[gavel] >> good afternoon and welcome to the land use and transportation committee of the san francisco board of supervisors. i am the chair of the committee, supervisor aaron peskin joined by vice chair supervisor safai and committee member supervisor dean preston. our clerk is ms. erica major. madam clerk, do you have any announcements? >> clerk: yes, due to the covid-19 health emergency and to protect board members, city employees and the public t board of supervisors legislative chamber and committee room are closed.

supervisors will be participating in the virtual meeting to the same extent as if they are physically present. channel 26 and sfgov tv are streaming the number across the screen. comments or opportunities to speak in the public are via available by phone call by calling 1-888-204-5984 and the access code is 350-1008. press pound and pound again. when you are connected, dial 1 and 0 to be added to the queue to speak. you will be lined up in the system in the order you dialled 1 and 0. while you are waiting t system will be silent. the system will notify when you are in line and waiting. all caller wills eare main on mute until -- will remain on mute until the line is open. everyone must account for time delays and speaking discrepancies between live coverage and streaming. best practices are to call from a quiet location, speak clearly and slowly and turn down the television or radio.

alternatively, you may submit public comment in either of the following ways. email ne at erica.major@sfgov.org. that will be included in the legislative file if you submit via email. or you can send to city hall 1 carlton hall. >> president: thank you, ms. major. i neglected to say today is may 18, 2020. colleagues, because general manager phil ginsburg of the recreation and parks department has a tight schedule, i would like to ask with your indulgence that we call item four out of order. i know that many of the people who would like to comment on

item four thought this would come later in the meeting, so what i would like to do is have the author of this emergency ordinance speak and then hear from general manager ginsburg. and then we will not make a decision or hear public comment until after we have heard items one through three. so madam clerk, please read item number four. >> clerk: item four is an emergency ordinance authorizing the park property for temporary shelter and other measures in response to the covid-19 pandemic, directing the recreation and park department to report to the board of supervisors with a list of potential locations for such uses. >> supervisor fewer, you have been doing incredible work to deal with the crisis that all of us that are members of the board or residents of san francisco have been trying to address relative to a huge amount of

homelessness on our streets that has been exacerbated by the covid-19 crisis. the floor, supervisor fewer, is yours. >> supervisor: hello? >> supervisor, you are muted. supervisor fewer? >> supervisor: i would like to note that director pennick is also joining us for a comment. thank you, chair peskin, for scheduling this item. i would like to provide some background on why i introduced this legislation. while san francisco has shown leadership and responded quickly to covid-19, the city has struggled to respond to the public's needs of the at-risk population this threatens our ability to lift the shelter in place order and jeopardizes the public safety of everyone. and public health safety of

everyone. and the mayor previously stated a goal of procuring 7,000 hotel rooms and the board passed legislation to acquire even more, but the city is falling short of the goals on both counts. as of this morning only 1,991 hotel rooms have been secured for unhoused people and only 58% of those rooms were occupied. hotel rooms should continue to be a priority for ensuring that homeless people on san francisco's streets are protected from the threat of the terrible virus, particularly those who are elders and have comprised immune systems. while they must continue to press forward to procure hotel room, we must address other options in a serious problem that existed before covid-19 that now with the inability to move people into indoor shelter, we need a plan in place to adhere to the guidelines to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

on may 5, we unanimously passed a resolution urging the city to establish safe sites for unhoused people. safe sleeping sites at the time include space for each tent that alouse for adequate social distancing, bathrooms, hand washing stations, meals, drinking water, and garbage disposal consistent with the department of public health guidance as best practices. each site would have a safer plan and be staffed 24/7 and include janitorial and other critical services. the resolution passed unanimously and focused largely on the exploration of public property. i introduced this legislation before you today along with supervisor moore to further explore this model we will be creating for safe sleeping sites and park property in san francisco which includes parking

lots and the parks department had jurisdiction over several acres of land in san francisco. to be clear, and i i want people to hear this. this legislation would not allow people to camp freely throughout our parks. it would also not mandate the use of any particular site. this legislation leaves the decision to the general manager of the recreation and parks department. this legislation would simply require directing the parks department to createened an explore, identifying suitable locations throughout the city where it may be possible to establish these sites in accordance with public health specifications. its tent was to look at sites that would not interfere with the regulation needs of san franciscans during shelter in place which is why this defers to the general manager as he knows the property best.

this has been severely misinterpreted and purposely misconstrued. having said that, i am happy to say that i have reached and agreement with general manager ginsburg from the rec and park department. manager ginsburg and i agree it makes perfect sense to look at all options and is our current responsibility as sitting leaders to save lives. to this end mr. ginsburg will provide a report for rec and park sites suitable for safe sleeping sites to the board of supervisors by june 2. in addition, the director of the real estate department will recognize other property where it may be possible to establish a site. as a city, we have contemplated using school property, the

d.o.t. parking lot and federal property. of course we would look at city-owned properties as well. i would go so far to say as city leaders we have a responsible need. i want to thank them for working with me on this and for being here to speak about this. given these agreements, i am requesting that this legislation be tabled today. before i finish, i am happy that the city is now pursuing this model and the city opened the first sleeping site on fulton and we are set to open another one at the old mcdonald's parking dot. exploring other potential site wills add another tool to respond to the homelessness crisis that is worsened by covid-19. the mayor herself is looking for more sites. we need a plan for after the federal government stops reimbursing us for hotel rooms

and that could be sooner than later considering the fact that we have a president who, quite frankly, doesn't believe this is the public health emergency that it is against the advice and expertise of scientists and doctors. even if we occupied the full 8200 hotel rooms that are in position the cost would be $57 million a month and during this recession that would be impossible to maintain for the duration of the pandemic. i ask city leaders and people who are listening today and ask my colleagues, what are your solutions? allowing people to live on sidewalks, along the corridors and in front of the small businesses, on our doorsteps, often without adequate facilities of toilets and hand washing stations, without food and access to services. the legislation that supervisor moore simply requests we look at more options as another tool in the tool shed to stop the spread

of the virus. we are in the midst of a deadly, global pandemic and we know protecting thousands of people at highs aring from the disease living on the streets of san francisco ultimately serve to protect all of us. perhaps because we have not seen the deaths in other cities like knock, we have forgotten how very deadly this virus is. this is an an unprecedented public health crisis emergency and that means exploring all possible solutions. thank you, colleagues. with that, i would like to ask direct ginsburg and director pennick to share a few comments. >> general manager ginsburg t floor is yours. >> thank you, chair peskin. and thank you supervisor fewer and supervisor mar for really engaging with us in this conversation. supervisor fewer, you are absolutely correct we are in the middle of an emergency, and in

an emergency, we respond as one city and all the resources and all of the city's resources do need to be considered to save lives. i think, as you know, our department is currently providi providing spaces for covid-19 testing, child care, food distribution, and yes, even for safe sleeping. and i certainly understand your interest in making sure that all of our public land and properties are cataloged to have an inventory of what is available and the endeavor of working with the board t mayor, and the emergency operations senter to identify additional locations for a covid response effort. but i think what we've all learned and appreciated is just

the very poignant and important role that parks are playing in this response, not just as spaces for our direct response, but also of respite and health and well being for san franciscans. i know you understand that and you have been a great park champion in all the parks throughout the district as does the board. the parks, frankly, have never been more important. they are not nice to have. they are must have's. they are not just amenities, but they are utilities fundamental to our health and well being, so this is no doubt a complicated challenge to balance how to best use the public spaces for the public s health and welfare and your approach, supervisor, seems

very reasonable to catalog and have an even of the public space, and we're happy to do that. >> good afternoon. >> thank you for those comments. mr. pennick? >> good afternoon, chair peskin, supervisors, and i am director of real estate and thank you for the opportunity to speak to this issue. as you know, the real estate division has played its role in finding isolation rooms and hotels and congregate sheltering sites. we are happy to lend our support to this additional effort to find safe sleeping sites. i have had conversations at length with supervisor fewer and her aide. i think we have a clear understanding of the criteria needed for safe sleeping sites. and we will be happy to get that report by the june 2 deadline. thank you. >> president: thank you, mr.

pennick. supervisor fewer, c congratulations on your incredible work, and i understand that you and your chief of staff have been through a lot over the last several weeks. any final comments that you would like to make before we continue this for public comment. you have asked that the committee table this item number four, which the committee will take up after public comment later in this afternoon's meeting. >> supervisor: yes, supervisor peskin. i believe my co-sponsor supervisor mar would like to speak. >> president: supervisor mar, i did not press the participant button, so i did not realize that you were in this virtual meeting. supervisor mar, the floor is yours. >> supervisor: thank you so much, chair peskin. i just wanted to sort of -- i think supervisor fewer really kind of covered everything, but i really wanted to say on this, but i just wanted to thank

supervisor fewer for her leadership on this item, and also general manager ginsburg and director pennick for working with us on being able to move this forward and just to sort of echo the statement that we are in the midst of an unprecedented health pandemic, and we believe that all options to save lives should be on the table for consideration. i did want to also acknowledge the many communications that we have received about this item, and i also agree with everyone that our parks, especially are an essential public good now more than ever and any potential emergency use of the parks as we're considering through this action should not interfere with the park's primary purpose as a recreational space. so we'll keep that in mind as we

do move ahead with the work to look at potential locations, underutilized locations in our parks city wide to meet emergency needs in our city right now. thank you. >> president: thank you, supervisor mar. are there any questions or comments at this point from committee members? i should probably press that button. hold on a second. do not see any questions or comments from committee members. so colleagues -- >> supervisor, i just want to say a quick -- i wanted to thank supervisor fewer and supervisor mar for the hard work on this. as supervisor fewer said, there was a lot of misunderstanding and misconceptions on this and i appreciate her willingness to work with the departments and take the time to table the legislation and ask the department to come up with a list of potential locations that

would be appropriate based on all the solutions that we have in the city. i have been a strong proponent of opening up our city's parking lots, working to ensure that we have the appropriate number of hotels and that we're moving in that direction. our district was the first to open up the safe parking to the entire city, and it's been working in a very good fashion. so appreciate you all putting this forward and listening and willing to come up with the right solutions for the right fit at the right time. and i agree. in our district we have seen a tremendous increase of people that are out on the streets, that are out on the doorways, that are in front of the merchants, and i am constantly on the phone with the hot team and with the appropriate people in the police department and in some cases people just don't want the services in the first round. and in the second case, they are just waiting for the opportunity to be placed in the right location. and as you noted, the fact that because of social distancing and

this pandemic, a lot of the options that we have traditionally have have been reduced because the capacity is at its max. i just want to appreciate the thoughtfulness and thank you, supervisor fewer, and again, i apologize in any way if i got out in front of your announcement. thank you for your understanding. -- and listening at the same time. but that is no excuse. thank you. >> thank you for the comments, supervisor safai. and to supervisor fewer, do you want this item to be tabled or to be fileed? >> supervisor: tabled, please. tabled, please, supervisor. >> in other words, so it can be taken off the table. >> okay, understood. seeing no other comments -- >> supervisor preston. >> thanks. sorry, chair peskin. i just wanted to speak briefly

on this item and obviously this is an issue that is impacting the whole city and certainly in my district this is top of folks mind looking at and exploring the opportunities for safe sleeping sites and trying to get more folks into hotels and as supervisor fewer mentioned, we are eagerly awaiting within the next week or two the safe sleeps site at the mcdonald's and working with the eoc to make that a reality. i really wanted to thank supervisor fewer, supervisor mar, for elevating this issue and pushing it forward. and also to general manager ginsburg and director pennick for being with us today and for working collaboratively with my colleagues. i appreciate all the work to find the common ground here. and i wanted to echo my support not just for the discussions

happening around parks but also looking at every city department and agency really taking this moment to review the properties that are under their purview and control considering whether they would be appropriate for a safe sleeping site. i want to recognize the mayor's office of housing and community development which has control over the mcdonald's site and was willing to make that site available immediately for this temporary use. and this is something that we are hearing constantly from neighbors as to supervisor safai mentioned, we are hearing constantly from neighbors who are dissatisfied, rightly so w the situation on our streets and are looking for solutions and it is good to see this solution is something that we have all been able to come together on, even as we continue to try to push for more rapid housing of folks in hotels and thank you for your leadership on this, and really just wanted to underscore the

urging of all department heads, other city leaders to look at your portfolio, to look at what properties you have, and i am looking forward to seeing the reports that come back before us. thank you. >> president: thank you, supervisor preston. colleagues f there is no objection, we will continue this item until later in this afternoon's meeting. thank you, general manager ginsburg. thank you, director pennick. thank you, supervisor fewer. without objection, we will open this up to public comment after we hear the next three items. madam clerk, please call item number one. >> yes. item number 1 is an ordinance amending ordering the summary vacation of a portion of 25th street, to enable extended operation of a temporary navigation center for homeless residents in a friendly appropriate siting. members of the public should call 1-888-204-5984, access code is 3501008.

press pound and then pound again. if you are currently on hold for item number four, please press 1 and 0 to be -- to wait for the item later in the agenda. thank you. >> president: thank you, ms. major. this is a temporary street vacation that lasts for i believe 42 months and needs to be renewed. it is brought to us by the mayor and supervisor walton to a navigation center that i have repeatedly visited and brought my constituents to as we were trying to win hearts and minds to open up a navigation center in the northeast corner of san francisco prior to covid-19, which now is being built out as we speak. on behalf of the mayor's office, ms. cohen, the floor is yours. >> good afternoon, chair peskin and good afternoon, supervisors. thank you very much. i am going to share a fairly

quick presentation with you all. plead let me if -- >> we can see your screen. >> beautiful, thank you. as peskin indicated this, ordinance would allow for the extension of the central waterfront navigational center for an additional five years. this navigation center was originally opened in 2017 with the idea of it being a three-year, temporary navigation center and it is the dead end of 25th street on park property in the neighborhood surrounded by muni to one side, the bay to the other, and drainage on the other side. and we actually originally had a site for it on 24th street and worked with the neighborhood to move it over to 25th where it's been very well received.

it's also more close proximity to the park and a strong asset both for folks experiencing homelessness as well as from the neighbors. as you all well know and alluded to in the previous item or discussed in the previous item, we have an unsheltered homelessness crisis and is continually exacerbated by covid-19. and experiencing homelessness for those living unsheltered in our community. the department of homelessness has opened eight navigation centers, two of which were temporary and have closed. so we currently have six in operation and certainly one sites that we continue. >> and for those who haven't been there, it is a small

navigation services and providence foundation to operate the site. services provided are consistent with our other navigation centers with medical, housing, benefits and just general supportive services, meals, etc. this is a high level of our data and outcomes from the site. you can see here the outcomes of the sites since it opened and served over 680 unique clients. and the outcomes from this site are consistent with our other navigation centers. about 20% of the population have exited to permanent housing. here is the outreach which is obviously an important component of opening the navigation center. prior to original opening in

2017, h.s.h. together with the port robust community outreach project and working closely with the neighborhood association, we entered into an agreement with multiple city departments to support the neighborhood and to provide services in the area immediately surrounding the navigation centers. prior to moving this extension forward, those at the port commission and before you today, and we worked with supervisor walton's office as well as the dogpatch neighborhood association to update that agreement and everyone is in sort of agreement about whether it includes and providing benefits to the neighborhood and the dogpatch neighborhood association actually issued a letter supporting the five-year extension of the site as a vital part of the community. so the terms of the extension originally t original street vacation ordinance was limited to three and a half years, three

years of operation as well as set up and takedown. and this before you today will extend for five years in ali alignment with the m.o.u. just passed by the port commission or a resolution passed by the port commission to allow the port to extend their agreement with the homeless department to operate the site for an additional five years. [please stand by]

>> staff is checking to see if there's any callers in the que queue. >> i have a number of callers and i will queue the caller. >> first speaker, please. >> hello, caller, you have two. >> you have six questions remaining. >> hello, yes. >> i'm melanie scardina. i am calling in opposition. and i would like to make a comment. senator diane finestein is -- >> ma'am, this is item number 1, not item number 4. this is the summary speech --

>> (indiscernible). >> i'm sorry? do i call in again? >> you just press 1, 0, when you're ready to line up for item number 4. right now we'll just mute you. thank you. >> you have five questions remaining. >> hello, caller? you have two minutes to speak on item number 1. hello, caller? >> you have six questions remaining. >> hello? >> hi, caller. we're calling public comment -- hello, we can hear you. this is public comment for item number 1.

>> oh, i'm calling about a park. the park. item 4? >> yes. yes, go ahead and we'll mute you. so just as a reminder to the callers in line right now that if you're calling for item number 4, please press 1 and then 0 to be removed from the speaker list. again, if you're calling for item number 4, press 1 and then 0 to be removed from the speaker list. we're currently taking public comment for item number 1 on the agenda. >> public comment on number four? >> we will return to you, ma'am. thank you. >> thank you. bye-bye. >> thank you. >> you have four questions remaining. >> this is for item number 1. we are not on item number 4 yet. >> yes, thank you so much, supervisor peskin. i appreciate your leadership on agenda item number 1. my name is sarah ogolvie and i

live in district 9 and i'm calling in support of the navigation center renewal. i think that it's a wonderful place. and i really appreciate that you have reached out to the community and that you have helped them to understand the need to help our homeless residents in the city of san francisco. giving them a safe place where they can obtain services from providence and i can tell you that providence is a wonderful organization. they also operate homeless shelters in the bayview. and it's been a wonderful thing for people to find a sense of community and safety in the bayview while experiencing homelessness. and so i just wanted to have the language for taking action on this item. i think that it's going to make a big difference in the lives of so many people.

and i am really excited that it's going to be able to operate for a longer period of time. i just -- i wanted to speak on behalf of homeless residents in san francisco and just commend the board for making it a possibility and also looking for other sites. and i want to recommend that mother brown on jenning street that there was an opportunity to build a homeless shelter there. and there are many people that sleep there on chairs every night. and it's just harmful and very hurtful to their health and safety. and a homeless shelter there would also benefit the area and the surrounding community. so, thank you. thank you for taking my comment and i support this measure. >> supervisor peskin: thank you for your comment. next speaker, please. >> you have four questions

remaining. >> hello, this is public comment for item number 1. >> you have four questions remaining. >> clerk: hello, caller? >> yes, i wanted to comment on item 3. >> clerk: okay, if you could go ahead and press 1 and then 0 and then we'll return to that item -- get to that item, ma'am. thank you. and our next caller? >> you have three questions remaining. >> clerk: hello, caller, this is public comment for item number 1. hello, caller? next caller, please. >> you have two questions

remaining. >> clerk: hello, caller? this is public comment for item number 1. hello caller? >> you have three questions remaining. >> clerk: hello, caller, this is public comment for item number 1. >> supervisor peskin: and to the members of the public and my colleagues, i really apologize for the fact that we called number four out of order because general manager ginsburg had a very short period of time that he could present the compromise that supervisor fewer and the rec and park department were able to arrive at. but everybody will -- after these items, have an opportunity

for public comment. supervisor fewer has requested that item number 4 to be tabled, but everybody is welcome to comment when we get to item number 4 which we intend to do so as quickly as we can. next speaker, please. >> you have two questions remaining. >> clerk: hello, caller, this is public comment for item number 1. thank you. next speaker, please. >> you have two questions remaining. >> clerk: hi, this is public comment for summary street vacation on 25th street. hello, caller? >> you have four questions remaining. >> clerk: hello, caller?

>> you have one question remaining. >> clerk: hi, caller, this is public comment for item number 1, summary street vacation. >> hi. you are talking about the navigation to be extended? >> clerk: yes. >> okay. well, you know, on navigation center and the encampment or whatever tents that you supply, they should all -- just like the schools, you know, these are stepping stones and they shouldn't be permanent. and they should give people a chance to get the service they need if they are to be trained for job opportunities and then they should be getting that. and, you know, a -- whatever

treatment that they need. and they shouldn't be allowed to be permanently in navigation centers. so these are not supposed to be permanent and you should try to reduce the number of people coming in to get homeless help and not to encourage them. so the money spent should be helping them to become self-sufficient and to give them expectations of normal people. that's the respect that they should get. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. >> supervisor peskin: are there any other members of the public that want to speak at this point? >> that completes the queue. >> supervisor peskin: so public comment for item number 1 is closed. and, colleagues, if there's no objection, i would like to have a roll call vote on sending this item with recommendation to the

full board as the committee report for hearing tomorrow, may 19th. on that item, madam clerk, a roll call, please. >> clerk: on the motion as stated supervisor preston? aye. preston, aye. supervisor safai. safai, aye. supervisor peskin? peskin, aye. you have three ayes. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, madam clerk, that item is passed and be heard by the full board tomorrow. could you read items two and three together. >> clerk: item 2 an emergency ordance for protections for occupants of s.r.o. residents during the covid-19 pandemic. and item number 3 is an ordinance amending the administrative code to residential hotel units from evicting tenants for non-payment of rent that was not due to the

covid-19 pandemic and for late fees and penalties or similar changes of such tenants. the members of the public who wish to provide public comment on items number 2 and 3 call the number listed on the screen and press 1, and then 0, to line up to speak. >> supervisor peskin: thank you, madam clerk. i want to start by thanking my chief of staff who has been doing truly god's work in working to protect the occupants of our residential hotels. as you know, in the 20 years that i have been a member of the board of supervisors or an on/off member of the board of supervisors, i have been working very hard to increase the protections under chapter 41 of the administrative code and i want to thank my colleagues for your continued unanimous votes to strengthen those protections. and i would like to thank my

co-sponsors for item number 2, and supervisors haney and wellman. and the vast majority of single occupancy hotels stretch from the mission through the tenderloin and into chinatown and north beach. so this is very important for us three supervisors. in february, a long-time friend and trusted advisor, attorney, and tenant organizer who works now at the chinatown community development center, reached out to me in a profound way and to the department of public health with regard to the threats that the then impending covid-19 crisis proposed for our s.r.o. communities. particularly in chinatown. he was looking at the same modeling that many of us have

been monitoring and he raised the alarm about what was to come. and i sincerely want to thank him publicly for being that canary in the coal mine and to continuing to push along with the s.r.o. community and their advocates for stronger protections for our s.r.o. residents, particularly during covid-19. and we all now know and we will shortly see that in s.r.o.s and in other congregate settings is where the majority of the viral transmission is now centered. in early march, the city identified s.r.o. hotels as a major potential concern for outbreaks. and based on the fact that these are transmissive environments where bathrooms and kitchens are shared and there are a very high

number of vulnerable individuals, particularly seniors, and folks who continue to have to work to pay their rent, s.r.o.s, along with other co conagree settings haven concerns for us. and after spending to cases i issued a memo in early problem will and outlining the inquiries on to d.p.h. on how they were preparing for s.r.o. outbreaks as well as recommending necessary protocols on how to mitt gat thmitigate the spread 9 in this ideology. when the department was unable to answer the questions presented i issued a second amendment and following up with specific examples of where the city failed to stop the spread in s.r.o.s. to date that second memo, despite many promises, has not been responded to in writing.

i think that it's very important that that happens for posterity, but i will set that aside. we have seen the impact of the virus not only worsen in this high-risk community, but the number of covid-19 cases has generally stabilized across san francisco. thankfully, congregate settings have seen the cases steadily increase. since april 1 -- and you will see the slides shortly -- san francisco's s.r.o.s have seen a phenomenal increase in confirmed covid-19 cases which is actually quite staggering. many s.r.o. residents have always been marginally housed and are also most at risk of becoming homeless in a state of emergency. i have gone into the residential alleyways, including just this past weekend in my district, to assess the tent encampments for myself. and i have met tent dwellers who used to be marginally housed and are now on the streets.

and we continue to get reports from the city's s.r.o. collaboratives that s.r.o. owners in some cases are illegally displacing the s.r.o. tenants after 28 days in a practice known as musical rooms. and in an attempt to keep them from establishing permanent residency with the tenant -- and with the protections provided under the rent stabilization ordinance. my office and the office of my co-sponsor, supervisors haney and ronen have had isolation rooms for covid-19 positive and presumptive cases. which by law the city is required to offer. we have met -- we have been met with consistent delays and some excuses and in some cases a lack of cultural competency and language capacity by some city departments. we are in a state of emergency which requires emergency responses from all aspect of our

government, but particularly those with addressing the public health crisis in our most vulnerable communities. these residents are often the essential workers that are risking their lives every day to continue to keep the city running. they're working in our restaurants and they're working in our kitchen remodels and they're doing our street resurfacing. they're manning our pitstops. the fact that they live in congregate settings which prohibit them from safely self-isolating should, frankly, be a top priority for all of us. and i really have to be candid that i have been disappointed with the lack of urgency and the attention that this population has received. hopefully, and actually the responses, despina despite our d waving for the last six weeks that we have gotten in the last few days gives me a little bit of hope.

this legislation does the following -- it mandates protocols for the department of public health on competent s.r.o. notification and case investigation and community education and testing and isolation and quarantine. it mandates eviction protections for s.r.o. residents, including rent relief and the right to return to units after quarantining. it mandates accurate and transparent reporting on s.r.o. data, including the number of covid-19 confirmed cases across buildings city-wide and i was very happy that i finally got that information on a slide yesterday for the first time. and i, again, i want to thank my co-sponsors and particularly the incredible network of s.r.o. tenants and their advocates that ban together to take care of the communities first. and the values that we all hold of taking care of our most

vulnerable members of society. thank you to the federal city s.r.o. collaborative and the chinatown collaborative and the mission collaborative and the senior and disability action, and the coalition on homelessness, and the supportive housing and interfaith council and the community housing partnership and tndc, and the chinatown community development center and many more that offer your input and on-the-ground experience to shape this package. and particular thanks to my chief of staff who has been ringing the alarm bells each and every day for the last month and a half. and i would like now to afford mr. fujioka the opportunity to offer up the need for this legislation. and with that, the floor is yours. >> thank you, chair peskin, and

the committee. i wanted to say i'm not sure that this represents a series of slides to provide a quantitative assessment and the prospective about the coronavirus crisis in s.r.o.s. can we have the first slide up? >> supervisor peskin: hold on one -- we are working on that and the first slide is up. >> so what i would like to present is data that has been collected and verified of test positives for the s.r.o. buildings. starting with the data from april 1st for cases up to

april 1st. and then for cases throughout may 11th which is the last date for which we have data on testing. and, of course, we know that testing is only a partial indication of the nature of the spread, or the extent of the spread. but the data that is available is quite troubling. so can i go to the next slide, please. and so in that period, less than six weeks, the data shows that the number of those with test positive residents have increased from eight buildings to 53. and during that same period, the number of s.r.o. residents sickened with covid-19 has increased from nine to 144. and it's an increase of almost

1500%. far faster than the city-wide average of increased cases. more than four times actually. and also there's clear evidence from this data as well as the number of cases in which multiple cases have occurred in the same buildings that establishes that the contagian within buildings has a need for stronger preventative action. next slide, please. and the next slide shows that starting point as of april 1s april 1st, with the cases accumulating and the cases up to that point. and eight buildings, s.r.o. buildings with test positive cases and nine residents are testing positive. that's for the entire period of time that the testing has been available. and next slide, please. and two weeks later on april 22nd, and accumulated data up to that point, 36 buildings had tested positive,

and 73 residents had tested positive. and, you know, i think that the full extent of the range of s.r.o. buildings from the northeast chinatown all the way down to the south end of outer mission. next slide, please. and, unfortunately, during this period as well that we learned of the event -- and to indicate that that information -- that those in the hospitals with covid-19 was not provided by d.p.h. but it was provided by a family member. next slide, please. this slide shows that for the most recent data showing that with 53 buildings, and 144

residents tested positive, and to explain a little bit about this -- and the orange markers are buildings which were previously tested by positive cases and then more than two weeks later additional test positives showing that -- indicating that -- or suggesting that whatever efforts to address the contablian i connecticut col residents becoming ill with covid-19. that's my presentation. again, i wanted to provide and i wanted to provide the quantitative data to support the qualitative stories and the advocacy and the particular points that are to address the crisis in the legislation. thank you very much. >> supervisor peskin: thank

you, mr. fujioka. and, by the way, the number of cases as of yesterday has now risen to 176 in those settings. and i have to say that there is back and forth as to what is and is not in s.r.o.s and so that number is likely higher. and why don't we open up this up to public comment. are there members of the public who would like to speak on items 2 and/or 3? >> thank you, mr. chair. staff is checking to see if there are any callers in the queue. >> yes, give me a second to bricbring up the queue. >> supervisor peskin: remember this is for items 2 or 3 and not for item number 4 yet, but that

would be our next one after we deal with these two items. go ahead, first speaker, please. >> hi, my name is chelsea. i am from the coalition on homelessness. okay. so so far i have witnessed families and individuals being illegally evicted from s.r.o.s during the covid-19 moratorium on eviction. there needs to be greater protection for s.r.o. residents with the ongoing threat of evictions. most s.r.o. residents have transitioned from homelessness and the trauma of having their housing ripped away again is unconscionable. and there have been details in an increase in homelessness post-covid, which san francisco cannot afford. we can't afford one more homeless person.

s.r.o. residents are subject to a higher risk of transmission of covid than other housed people because they share communal areas such as bathrooms, showers and kitchens. not only have s.r.o. residents transitioned from homelessness, but they're in lower income brackets and they have health concerns and they are elderly and are minority. which each of these board members have seen in covid updates that put the s.r.o. residents at an even greater risk of transmission. they need to be put in shelter-in-place hotels and have greater protections. and so they have a home to go back to. when considering rent relief i want you to consider our undocumented population and many live in s.r.o.s. they have been ignored country wide from relief programs. like i said before, we are already at capacity to meet the needs of homelessness in san

francisco. every measure needs to be taken for prevention. so, please consider supervisor peskin's legislation. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your call. members who wish to speak for public comment, please press 1 and 0. next caller, please. >> you have 10 questions remaining. >> clerk: hello, caller? >> hello. >> clerk: hi, you have two minutes to speak -- yes, we can hear you. >> yes, i am kathy lipscomb, and a member of senior and disability action and work in the tenants' movement. and thank you so much, supervisor peskin, for taking leadership on this. you know, everybody knows that the folks in the s.r.o.s are poor, they're an underserved population, and many are not in optimal health. many are disabled.

and so it behooves us to move with all deliberate speed to get those who may be affected out of those s.r.o.s and into a safe room of their own in a hotel. this is common sense. it means that the general population is less endangered. certainly, the workers in the s.r.o.s are less endangered. and the residents themselves. so i hope and i pray that we get this through right away. as for no no evictions for non-payment of rent. you know, the federal guideline used to be 25% of income to pay for rent and then it's creeped up to 30% and now it seems to be out of control across the country. but in s.r.o.s there are people who are paying more than 50% and up to 50% of their income for rent. this is -- this cannot continue. do we want those people on the street?

do they want them evicted? i think that everyone in this city would be against that kind of thing. so, certainly, we can afford to have a relief fund to help the landlords who are tempted to kick them out and prohibit that. thank you very much for listening. >> clerk: thank you for your comment. if you wish to speak, please press 1, and then 0 for public comment on items 2 and 3. next caller, please. >> you have 14 questions remaining. >> clerk: hello, caller? >> hi. >> clerk: you have two minutes to speak. >> okay, thank you. my name is freddy martin and i'm a housing organizer at senior and disability action. and i just wanted to thank the sponsors and everyone who supports this legislation. as a native from san francisco, i have seen firsthand the conditions in several s.r.o.s, but to live under the threat of

covid must be harder. working as an organizer and providing services for tenants there and many years having lived in one myself, i know the constant fear and the threats they face every day. it's exkiewshiating at best. as of now i cannot go in and deliver services, organize, or do anything at this time to help the tenants to advocate for themselves. and all of them, and everyone that i know, that lives in an s.r.o. are concerned about one thing first -- their lives. and their safety. s.r.o.s aren't like any other apartments and should be treated differently. they need to be prioritized for safety protections because people share common areas. which increases the likelihood of infections spreading and more people dying. a significant number of people that i serve and that live there in s.r.o. hotels are seniors or disabled and they have underlined medical