city that are 65 or older, and 65% of those are low-income. and of those that are low-income and even moderate income, you know, would have trouble finding affordable housing in our city. >> certainly, supervisor. as you know, as well as anybody, the need for family -- we cannot make a dent in needs for family housing, homeless housing, as there are many, many folks that we are trying to serve as evidenced by the many thousands of people that apply whenever new units are available. we feel what is possible in today's funding environment is possible for seniors, but it's going to be a struggle given the funding in sacramento and

the lack of federal support, so we are left on our own in the city to backfill the funding and the cap cal funds that the feds used to provide. >> chair mar: yeah, got it. well, thanks for that. and i had some other questions around -- or questions around more of the group -- sort of group housing that's needed for seniors who are unable to live independently in their homes, which i understand most folks prefer to do. i certainly understood that from my mom's situation, but at the same point, many seniors need more care that's not able to be provided living

independently, so i think there's many -- yeah, and many highlighted, we've actually seen a decline or a loss in these facilities or beds, so yeah, maybe just starting with rcfes, and i know there's -- maybe the d.p.h. presentation has done work to address the loss in board and care homes with prop c money. but i guess my question to -- i'm not sure to which department it would be is do we

have a strategy and a plan to address the loss of existing residential care facilities for the elderly that are not connected to the behavioral health system and to expand beds and facilities and ensure that the care is high quality because i know that in a lot of these facilities that are operated by private operators, that they have a very tight margin, so the care tends to suffer from that? director dearman? >> i can just -- thank you. i can just say that we anticipate that the california department of social services is going to issue an announcement probably in early february, soliciting applications for funding that can be utilized to purchase or renovate assistive living or

residential care for the elderly, and our department is prepared to respond with the goal of increasing the number of rcfe beds that are available to low-income adults through the expansion funding. depends on how much funding we get, but that is one point currently. >> chair mar, i'll just add that the department of public health and our team working to implement the department of public health legislation is very focused on expansion of and specifically to rcfes,

the -- we have funding to expand to 73 new rcfe beds. and just to let you know that there's a focus in that one for people who have behavioral health challenges because it's through mental health san francisco, so we are looking at new possibilities, new funding. it's very challenging, as you know. mental health san francisco, the bed expansion treatment

program and other residential treatment programs that we are working to locate the fund to build, and we're opened about over 80 of those beds with more on the launching pad, but yeah, the rcfe beds are a significant portion of those. >> chair mar: yeah, yeah, thanks for that important work -- or the update on that important work. would those new beds that are being created and that you described, you know, through mental health s.f. or the prop c funding be -- would -- would a senior with alzheimer's or

dementia, could they be housed or supported there? i guess that would require -- yeah, i guess that's my question because i think there's a need -- i mean, i think there's a need for the rcfes for the behavioral health system, but how does that intersect for the rcfes needed in the older adult and aging adult population? >> sure, that's a tremendous need that we see, including medical and cognitive challenges, as well. these beds, funded through mental health san francisco, are for people with behavioral health challenges, so somebody who only have cognitive decline or dementia, this isn't what

these beds are for, but certainly agree that we need to expand our supportive housing options for people with cognitive decline dementia. >> chair mar: thank you. and i guess i have a similar question for rcfes to my question around affordable housing for seniors -- low-income seniors, and do we have a -- like, a quantify -- have we quantified the need for r.f.e. -- rcfe beds in facilities and particularly for seniors maybe who -- and who don't necessarily qualify for the ones that you describe, the rcfes in facilities that you described as coming on-line through the behavioral health

system? >> i think that's a great can he -- great question, supervisor mar. i'm also going to hope that my colleagues from planning and h.s.a. and mohcd can help with that. i think this is an area where we should be working across city departments, doing some modelling so that we can anticipate what the needs are coming down the pike for people -- seniors and people with disabilities who -- who will need both assisted -- assisted living, so rcfe beds as well as supportive how's -- you know, supportive housing as well as bed supports while

they're in with behavioral support challenges, as well. i think you're highlighting really something that we should be working across city departments to look at. >> and chair mar, we just feel that the data is outdated, and right now, it's difficult to catch up on that particular issue. so that's on our radar and something that we're trying to prepare in our work program, something that we're trying to

prepare for with a reduced work staffing capacity. >> chair mar: really appreciate this discussion, and i think to me it does highlight the need for more cross department cooperation and collaboration and also the need to have --

and the owner put it on the market and is trying to sell it as a single-family home, but -- so that would be a loss. so i'd really like to see how we can work with the department -- d.p.h. and maybe mohcd on preserving that board and care home and actually finding a nonprofit operator for it. so i think that just highlighted -- this highlights the need, i feel like, to have a clearer picture of what the need is and a clearer strategy to preserve and expand these other types.

i understand from the mohcd presentation, mohcd has different types of programs to support seniors, and then, we've been working with the planning department on supporting particularly senior homeowners to add accessory dwelling units and expand their homes to meet their changing needs but also to free up housing for new families. yeah, i guess my question is -- i guess my question is, well,

i've been thinking about this. my home in the sunset, there are a lot of people moving out, people are living by themselves or couples, and there would be interest in down sizing, and -- but there's few options for them to do it certainly in the sunset district and in the city, but to affordable, yeah, downsized option, and i'm just thinking, referring to my mom's situation, she moved out of a single-family home to an independent living or a market rate apartment, and it allowed her -- so that was a positive on that, as well. so i was just wondering if the

planning department or any of the departments are looking at this -- this issue because it would allow seniors to have their home for a new family. >> that's a great question. the housing element draft is really focused on -- it's one of the sort of backbone principles, kind of the sort of middle and western portions of the city, and a lot of lower density areas of the city, we have better access to services. we want to help people live in the places that they've lived for a long time, so in a situation where you might be overhoused, you want to have

those housing choices, so we're looking at ways to diversefy that scale of housing by allowing for more units. we anticipate that to be an on going conversation. obviously, there are several forms of legislation, even currently being proposed, that would allow for that. a.d.u.s are a great option in my opinion. my mom actually lives in an a.d.u., not in my house, but in another person's house, and it's a great option in your community. the goal is to diversefy and be a little bit more mobile.

we end up with a lot of single-family housing and we end up with a lot of dense and mid scale high-rise housing, but to find that nice balance of the small multifamily housing, the market doesn't naturally produce that in some of these neighborhoods. that's what we're trying to create and incentivize in the housing impact draft policy. >> chair mar: well, thanks, and yeah, looking forward to working with you and other the the -- others in the planning department on new strategies and really, with a lot of senior homeowners that i think could be supported to expand their homes to meet their needs and multigenerational families or down sizing, too, to other multifamily housing that we can create, and, yeah, thanks. you know, i'm going to leave it at that.

i think -- >> clerk: mr. chair, there were a few callers that wanted to make public comment, trying to get in, but were having issues. did you want to open up public comment? >> chair mar: yeah, why don't we reopen public comment. >> clerk: for those that have already called in 415-655-0001, and entered the meeting i.d. 2481-775-8861 and pressed pound and pound again, to get into the speaker line, you need to press star, three. when you hit star, three, you will hear a prompt that says

that you have entered the queue. please wait to hear until you have been unmuted. we currently have two callers who are in the queue. we may have a few other callers who are in the line -- in the queue to listen and are having trouble getting in line, so please press star, three to lineup to speak. mr. baltazar, could you please put forward the first caller? >> thank you very much. i made a previous comment. i wanted to ask a question of the supervisors -- >> clerk: i'm sorry. i'm so sorry. this is not a discussion or a questioning time -- question-and-answer time. if you've already provided your public comment, you've already used your time. if you would like to provide

additional comments, you can go ahead and e-mail those to memory. it's a-l-i-s-a-.-s-o-m-e-r-a@s-f-g.o -r-g. mr. baltazar, can we go ahead and have the next callers. hello, caller, are you there? hello, caller, this is your opportunity. they are muted, but it does appear to be a silent line. we are trying to provide them a few more opportunities.

hello, caller? >> hello? >> clerk: yes, please proceed. >> sorry about that. hello, supervisors. my name is [indiscernible] and i'm with self-help for the elderly and senior and disability action and submitted a letter, and i wanted to briefly summarize that letter. and i think the first point is the department of aging and adult services report revealed, it's very clear, the affordable housing in san francisco will remain unaffordable to a majority of senior tenants and persons with disabilities unless the city's policy systems change. in a nutshell, senior tenants

and persons with disability are below 50% a.m.i., so until affordable housing is below 50% of a.m.i., it's just not going to reach a majority of seniors and persons with disabilities. and furthermore, there's a path to solve that issue and with respect to seniors. there was a program, but it was only a pilot. according to the d.a.s. report, mohcd only planned a total of 150 new [indiscernible] units over the next five years,

that's only 17% of the new senior units affordable to a majority of senior tenants or persons with disabilities, so that is a fundamental challenge and flaw within the current system. we should also note that with respect to accessible units, we build physically accessible units, but we have no system to make those accessible to seniors and persons with disabilities. so i think the idea is great, but we need to build -- >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we have the next caller, please? hello, caller, you're on the

line. hello, caller? >> hello? >> clerk: yes, please proceed with your comment. >> oh, oh, oh, okay. thanks for taking my call. my name is sylvia, and i'm with the s.d.a. i've been living in san francisco for a total of 27 years. right now, i don't need any housing help yet, but if my living arrangement change, it will be drastic situation change for me. i don't want to spend 1,000 a month, and food costs are going up and, you know, right now, you see i have these digital service bills every month, which in my parents' time, never heard of the digital, you know, phone bill. and so -- but then, which, i

mean, is going on, and in five or ten years, i might need public assistance in the housing. and every time when the luxury development is going up in my community, i fear for my future. public official put more focus into this housing issue because home is where, especially senior, have to keep health, well, not to get sick. even if they come for any procedure, they have to come back home to recuperate, okay? thanks for taking my call.

>> clerk: thank you for your comment. mr. baltazar, do we have any callers in the queue? >> operator: there are zero callers in the queue. >> clerk: mr. chair? >> chair mar: public comment is closed again, and yeah, i think as we move to wrap up this really informative and important hearing and important discussion, actually, colleagues, i just wanted to see if you might have any closing remarks. >> supervisor stefani: chair mar, i just want to thank you for this hearing. i look forward to working with you in the future on all of the issues that we heard about from the presenters, and thank you for hearing from them, as well. this is so important, and knowing what you went through with your mom, and what we've all gone through with our families, dealing with my dad

regarding dementia, we care deeply about this in making sure we take care of our seniors, so again, thank you so much. >> chair mar: thank you, supervisor stefani, and also, just thank you for your courage in sharing and speaking out about these issues and sharing your family's story. so, yeah, colleagues, i think we can move to wrap up this hearing. i want to thank all the presenters and also departments for all of your important work on these issues. you know, there's -- i think as this hearing highlights, there clearly are major gaps in how we are planning to meet the spectrum of services and housing needs for our aging population and people with disabilities, and especially the most vulnerable, the very low-income and unhoused seniors and people with disabilities population. and really, i think the hearing

also highlighted that we lack a comprehensive strategy, which i believe is needed to ensure that san francisco is a place where people of all ages and stages can live and retire in dignity and remain in the community they are a part of and really have helped to create, so i'm very committed to listening to the public comment today, and my colleagues, and especially you, supervisor stefani, to work on housing for seniors and people with disabilities and create a public housing master plan for people around these issues. the budget plan is an opportunity for us to take some further steps around this and

address the urgent gap in housing for seniors and people with disabilities, and this is going to be a priority for me, and i certainly am committed to some of the things that were touched on in public comment about the need to, for example, to make the senior operating subsidy operating program and look at making the senior subsidy operating program. and finally, i wanted to mention that i did ask the budget and legislative analyst's office to conduct analysis on the gaps in housing for seniors and people with disabilities and to look at how other cities around the country and globally have addressed this important issue so that we can draw from their experiences and identify promising strategy and programs that we can consider here in san francisco, so thanks again, everyone, for this very informative and productive and important

discussion today. so i'd like to move that we continue this hearing to call of the chair, and i'm interested in having another hearing once the b.l.a. analysis is complete. madam clerk, can you please call roll. >> clerk: yes, on the motion to continue item 1 to the call of the chair -- [roll call] >> clerk: there are two ayes. >> chair mar: thank you. madam clerk, is there any further business? >> clerk: that concludes our business for today. >> chair mar: great. we are adjourned. >> clerk: great. thank you.