you. dawn? >> i just wanted to provide additional information that would link nicole's presentation this morning and matthew's presentation. nicole had mentioned about communication units and units

with mobility features. and those are qualities of public housing and matthew's presentation was primarily about private housing. and his presentation discussed that the ada did not cover private housing. and nicole's presentation was talking primarily about public housing in that regard to a certain extent where ada would govern. so i just wanted to clarify. >> mr. herman: thank you. okay. i think we're up to number 8. public comment on items that were not on the agenda. zack, did you have something for that? >> thank you. few things.

i'll try to be quick. for one, i want to say i would love a copy e-mailed to me of the meeting minutes before they're approved so i can make sure my comments are accurately reflected in the public record. i want to thank the amazing presentations. amazingly helpful and the meetings have been increased from six to nine meetings a year, as much as i wish it was 12 like in 2017, i want to acknowledge publicly the work that council members have done to make that happen. i greatly appreciate it. i do -- i find myself in this weird position when i come to the meetings, i love a lot of the work that the mayor does, but i see room for improvement. so i want to say good things and things that need improvement. th some of those things, again, i want to encourage the reduction of the access barriers that were

recently added for the five business day response time. i would love to see handouts for announcements made at the meetings. i think that's a small accommodation request. i would love to see a waiting music for the bridge line, because it's confusing when you call into the meetings what is going on. it's usually dead silent. i've had a lot of technical difficulties calling into the meetings. and i would like to really, really encourage this office to rethink the two-day electronic submission requirement before bringing papers into this meeting to give to council members. i think that's very silly. i would love to have this department rethink their denial of volunteer help. i would love to volunteer for this department. and help people that have accessibility needs in this city. i also would like to make note again of the harassment i face here at city hall from the sheriff's department for lying down in this room due to my back injury. this happened again.

i requested disability accommodation before the board of appeals meeting on january 8, but again, january 8, i was here in -- in the room 416 and the sheriff told me i was a fire hazard and harassed me for laying down in the far back corner. and i've submitted this complaint to m.o.d. back in january 2019. i followed up numerous times. i'm asking again, what is happening with the complaint and can you let the sheriff's department know that disabled people have special needs when attend meetings. i want to encourage m.o.d. and council members to look into the discrimination that is happening with the municipal transit authority. they recently can cancelled all four of my a.da hearings with no notice. they are now deleting public records in 72 hours of bus footage with access violations. they think this is okay to just delete our public records when

we request them. i requested records five days after an incident, they were already deleted. i think these are heinous problems that really affect disabled people and i hope the council can look into them for me and for san franciscans. >> mr. herman: thank you, zack. correspondents. -- correspondence. heather, do you -- >> i do not have any correspondence for the council. >> mr. herman: okay. any unrelated comments that any of the council members would like to make, or announcements regarding upcoming events or other things that like that that not yet been called out? >> i'd like to mention something. so, mic is on. i have gone to -- i have attended the preliminary -- or i guess the first organizing

meeting of the mayor's disability pride parade effort. and i can report that is in a very preliminary stage of organization. i think there is a great interest in attempting to meet this year's goal of having it occur on the 30th anniversary of ada. i would just watch that space. and if i think the goal would be, if it is not necessarily a parade, which is an enormous undertaking, we're hoping that it may be some kind of a celebratory vent hosted here in city hall. and that would be in july. this is not m.o.d. this is a coalition of a number of disability activism organizations. so i just wanted to share that. >> mr. herman: good. thank you. that's good information.

i appreciate that. anyone else? comments from the council? announcements? can i hear a motion to adjourn? >> motion to adjourn. >> mr. herman: a second? all those in favor? so moved. we are adjourned.

>> once i got the hang of it a little bit, you know, like the first time, i never left the court. i just fell in love with it and any opportunity i had to get out there, you know, they didn't have to ask twice. you can always find me on the court. [♪] >> we have been able to participate in 12 athletics wheelchairs. they provide what is an expensive tool to facilitate basketball specifically. behind me are the amazing golden state road warriors, which are one of the most competitive adaptive basketball teams in the

state led by its captain, chuck hill, who was a national paralympic and, and is now an assistant coach on the national big team. >> it is great to have this opportunity here in san francisco. we are the main hub of the bay area, which, you know, we should definitely have resources here. now that that is happening, you know, i i'm looking forward to that growing and spreading and helping spread the word that needs -- that these people are here for everyone. i think it is important for people with disabilities, as well as able-bodied, to be able to see and to try different sports, and to appreciate trying different things. >> people can come and check out this chairs and use them. but then also friday evening, from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., it will be wheelchair basketball we will make sure it is available, and that way people can no that people will be

coming to play at the same time. >> we offer a wide variety of adaptive and inclusion programming, but this is the first time we have had our own equipment. [♪]

>> a way of life in san francisco. when the next major quake hits, the city hopes a new law requiring seismic upgrades to five story buildings will help keep more residents safe and sound. tell me a little about the soft story program. what is it? >> it's a program the mayor

signed into law about a year and a half ago and the whole idea behind it was to help homeowners strengthen buildings so that they would not collapse. >> did you the soft story program apply to all buildings or building that were built in a certain time frame? >> it only applies to buildings built in the time frame of 1978 and earlier. it's aimed at wood framed buildings that are three or more stories and five or more units. but the openings at the garage level and the street level aren't supported in many buildings. and without the support during a major earthquake, they are expected to pancake and flatten ~. many of the buildings in this program are under rent control so it's to everybody's advantage to do the work and make sure they protect their investment and their tenant.

>> notices have gone out to more than 6,000 owners of potentially at-risk properties but fewer than one-third have responded and thousands might miss an important deadline in september to tell the city what they plan to do. let's talk worst case scenario. what happens in a collapse? >> buildings have the tendency of rolling over. the first soft story walls lean over and the building collapse. in an earthquake the building is a total loss. >> can you describe what kind of strengthening is involved in the retrofit? >> one of the basic concepts, you want to think of this building kind of like rubber band and the upper three floor are very rigid box and the garage is a very flexible element. in an earthquake the garage will have a tendency to rollover. you have to rubber band analogy that the first floor is a very tough but flexible rubber band such that you never drive force he to the upper floors.

where all your damage goes into controlled element like plywood or steel frame. >> so, here we are actually inside of a soft story building. can we talk a little about what kinds of repairs property owners might expect? >> it's a very simple process. we deliberately tried to keep it that way. so, what's involved is plywood, which when you install it and make a wall as we have done here already, then you cover it with this gypsum material. this adds some flexibility so that during the earthquake you'll get movement but not collapse. and that gets strengthened even more when we go over to the steel frame to support the upper floor. >> so, potentially the wood and the steel -- it sounds like a fairly straightforward process takes your odds of collapse

from one in 4 to one in 30? >> that's exactly right. that's why we're hoping that people will move quickly and make this happen. >> great. let's take a look. so, let's talk steel frames. tell me what we have going on here. >> well, we have a steel frame here. there are two of these and they go up to the lower floor and there is a beam that go across, basically a box that is much stiffer and stronger. ~ goes so that during the earthquake the upper floor will not collapse down on this story. it can be done in about two weeks' time. voila, you're done. easy. >> for more information on how to get your building earthquake ready, sustainability mission, even

though the bikes are very minimal energy use. it still matters where the energy comes from and also part of the mission in sustainability is how we run everything, run our business. so having the lights come on with clean energy is important to us as well. we heard about cleanpowersf and learned they had commercial rates and signed up for that. it was super easy to sign up. our bookkeeper signed up online, it was like 15 minutes. nothing has changed, except now we have cleaner energy. it's an easy way to align your environmental proclivities and goals around climate change and it's so easy that it's hard to not want to do it, and it doesn't really add anything to the bill.

good morning. today is wednesday, january 15, 2020. this is the regular meeting of the building inspection commission. i would like it remind everyone to please turn off all electronic devices. the first item, roll call. president here. alexander-tut here. clinch here. jacobo here. lee here. moss here. tam here. we have a quorum. and our next item is item 2, president's announcements. >> president mccarthy: good morning and welcome to the bic meeting of january, 2020, first of the year.