tv Housing Authority Board SFGTV January 13, 2025 5:00am-7:01am PST
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>> i hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. we call the meeting of the san francisco housing authority commission on today, friday december 13. thank you all for your patience and we look forward to call thg roll and beginning the meeting. >> president torres, aye. commissioner lindo, present. nob
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item 3 is acknowledgment of the ramaytush oholone community. >> the housing authority of the city and county of san francisco, we acknowledge that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the ramaytush ohlone who are the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula. as the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the ramaytush ohlone have never ceded, lost nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. as guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors and relatives of the ramaytush community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. >> thank you. item 4 is president report. >> i want to wish everyone happy
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holiday. we had successful thanksgiving turkey give away across property and partnership. it is great example of the city and housing authority working in concert to support families. i want to thank dr. [indiscernible] give aways that benefit them on a very special holiday for all of them. i want to thank you for the partnership with the city making that possible. looking forward to the reports we have in this meeting. thank you. >> thank you. item 5 is general public comment. this portion of the agenda isn't intended for discussion or debate. it is not appropriate for commissioners to engage in debate. if questions or like to bring matter to
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the attention, [indiscernible] sfh [indiscernible] any general public comment in the room or online? if online, you have to raise your hand to indicate you like to speak. not seeing any in the room. i see somebody online. alexander. you like to unmute, you have two minutes. alexander, you are unmuted. we still can't hear you. we can circle back with you. any general public comment?
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mr. williams, you like to unmute yourself, you have two minutes. >> can you hear me? >> yes. >> how you doing? this is mr. dennis william. a micro real estate developer. excuse me. how you doing commission? just a few things i want to note. lack of equal opportunity pertaining to bipoc community developers. no partnerships. just a few things that should be changed in my opinion. i talk at a cmd meeting with mrs. stephanie tang last week and she said the same thing pertaining to treasure island project. the lack of micro developers as well as general contractors and subs.
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that's all for right now. thank you. >> thank you. any other general public comments? and alexander, if you want to raise your hand if you like to give public comment. otherwise we'll proceed. okay. we can close general public comment. item 6 is tenant representative report for city wide council for public housing tenant association. any representative like to give a report out to the board? i see you online. you just have to unmute yourself. >> did it work? >> we can hear you. >> okay. good afternoon. this is--i'm stephanie, secretary of ccsd, this is my last meeting
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as i am not-i dpot my voucher and moving out and will be not on the tenant council next year. i'm hopeful michael our new president is also here today. if not, just letting you know we did elect a new president, and the election will be final in january. our meeting is on the 30th--we have three offices contested and we have a dozen candidates so we are proud and excited about our new election and will follow up on this, but we like to float a idea if one of the commissioners could possibly show up january 30 to do the swearing in, the oath of office for the new officers at 1 o'clock on january 30. we'll follow up with that. i have one resident concern if i could just a moment more.
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i think you may aware that in the buildings there is a profit sharing on the [indiscernible] proceeds with the tenant associations that are leget at wood side. we have a bank account and tax id number and we get the checks directly from wash. this means we get the checks within 30 days of wash collecting them so every month we can count on a check and know approximately how much it will be. all a sudden we stop getting checks. when we talk to wash company, they said somebody had taken over the account and changed the account name and now it was going to a tl and po box in the city and we thought fraud had been committed, but it turned out bridge updated their contract with wash and cut us out of it without telling us, so the checks we were expecting to
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spend on our christmas party are now with bridge. did you cut me off? >> you can take as much time as you need. >> that is the report. we have found out it was bridge who did it and that's fine if their contract, they get to do that. they did it in september we are curious if new machines are coming because they are terrible. the machines have been in there a decade. it is so disrectful. they have every right to take and control that, but when it has been functioning well to take it without-- >> can you remind us-thank you so much. very apologetic you have to deal with this. what is the location of the site? >> 255 wood side avenue. this would effect all the bridge buildings i'm sure. >> i will make sure the housing authority or request the
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housing authority follow up with mohcd on this item with the developer bridge and services that are or not provided at the site. >> all the laundry-many of the developers take the laundry checks and redistribute them and if a t a has a tax id and bank account there is no reason for the owner to take a check and hold on to it and distribute quarterly. this is partnership relationship. during the weekend if the machines go down we call it in, the t a. it happens during the week, then management takes the lead on everything. it has been a great partnership-they will pay the money. the t a will get the money i'm sure, but when? >> alright. through the ceo, - >> the president her name is
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michelle payten. she doesn't have internet today so why i'm here on her behalf. >> thank you for coming. >> we'll follow up. >> great. >> any additional report out from ccsd or phta? we can open public comment on item 6. any public comment? margaret. >> margaret from [indiscernible] one of my clients is actually 25 sanchez and been having trouble with bridge taking their money the past three years they haven't seen any of it. just wanted to note that. special thanks to tony who saved our thanksgiving with the gift of
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food which was greatly appreciated. we have a big thank you card from everybody so thank you. >> i see a hand raised online. you just have to unmute yourself. okay. looks like we are having mic issues. i see you are unmuted but we are not hearing you in the room. we can try again later. i think it is a mic issue on your end. we are not able to hear you when you run muted. or, actually, i think we hear you now. >> can you hear me? so sorry. can you hear me at all? >> yes. >> great. great. i am tenant at 3850 18th street and we had problems with our laundry room
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since in five years we never had really upkept cleaned up. we worked with bridge management on that or tried to and they gave a log to right in the losses of the machine not working or the drires run for a hour and don't dry your clothes. the cleaning of them is just really inconsistent and the hot water is never hot and even though we did a log we thought that was solve the problem but they just remove the log sheet and nothing was done about it and in terms of the cost and the sharing that, i don't know what goes on with that because it is a [indiscernible] to the laundry comment, but it is tentant issue, we haven't had a functional tenant association in this building at least 5 years, probably longer, but i can account 5 years i lived here and we haven't seen a bank statement in at least 5 years and now our president is ill and
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overseated as a president of the 10 tenant association and was the only person showing up for the meeting. that is something i know you can't comment on but something we want to bring to you and get intervention on because we need help with this and we have not been informed of things and not being kept in the loop at all. it is sort of a higharchy that has come to a end, but we need to form a new association so we have some voice and some way to address these and many other issues we have been dealing for years here. i wanted to let everyone know that is forthcoming, however we can make that happen. you will be hearing more from us in a formal format. thank you. >> thank you. >> stephanie, i see your hand raised. would you like to give public comment on your report?
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>> just briefly that she's right about the t a at 18th street and we have been over there trying to have a couple nomination meetings and there is just not-we need to do a lot more outreach and organizing there. there is probably going to be a change of the guard because their president is very ill now. martha is having a hard time. we are on bord with that and love to hold election and help 18th street get a new t a going. nickolet, i'm glad you showed up. good for you. that's all. thank you. >> thank you. any additional public comment for item 6? we can close public comment. item 7, chief executive officer report. we can start with 7 a, the plaza east report. [indiscernible] you have slides.
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>> good afternoon commissioners. president torres. feels like we just saw each other. i'm here as long as you need, but my report is pretty brief because it hasn't been that long. we are covering november this month. first slide, please. this is staffing. there is no changes. we are fully staffed accept for one maintenance person. we did find someone and we extended a offer and they are in background now. you might remember last month we hired an assistant manager, so the office staff, the front office is fully leased up. the next slide is the work order detail. we did a lot of work orders last month, 255, which is more then we have done in the preceding year. we are operating with a pretty
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aggressive annual unit inspection. we are doing 20 units a month so part of the is work orders jen rated from annual inspections. emergency work orders were done within 12 hours. regular work orders within one day which is consistent with what we have been doing at plaza east. we opened three more work orders then we closed. giving total of seven completed work orders end of the month, 5 for inspections the last day of the month. one was because we needed to hire a new dryer. wednesday thanksgiving, we got a report there was a dryer broke and delivered monday after thanksgiving so zeery
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zero work days between the report and delivery. any questions on that? >> any questions commissioners? no. thank you. >> that is a good thing. moving to unit details. reminding we go through slide by slide because there was a request to make sure that we presented it in a way that was more understandable. i will say looking at the overview, there is only one change. there is one less occupied unit. we had a move-out. the occupied units went down by one and the units pending rehabilitation went up by one unit. going through that slide by slide- >> can you walk through the vacant and rentable comments you have there? give a sense of what that means? >> vacant and-right now there is only one there, and that is units that we are waiting for a vendor to turn over and then--
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>> just where it says vacant and rentable for november it says 7 and it says starting in january-- >> absolutely. sorry, yes. that was january 2024. this spreadsheet has gone through changes and one was we didn't want to report units as vacant in till we asked for referral. so, we made sure the units are turned and we ask for referral and then it goes into this bucket. >> can you share about the process once the units have been sent for referrals what the units of time are you are waiting on, number applicants coming in into fill those units? >> i have a verbal report for that. would you mind if we saved to the end? >> thank you very much. >> great. next slide, please. these are it the occupied units as we said. a squatter moved out and so there is
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one less occupied unit. the next slide was no change. there are seven units we are currently-they all have referrals and we are processing applicants for all of them. vacant under remodeling is one unit. there is no change here. these are units not remodeling and units used for other purposes. that is the same slide again for some reason. in case you didn't catch the first time. this is last month, which is one move-out. that's the end of the slides. as promised, the take away for me, i want you to know we track through a narrative every applicant we have. the reason we do it that is so i can look at it and make sure there
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is no delays, no unnecessary delays in the process. i know i have to stand up here and be held accountable for moving people in a speedy fashion. it is a complicated process. people have jobs. they have assets these days and there is cash apps and all these different things and birt certificates and there is a lot that goes into moving people in, however, i have been tracking this since april and during that time, we have had 15 referrals sent to us. that is resulted in 9 people that decline the unit, 4 people that moved in, 2 that are still pending and 0 denials. 9 people declined the unit after they saw it or before they saw it, 4 people moved in and 2 are pending. outlet of the 4 people that moved in, what is the timeframe because
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that is the number one question. two house holds took 5 week, one took 7 weeks and one took 3 weeks to move in. the typical hold-up to take that long are waiting for documentation for our compliance department. this property not only has public housing it is layered with tax credit so we have a compliance layer we have to make sure that we are fulfilling. >> just you don't need to get too specific, but i will ask a somewhat specific question. can you walk us through the timeline and check list of items that need to be delivered once a unit becomes vacant at your site? once someone moves out of a unit, what the process is to insure that a new tenant can come back in to that
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seat both from a hqs perspective and other perspectives. >> sure. let me know if i'm going in the wrong direction or if i don't give enough or too much detail, because i will go on for a while. so, when we are notified of move out and move out happens, we do two things, we start turning the unit and ask for referral. on the unit turn we are required to turn units within 30 days. that is a tax credit requirement and it is our goal. it doesn't always happen, but generally happens. unit turns at plaza east can be complicated and they can take a while. custom cabinants, counter tops, carpets. we clean the units and hire a vendor to take care of carpet and painting and other large items and our staff come and do the small work orders, garbage disposal. light sockets, things like that. when the unit is ready or close
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to ready we will ask for a referral from the housing authority and and we have a referral for every unit ready to rent now, so that is the physical unit piece. as far as the applicant, once we received the name and information for the applicants from the housing authority and call them up and set an appointment. the appointment usually happen within a week. we are ready the next day generally. we have to wait for the residents because they have lives and jobs and other things going on. the residents come in for a initial interview, they fill out a questionnaire-they also have to put down all of their assets. all the bank accounts, savings, checking, real estate they own, a variety of different things. they fill out the questionnaire and we are required to third party verify
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everything we can. third party verification means, that we get the-send something to the bank and they send it right back. the tax credit allocation committee requires us to make three attempts to get the information third party and then we can use second party which is bank statements in order to determine the amount of the asset and income from the asset. then on the income part, they give us a social security statement or something from the public benefits people, or they have to give us pay checks and we call verification of income from the employer. required 6 consecutive pay stubs and a voe from the employer. once we receive all that stuff and stuff required because there is hud which is citizenship, birth
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certificates, we get that all together and we send to the compliance department. our compliance department makes sure that we are meeting the requirements of both hud and the tax credit allocation committee. they have a 48 hour turn around. often times they are quicker, but they guarantee a turn around within 48 hours. it is fairly common to have a couple back and forth because maybe there is clarification needed, you see a bank statement and see a regular deposit and want more information so we go through back and forth and get approval from the compliance department and call the resident schedule and move in. >> when you are looking at that three weeks, five weeks, seven weeks to fill the units, what are the pressure points either help you accelerate the authority or extend the
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timeline, beyond the complications or responses back from residents? >> sure, i will speak more generally then [applause]y east, because i only have 4 move ins. my experience tells me with my sites that the biggest problems are getting consecutive pay checks and getting the employer to fill out the documentation. as companies are larger and they have payroll departments, it gets more difficult to get them to fill out the paperwork in a timely fashion. the biggest problem, the absolute biggest problem now we have is assets. there is a lack of the brick and mortar banks. when i was in occupancy specialist 20 years ago, i sent something to a fax number for bank of america and within 24 hours they sent me back the savings and checks statements with all the information i needed, but now you have a-somebody has money in zillow
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or cash app and you cant just send something and get the documentation you need, but it is required. i will say that on the government doesn't always move as quickly as the market so they are not quite set up to work in the same way that the documents they require from us are needed. so, and then we use the second party thing, which is the bank statements and we are required to verify assets or deposits we don't understand. if you have a regular reoccurring deposit from your mom or boyfriend or dinner you split with a friend, we are not sure if that is income and are priored to make sure it is not so that takes a little while. lastly, and this is another big problem that has come up recently is the gig economy.
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people that work-today you work for uber, tomorrow you work for lyft and uber eats and some other company or maybe all four and trying to get them to verify employment and get the pay checks and things like that is really complicated. i had a really sad situation a few months ago. i was at a property when they were moving someone in, the person sat down, it was a homeless program. not one of you dpies. guys. he says i'm sorry i'm late, and just started a new job and i wasn't able to move him in that day because he had a change of circumstance before move in and we are required to without verifying it. people are-i tell you to tell people are changing jobs quickly and every time you change jobs you have to reverify all that. yeah. >> thank you very much. very helpful. >> thank you.
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anything else? >> any other questions from commissioners? >> you guys have a great christmas. >> you too. >> [indiscernible] >> good afternoon commissioners. i'm camille, a service coordinator at plaza east. >> [indiscernible] also a resident service coordinator at plaza east. >> for today's report we will be reporting for november. so, as far as relocation goes we assisted property management with any relocation to on site or aortsite. another site. tenant engagement, we were able to have a coffee and pastry hour pickup for the residents on site. we were able to have 5
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residents come by for that. we were able to provide 24 families weekly hot meals in partnership with sfhdc. we were able to schedule one on ones with dph crisis services for three residents on site. we were able to assist property management with residents outreach for work orders meetings making sure they know these work orders they are submitting do not harm them at all. it is able to get all the maintenance on the unit finished up and completed. we were also able to provide five of our families with our community closet, so they came by getting different things like socks, maybe a good coat for the rain for the weather. it has been very cold, so we just want to make sure we have those resources for the residents at the office to come and stop by and we are also
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accepting donations for the said items for children, teens, adults, men and women, so if you guys have any type of donations we are open picking those up or make sure you have there address for drop-offs. we were able to provide some technology assistance with three residents on site just understanding some documents as far as edd goes and being able to access e-mails and different things like that. we were also able to assist two residents with pg&e assistance on site so making sure that all that is in order, they are enrolled in any care program and if they have any medical requirements that they are on the program specific to pg&e as well. looking back at november, we were able to service about 162 residents between connections referrals and
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providing them with specific assistance. any questions? >> thank you so much. as always for the great work. one question i have just as a structural one, who funds the work? >> mohcd through the city. >> mayor office of housing and community development. >> exactly. >> so, very much appreciate you coming to talk about the resources you are providing given it is housing authority connected property with plaza east, but the contract for these services is overseen by mayor office of housing and community development. >> exactly. correct. >> how often-you come and see us once a month and you report on these item s and update said. how often is what dialogue is taking place between mayor office of housing who has oversight of this contract and frh? >> weekly. we have a weekly check in each wednesday. >> so, every week on wednesday
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mayor office of housing sits down with frh to discuss how things are going with regards to the contract? >> yes. and we also do monthly report-outs through the gms system as well. a little more detailed. >> thank you very much. similar when we are getting calls earlier and one thing i want to do for members of the public watching is just understand the various channels of who is responsible for what, who has oversight authority over what, what role the housing authority can play in partnership and referring issues over to say the mayor office of housing community development with regards to say, a contract oversight or residents services and various properties so people are very clear on how things get done or how we follow through on services are provided or not provided. i want to say thank you so much again for coming this month. happy holidays and commissioners, any other questions?
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happy holiday, merry christmas and thank you. >> you as well. happy holidays. >> 7b is owner partnership program update presented by paul edward, management co ceo and [indiscernible] we also have slides for this report out. >> good afternoon commissioners. >> good afternoon. >> dejohn scott miller. are the slides up? thank you. the authority is launching a owner partnership program to engage, recruit and retain property owners and managers, which will intern increase the number of available units for the tenant based voucher program. the things we want to do with this program, one is engagement and in order to engage new owners, we
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will be conducting owner workshops. we want to do these at least twice a year and the workshops will be tailored to the owner needs. another thing we will be doing is owner news letters. we will be doing those quarterly and topic will vary. some topics may be unit upkeep, best practice, new policies and processes and laws coming out, available resources for owners and also various authority updates. we also are launching a new owner portal, which the go live date is projected to be mid-february. that owner portal is going to allow for owners to export their rent payments either in pdf orep excel format. this will also cut down on their needs to reach out to the authority, which they do regularly because they need break-downs for tenant payments. it will also allow for them to
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see all of the inspection reports and also view upcoming scheduled inspections which is something they are not able to do in the current portal. another thing we will be able to do is have them message authority staff directly through the portal and it is something that will be extremely user friendly for the owners and what we are looking at doing is having some training sessions ahead of the launch at least two, in order for the owners to show them how to navigate and set up the portals. one thing it can do as well, which is really big for large property management companies is to have multiple users set up for one tax id which was not available previously. where you have multiple properties across one tax id, you have different staff, different property manager ares and we are able to set up multiple accounts. the other thing we want to
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focus on is recruitment and to do that we are going to be outreach. our outreach will consist of being connected to various associations throughout the city in order to get in contact with various owners. having signing bonuses and incentives for the owners and also education. a huge barrier for our participants and applicants and leasing up is owners not being familiar or uneducated about the program, so we really want to provide education. and then in order to retain our owners, we really want to have a true partnership, and something not where we are providing subsidies or assistance but connected with the owner and they know this is a true partnership between them. providing excellent customer service and nortd in order to do that we want to increase responsiveness
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which is something we is done over the last couple years and also shorten processing times. we have been working closely with the authority to look at areas to shorten our processing times and not delay anything. and then having open and clear communication. in order to do that, we really want to communicate on a human level and not in regular tory terms. having open and clear communication and conversation with owners and property managers. we have 8150 participants leased on our voucher program and across that 8150, we have 3082 property owners. that 3082, 216 were new owners added over the last year, so we really want to increase that number even more over
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the next 12 months and add as many units and owners to the program as we can. some of the leasing barriers that we see are high rent amounts, high security deposits, application fees that our voucher holders may not be able to pay. utility arrears. one of the biggest things is negative stigmas. which could be a high likelihood of lease violation if they put a voucher holder in their unit. lower then market rate unit rent amounts. dislike dealing with the government. delayed processing and unresponsive staff and strict rules. this goes back to the education piece i discussed. we'll have workshops that will educate the owners and even though we are source of income protection laws state-wide and also locally, you still have owners that will find inventive
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ways to say no section 8 or not rent to section 8 or flat out do it. we really want to break down these barriers and increase our partnership. next slide, please. some of the keys to successful leasing for our voucher holders is having real true relationships. relationships that we have with applicants with our landlords and with community partners. building these relationships and turning our relationships into true partner nps is what will allow us to do that. having adequate staff and not only adequate staff, but educated staff that know what they are talking about. we cannot meet timelines, we cannot shorten processing times if we dont have the staff and qualified staff to do so. having the reliability.
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by doing that, showing them that having a housing assistance payment stabilizes their unit, which is something we really saw beyond 2020 where folks were losing their jobs and then you have all of these owners that are not receiving any rent payments and can't do anything about it. clear and concise communication that is consistent across all of our departments and staff members is really key to providing excellent customer service, so if you are going to one staff one day and another staff another day you are not getting varying answers and information. next slide, please. so, the incentives we are looking at providing is signing bonuses and what we discussed is having a $250 signing bonus for every new tenant based contract we sign. the other thing is vacancy loss
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and so, we would provide vacancy loss for an owner where they have identified or willing to rent that unit to a housing choice voucher holder. the maximum up mount that we would provide would be equivalent to the contract rent or payment standard for that unit and we would also make sure we inspect that unit and it meets our inspection requirements. then, damage mitigation. reimbursement to owners that have had a participant vacate the unit and damage beyond normal wear and tear that exceed the security deposit. my experience having these incentives, this is probably the least used pool of money, but it is the most helpful in getting owners to want to engage with the housing authority, because having somebody "tear up their units"
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is something a lot of owners are fearful of and knowing thais have the money to lean on if they needed it goes a long way. the maximum for damages is $3 thousand and it would have to be work that was completed by a licensed contractor, which is within state law requirements. the outcomes we are looking at with this owner partnership program is to improve our customer service and processing timelines, dispel negative stereo types which strengthen partnership with property owners, remove barriers to successful leasing and create-also want to create a available unit list, which is something that we have folks ask. instead of them having to go on affordablehousing.com or craigs list we
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have a internal list. then that will increase our voucher leasing success rate. any questions? >> commissioners, do we have questions? i have a lot. can we go back to the previous slide? the last slide you just had. can you talk to me where the-for the create available unit list is that best practice? >> yes. >> and have you been reaching out to them to make sure you have no need to replicate a existing wheel to help guide you in this process? >> yes. >> fantastic. when you are talking about the community partners, or partners that can help you in building facilitating continuing landlord relationships, what are some of the names of the organizations that you will be leaning on to help you convene potential partners in the hcd program? >> so, you have the california
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apartment association which is a huge organization and they have various events where they invite a bunch of property managers, also rotary clubs are a good resource to attended their meetings, and to reach out. large property management companies, one property management company that we partner with, marshal and company, they have a network of owners throughout the city, so reaching out to them and inviting them to workshops, holding educational events, doing fliers and sending those out is something we plan to do. also partners we work with on the special program side like the brilliant corners, abode, various folks that do the navigation for their clients is something that will help us reach out to them because they have a lot
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of networks with open units and apartment complexes and property owners throughout the city. >> that's great. in terms of the first slide you presented on and the item you will be moving through, do you have a calendar set up when you plan to see the series of launches and when the trainings will be taking place as a example? >> yes. we don't have a date for the first workshop yet. for the news letter, we plan to issue that in the first quarter of 2025 and i want to have that out before the launching of the owner portal so that can also announce the new owner portal in a different session. and then have a workshop in the beginning of the year. one thing we discussed is having the first one virtual, so we can maximize our attendees on that one, and then going forward, we can have multiple sessions, usually what would be best is to have one in the afternoon, maybe a
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12 o'clock session and provide snacks, do a evening session and provide snacks and do a saturday session. >> so, are you organizing this work and when is this area performance reviewed by the housing authority? >> [indiscernible] >> you are contracted by the housing authority to do housing choice voucher and thank you very very much for doing this work. as you are doing and performing these services, how are you checking in with the housing authority, are you doing it within the calendar year or doing it on a quarterly basis a monthly basis? how are the items reviewed by the housing authority in terms of helping you have oversight on how you are moving this process forward that benefit voucher administration, property owner management relationships and so forth? >> we check in weekly and we also [indiscernible] and do a annual score as well. >> okay.
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when you say annual do you mean within the fiscal year calendar year? >> during the contract year. >> the contract year for us with [indiscernible] is? >> october. >> okay, great. aligns- >> it is with the fiscal year. just so happens. >> alright. great. and when do you think you can provide us because it it is nice to have visibility out there who want to take advantage of the program, especially thinking through my assumption is you will have a calendar our workshops, levels of engagement, beginning first quarter of the calendar year this coming year that run until the end of october, is that right? >> yes. >> great. and then you will be able to share that once you finalize the schedule of all the items on that first slide that is very exciting work and i do want to say that you implementing the best
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practice having a active unit site people can go to seems very exciting to me and i think it is great you pursue best practice other counties are taking advantage of so thank you for that. >> thank you. >> in terms of having that up and running you have the owner portal, do you have a sense when that is going live? >> mid-february. >> mid-february. have you done any soft launches or testing with existing property owners to give feedback? >> we haven't. >> that might be something to pursue to make sure you are taking care of the items before you launch. i just think it is very exciting to see this move forward. >> we are very excited. and i think that's it for now, but it will be great to know and see what the calendar of implementation looks like
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that has external relationship impacts for us. thank you. >> thank you. >> happy holidays. >> you too. >> through the chair. so, as it relates to the soft launch, we will be working with the land owner community in terms of going through the process and having several different sessions in january so that with the actual developer to make sure that if there are things that need to be changed that can happen so we had those discussions and also to answer, we are tracking all of this work and working collectively together and moving this forward. >> and just the last question i forgot to ask is, just on the active unit site, when will that go live?
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>> the site wont go live until mid-february. >> okay. not the owner portal but the listing of units available. i assume that will take time to develop. just a range. not looking for a specific date. >> looking to have that by february or march. >> as well? alright. great. fantastic. thank you. >> 7c, tenant support services update. >> good afternoon commissioners. the housing authority is continue to provide tenant support services to reduce barriers in voucher holder lease-up and barriers we have tracked are application paying for application fees, sometimes applicants are
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paying application fees for multiple properties and so those can add up. outstanding rent and utility payments, poor credit or high security deposits. >> just a quick question. can you-thank you cend ru, great to see you. what is the connection to the mayor office of housing and community development in terms of tenant servicess where does the work fit in with the portfolio? >> this is for the portable voucher so the housing authority work. the housing authority engaged voucher holderss saying you have not leased up, how can we help you. if there are voucher holders who come through the mayor office we always assist them but this is a san francisco housing authority pilot. since the start of the pilot, the authority has provided $140.365
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thousand for tenant support servicess for 54 families. the pilot was targeted to households who had not leased within 60 days of receiving the voucher. we reached out to those voucher holders via text or e-mail. we want to meet people where they are. we all have our phones in our hands so why we felt we could reach out to them that way. the program is now updated so we offer the service as soon as they get the voucher, so at the initial voucher issuance, and also incorporating a eligibility based on total household income, this change is inteneded to maximize the reach and help reduce the number of expired vouchers, because what we found is that, texting the applicant people the phone numbers may change, they may think it is spam. we didn't get enough people
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interested in this program, so now we are thinking, let's tell them at the beginning, so they know if they need help. don't wait until 60 days, contact us immediately. and our goal is to help as many families as possible and decrease the time it takes to lease up families and decrease the number of expired vouchers. the authority has allocated funding assist ance to help with initial leasing costs, which are application, processing fees, security deposit, utility deposit, utility arrears and essential household items. voucher holders may request assistance by submitting online survey form throughout the lease up process. participant receive a survey link from the information authority and the authority will send monthly reminders to participant not leased up. one question is what is the connection?
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how do the voucher holders-my team reaches out to the participant so we are working closely with dejohn and his team so we know who the applicants are and we are tracking them because it is my team who is issuing these funds. we are meeting regularly about this and we also worked on this policy together. requesting fund does not guarantee assistance. funding is based on eligibility and availability of funding. here is our policy. the authority will only fund or reimburse cost related to the applicant's initial lease up and hcd program. cost will not be funded or reimbursed for subsequent moves. the authority will not require funding assistance to be repaid unless
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the security deposit was paid directly to the property owner. determine eligibility based on household income house by size to assist a family with the greatest need. implement controls to review eligibility and check them out to voucher holders reimbursed to insure we don't exceed the budget and we are able to help the most-the families that need the most help. here on slide 31 is the reimbursement reason s and details. any questions? >> can you simplify for us, thank you very much. can you simplify what problem you are seeking to solve with the problem? >> we do not want voucher holders to lose their vouchers and so voucher holders have a certain amount of time to lease up the vouchers. >> it is the expiration date? >> the expiration date.
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>> the metric is you want to decrease the number of expirations by how many? you have a sense of ghole? goal? >> we don't want any vouchers to expire and so our goal--because we know that the vouchers that expire from our experience are the applicants with the most bear arriers with the credit problems and not able to pay the application fees. the vouchers that expire, the trends we see are why we set up this policy to try to overcome those barriers. >> thank you very much. can you talk about the development of this program like how long you have been working on this to get this ready gee and launch? >> this program has been going for two years. we already distributed over $140 thousand, but we have more funds we could distribute and so that is why we wanted to make it easier.
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one thing i always talk about is, when voucher holders get a voucher, it is like a graduation ceremony and they are all excited and there is this briefing and it is like a hour long and we are giving all this information and so, after 60 days, people forget or they need more assistance and so we want to say, as soon as they get the voucher, dont wait 60 days. here are some resources to help you lease up, because we know one thing we have to acknowledge is that we issue a lot of vouchers in san francisco and so we want to make sure our vouchers holders have the opportunity to use these vouchers. >> what are the impacts beyond the individual impacts to the voucher holder when those vouchers expire? how does it effect the housing authority and how does it effect the housing thort and relationship with hud? >> when a voucher expires if we have the funding we do another pool and issue more vouchers.
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but, if the funding is pulled because the voucher is not utilized though are less vouchers we can't issue and those are gone. we don't want that to happen we want the vouchers to be issued so next year we can get more vouchers. >> thank you. >> is there a expension on expired vouchers? >> yes, the first voucher is 180 days. a applicant can request a 30 day extension automatically. any extension after that require a reasonable accommodation. >> thank you. >> thank you. any other questions from commissioners? thank you, happy holiday. >> thank you, happy holiday. >> item 7d is chief executive officer
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general communication. ceo tony lediju. >> thank you. good afternoon commissioners. just several items as our board president has mentioned, we are in the middle or all most really at the end of the toy drive, which will begin on tuesday and toys will be delivered at over 35 sites and we are issuing toys or providing toys for over 1800 children as well as the fact i like to thank operation stream, sfpd, apri and park and rec for all of their support and collaboration on this particular event. additionally, the two rfp's for plaza around vacant units and other internal and external improvements for capital improvements will close
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january 2025. there were 8 business/owners who attended the walk-through of plaza regarding this upcoming work to be done and for the rfp to be issued, and as the year is coming to close, we continue to work with developer partners to identify any outstanding items or answer questions in preparation for the year-end close and we remain committed to all of our partners to insure properties remain viable. and operated in the manner we all hope for. that's all i have for today and just would like to thank both [indiscernible] and kindraregarding the two programs we are working on and continue to enhance the work we do with all our residents. just as kindra mentioned, that work working to remove barriers with
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individuals who actually are have the opportunity to have a housing choice voucher, that work will go hand in hand with the owner operation work that we are launching this first quarter as well, so i think that will help improve reducing barriers as individuals have a opportunity to use their housing choice voucher. thank you. >> great. thank you very much ceo lediju. do we have public comment on the report before we ask questions? good afternoon. >> good afternoon commissioners. well, today i just have a few things that i like to say. it was put on record at our last meeting that a scheduled
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meeting would be between the housing authority and plaza east tenant association. i was wondering if that was still available? >> have you not heard directly from the housing authority on a pending meeting? >> no. >> can we make sure the housing authority, i have been told the housing authority is reaching out. >> who are they reaching out to? >> certainly. >> i can clarify. we sent that correspondence to you and dennis to conform meeting times. we had next week wednesday. but it should be in the e-mail inbox but happy to talk to you to confirm available times. >> the thing is, information sent to the housing authority send directly to the president of the tenant association, mr. williams is not a part of the tenant association.
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i want to correct that. if there is any-you need my e-mail i will give you my e-mail to send information to me and to send when commission meetings are held, so that i can know whauts what's going on because i'm in the dark about a lot of things. another thing is that, as far as our services is concern, we have-sorry to say we have stop their engagement in the community about programs and events that we give that the tenant association give in our community. because the reason for this is that we need to meet and in their
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mission statement they had stated to us that we would meet regularly to talk about future plans for plaza east and services for plaza east and this have not happened. as far as the services are in the community concerned, i really don't know how many residents have been serviced, because we have not been told any or given any information on what's going on with their team. so, i as the president of the tenant association you know stopped all activity from them, but i see that they are still doing activities and i'm not knowing about it.
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until we have a meeting with them and to find out what their budget is, we will know what is going on i what the budget is in plaza east and the future events or future services in plaza east they will be doing, then i really as the president of the tenant association of plaza east, the leader in the community object to them doing any benefits and things for our tenants. i don't know what's going on with this. we were supposed to have a meeting with helen hale. she has not committed or not gotten in touch and i am in the dark right about now. we really need these meetings. >> yes, so can you make sure that you received the e-mail from bennett and he will connect with you right
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after the meeting or right now? to make sure that he has the correct e-mail for you. >> yes. >> the intent that meeting is holistic in nature so trying to bring together as many stakeholders as possible specifically around plaza east. as relates to services and the contract overseen by the mayor office of housing community development helen hale is responsible for that contract, that is why i made the comments earlier on who is responsible for oversight. my understanding through the ceo of the housing authority is a meeting was requested to take place between the mayor office of housing per my promise to you and our communications that there would be a meeting to talk about services and the contractors contractual responsibility to perform services as directed by the mayor office of housing and community development for the taxpayer dollars to provided to do just are that.
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there will be a series of meetings as committed to the leadership at plaza east in a variety of forms, including you as a president of the tenant council and i want to make sure that follow-up is happening so there is a clear agenda for that meeting when it takes place and everyone understands through consation watt the agenda is so you are not left in the dark but are clear on what we want to discuss and also the housing authority is clear what needs to be discussed. >> absolutely. >> thank you so much. i appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> thank you. do we have anymore public comment on this item? i have a question for the ceo regarding her summary report? >> one additional public comment virtually. mr. williams. you should be able to unmute
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yourself now. >> can you hear me? >> yes. >> good afternoon commissioners. mr. dennis williams, appreciate you mr. torres and your voluntary contribution and mr. bennett. i did receive that e-mail. i want to say for the last 5 to 6 years [applause] plaza east resident is clamoring for a new t a election that has been well past due. we commend the council we have now, but it has been 19 years of the existing president and that is illegal by way of the ta bylaws, and i will bring that up as we move past the old way of doing things and the corruption behind it, so we look for emergency elections we have been saying to the hrc as well as this committee, not only this year but in the pash. past. i'm head of the plaza east development advisory committee. i have not received payment for
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the diligent work organizing of the community, media engagement with but not limited to housing right committee san [indiscernible] community alliance. we have not been paid since august 23, which is a entire year and 4 months which egregious. urban strategy was hired who you guys championed. stated i would receive $250 monthly, paid through the housing authority for months i e-mailed mrs. cendra, mrs. tonia and plaza east est president and brushed aside. mr. dennis i received the e-mail yesterday and i appreciate it and that is a alerting the new meeting next week. it [indiscernible] as you guys know. plaza east resident council tells development advisory committee is currently active and great importance. the same development advisory committee and our community leaders met
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with housing authority leaders and legal representatives on the capital improvement project starting january as mrs. tonia stated. after months of discussing minority inclusion under hud section 3 policy and other ordinances plaza east leadership was tolds of project manager position for the capital project would be available for bidding. unfortunately when i was going to bid on it, it is no longer there and i received no e-mail back pertaining to why, but it is only a mr. mariano [indiscernible] from the housing authority is the project manager, which is kind of odd. lastly, plaza east has enders the resident two of the worst management companies per san francisco chronicle. six years of the vacant units john stuart spoke on. >> thank you. >> has been allowed to disway
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black resident and been [indiscernible] >> thank you very much. i apologize but we need to move on through public comment and we'll pick this up further in our meeting next week. hopefully that meeting time will be able to work so thank you very much. >> last call for public comment on item 7? >> great. just some questions. i know there have been discussions among developers and housing authority regarding the themes around receivable's and the financial implication processing raised with concern to you. how do you propose to share that information with the commission so we are aware of what those issues are and also to give a highlight if you can as well as provide a opportunity for future commission meeting to give us a update on how we move through
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that process. i know that you and the head of the mayor office of housing community development are also going to be convening to discuss some of these issues, but can you share a little what is the process of dialogue to date? >> so, as we are working through some of the current issues or challenges and requests around vacancies around reconciliation, we have taken tremendous amount of time to take records and look at the different records at a really deep level and as we have done that we have made some response back what we are requesting is actual in person meetings, so we can all have a working meeting with several developers to really come to heads about where are we, where are
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the gaps and how we can actually mitigate those gaps and if we have missed payments what those payments are, make those payments before we close out in this current year. really that is at a high level what we want to do and so we have sent out e-mails saying for next week, let's get together. let's have a working meeting so that we can just go through each group of issues and then come to some resolution so we can move forward, and whether we are making a payment, we are making process changes to really solidify or relationship and make sure each of the properties are stabilized. and we are also-if i may,-we spent a lot of time this year in a very cumbersome process of working
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on making sure that our wait list are current, meaning, hud has a process by where you have to insure anyone on your wait list as our wait list grow olds, we have to purge the wait list and that purging process is very long because we have to give a certain number of notices and opportunities to respond before we remove someone off the wait list. we have been working on that for one year and that has been a purge of 30 thousand names and we now are able to use our new refreshed wait list and on top that something we are also working on that is really important, we are very unique in the city where we have all most 90 distinct different wait lists for all our different sites, which is very unusual for most housing authorities. we have been working to
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minimize that, because it does make the process very cumbersome in doing the work, and also with that, we acknowledge-we had a lot of transition in our organization as we are working with our contractors, and moving things forward, so i have had a really long discussion with our project based contractor and the ceo that organization around some things we really must have a change in and they will be coming forward today because we are renewing a contract and i will have greater discussion around that what we are looking for if you will. again, we remain committed to insure that the agency pays every dollar that it is supposed to pay, because that is very important. we are looking at other avenues as we shared with you last month.
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hud has implemented a statute that across the nation around where it has taken back our reserves and last year we had a really great opportunity. we had quite a few reserves, and we were able to do creative things as it relates to vac agencies with our developers and this year i dont have the latitude as i wish i did and i explained that and will continue to speak about that, but none the less, there are other things i'm looking into that we have potential access to as it relates to fungds that we may be able to do creative things to help our sites move along. >> my understanding is the hope is we are coordinating our efforts with mayor office of housing as we do so given that as the mayor office of housing and community developer shares stakeholders with the housing authority,
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there are financial implication. you talked about stubltd. stability. are you able to talk about the level of financial stability that is currently being discussed is or that something you need more time to present at a later date? >> i need more time to present that and i will then-when i present it, i am waiting to-weighing through legal requirements for hud perspectives around potential other dollars we might have access to, so i really need to get those answers so i can give a better-i think a more satisfying answer around how we plan to mitigate some things and what we can and cannot do but what we are offering and i need to be able to finish working through that so i can have a more well rounded answer if you dont mind. >> great. great. of course. i just want to make sure that the stability of our partners is upmost importance to the city as a whole.
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>> yes. >> that many parts, one body as it relates to affordable housing providers and that it is becoming evident that if there are issues around performance that effect the finances that also effect the finances of the affordable housing providers and also of the city itself when they are asked to help support these issues, so i think that meeting with mayor office of housing will be important to keep this conversation moving forward specifically around those items and we can hopefully have another update in january at our next meeting. >> yes. i fully agree with you again. it is our goal to insure our properties are stable and that we are able to work hand in hand with mohcd with our city partner around residual reletes
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receipts and the other fund the city has access to and we as a the housing authority have access to and working with partners as we work around mohcd. we are committed. >> that is great. i just always encourage that we are as persistent with our partners as possible in communication. that means of course affordable housing developers and their leadership around what is being done and pursued, but also with partners at the federal government, hud. i know that you are able and you continue to do so and i want to encourage you to continue. they provide ush with the funding, but they need support push ing them to higher level of performance as well with answering our questions in a timely manner that have financial implications, so i very much appreciate you doing that work to continue that partnership of appropriate tension between partners, so thank you very much for that.
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>> thank you and again thank this commission for your continued support. as well as my staff as well and we'll continue to move forward and in partnership with our contractors together moving the ball so we really are stable and as we part out of this year we can part and go into the new year with a firm foundation. it is our goal. >> just as we are having this conversation, thank you very much for that ceo lediju. if there are capacity needs that are impacting the stability of us to serve as a city, our partners that is something we absolutely must discuss and advocate for at the highest level so i want to make sure we exercise that as well as part of the meetings we pursue and this administration and we'll make the items known in the next administration. thank you very much.
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>> thank you >> you had public comment so we can go to item 8. consent item of approval of meeting minutes of november 22, 2024. any comments from commissioners regarding the minutes? we can open for any public comment regarding the consent agenda. you see someone online unnamed. i want to clarify, this is specifically in regards to the consent agenda. if you like to raise your hand again if that is your desire. don't see that. we can close public comment. ask for motion of approval. >> motion to approve. >> second? >> i second. >> roll call vote. [roll call]
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thank you. item 9 is the regular business action item we have one action item today. resolution approving and authorizing the chief executive officer (ceo) of the housing authority of the city and county of san francisco (authority) to (1) enter into amendment #2 to contract #22-002-1 (contract) exercising the second option to extend the contract term with cvr associates, inc (cvr) for an additional year for a total of three years and (2) approve a not to exceed amount (nte) of nine million three hundred thousansd dollars ($9,300.000) for year three of the contract for the administration and operations of rental assistance demonstration (rad) vouchers, project based vouchers (pbv) and any work related to the remaining public housing program along with the accompanying waitlist, inspections, and customer care for a total contract amount not to exceed twenty five million seven hundred thousand dollars ($25,700,000.00)this is presented by the housing operation director kendra crawford. >> thank you. this action item request of authorization and approval by the board of commissioners of the housing authority of the city and county of san
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francisco to approve exercising the third one year options to renew contract number 22-002-1, which will be entered into january 1, 2025 and set to expire december 31, 2025. and two, approve increase in the total contract amount by approving an additional not to exceed amount of 9 million, 300 thousand dollars for year three of the contract and three three-making the new not to exceed for the initial contract period $25.7 million. any questions? >> yes. thank you very much kendra. to the ceo, you said you wanted to address questions with regard to approval of the contract. >> i'll let you start. >> i like you to dive in and
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tell us what-just tell us the nature of the conversation around performance. just transparency of issues that exist. these are not meant to be punitive conversations as we are about to approve the contract but true transparent understanding of issues we are facing of systems we are dealing with that effectuate outcomes or don't we are seeking. >> first of all, i do want to thank [indiscernible] for their work and i want to say that the san francisco housing authority is very complex. when i sit with my colleagues i don't think there is anymore complex organization then ours, and we fully understand that. i would like to say that, they have insured that our 50058 pick submission rate has gone from 78 percent
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up to 100 percent, so we are really pleased about that. that is very important. and, they have really done a great job monitoring the decreasing number of residents on the deceased tenant report. we had a significant number of individuals on that report and we really needed to clean up that report. they have been working to establish procedures to create a single punt of entry for documents submitted by clients, so that we could reduce the loss or potential loss of documents, which has been really important and so some of the areas that are really a challenge for us and continue to be a challenge and that is getting the wait list all cleaned up so that we can just really have consistent, fresh, up to date wait list. so, we have been working on that continuously and that needs to continue to be a focus for us.
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also, what has to be a continued focus for us, which goes hand in hand with our wait list is referrals. because we know that referrals equal bringing the needed subsidy to the property. it is our commitment for every project based voucher contract that we have that we have those units at at least over 93 percent leased up, but really our goal is to have our program that 98 percent at the very least for all our programs. which today on the site we do. we are really in the upcoming year to have a major or significant uptick in our units being leased up. additionally, with that work in terms of leasing, it is also how are we tracking, because that will be very important. if you listen to ron's
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presentation today and how he talked about, i received this many referrals, we have this many vacancies and this is what happened, and we need to be able to concretely at any moment and any given time be able to say how many referrals have we sent to a specific-particular development? how many have been rejected and what are the reasons why? that is what it really boils down to so we can determine not just at the housing authority, but with our partners where are the gaps, so we can quickly mitigate those gaps and keep moving and insuring money is flowing to the property, meaning when money is flowing to the property, that means that we have the family or individual housed, that is very important. so, for me fundamentally, that is the largest and most significant issue that we must get a handle on in terms of
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making sure that every vacant unit up to at least 98 percent is filled at any moment any given time and be extremely accountsable to that. in addition to that, insuring every increment, every unit is booked into the system and making sure we are paying the correct amount, making sure there is a reconciliation occurring between our developers and between our program, so that every dollar is accounted for and we are making sure every dollar that is supposed to be at our property are there. also what is intertwined with that is inspections. something that is going to occur in cvr has been working on is haveic a bulk inspection where on a annual basis we are having one annual recertification of all the units and that properties are notified, it is going to be
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your annual inspection and we will do all of the units. this work hopefully will really minimize units not being passed for inspection, and working more closely with our property management and developers on, we will be coming, you know we are coming, we'll remind you in three months we are coming and remind in 60 days and remind you in 30 days, so you are ready for us. you have a team that can follow us if something is missing and we are also working on some of these issues where if something doesn't pass inspection and if it is something really fairly simple, then we have been testing this out. you can just certify. just really trying to find ways working with our contractor, how to remove barriers and to make it much more easier to get through the process day by day is the goal. as we continue to work on i
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think on our behalf, not just the our contractor partners, on our behalf as the housing authority, as we talked about resources. one thing we have been doing, we have been fortunate to have technical assistance given and paid for by hud, which has been really helpful. you met both david and malon. our teams have been going through this quality assurance process, so they really can understand from beginning to end what happens with our wait list when we are pulling, when we are sending referrals so it ties back to the score where it talks about how well we are performing as a housing authority, so the teams are going through the process so they have a much better understanding so we are able to do better quality assurance,
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better quality monitoring as well. that is a way of enhancing our services partner wide if you will for all our developments. >> the metrics that will measure performance through $9.3 million contract approval we are seeking. >> commissioners, the housing authority has a score card system. it is a monthly report that is provided. the metrics that are in this score card align with the contract and the rfp is essentially integrated into the contract or contractual terms. in addition to that, we also have been having a monthly meeting to see where [indiscernible] are performing.
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and that's-weekly meetings, but the score cards come out monthly. there is a draft. the office of cvr has a opportunity to respond and a final draft comes out within 2 months that. >> thank you very much. again, i want to say the spirit of the conversation is to insure we have full transparency of the issues we are seeking to solve. not as a punitive frame, but one where we are seeking to see elevated and exceptional performance that benefit the housing authority and the goals so the spirit oof asking the questions. >> it is worth mentioning we had a annual review meeting where we met with cvo and pm and having the same with [indiscernible] to sit down meeting with their senior level staff including ceo and we go through the high level what were the issues we saw, where is there room for improvement and then what are the improvements we saw, which
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director lediju read a couple minutes ago. >> thank you very much. thank you very much kendra. ceo lediju. any additional comments from commissioners before--? any additional comments from commissioners? alright. >> i just wanted to add, one thing i think is really important and will be around where metrics are not being met, whether it's housing authority, whether it is our contractor, whether it's working with our developer partners is, we are working to develop a certain set of reports that will help me have a quick glance so i'm able to stop and say to another ceo at another organization, hey, i know this is this or hey, i notice we are not hitting this mark and here's what i'm changing or whatever the case may be so we can have a more proactive
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communication as well. >> thank you. any public comment on this item? >> in person or online, any public a comment for item number 9 a? don't see any. >> motion for approval. >> motion to prove. >> second? >> i second. >> roll call vote. [roll call] so moved. thank you. that is all the action items. item 11 is any additional commissioner comments. >> any additional comments from commissioners before we conclude our-is this the final meeting of december, 2024? alright. it has been a very interesting and long 2024 with certain more wonderful surprises for 2025. we are looking and very excited for the new year and in the mean time
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and diane one of the managers at zen citizen in arena hills open and serve old-fashioned ice cream. >> over 20 years. >> yeah. >> had my own business i was a firefighter and came in- in 1969 her dad had ice cream and left here still the owner but shortly after um, in here became the inc. maker the manager and lead and branded the store from day to day and in the late 90s- was obvious choice he sold it to him and he called us up one night and said i'm going to sell
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the ice cream store what you you talking about diane came and looked at the store and something we want to do and had a history of her dad here and growing up here at the ice cream store we decided to take that business on. >> and have it in the family i didn't want to sell it. >> to keep it here in san francisco. >> and (unintelligible). >> share worked there and worked with all the people and a lot of customers come in. >> a round hill in the adjoining areas loved neither ice cream shop in this area and support russia hills and have clean up day and give them free ice cream because that is those are the people that keep us the
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opportunity to stick around here four so many years next generations have been coming her 20 er thirty or 40 years and we have the ingredients something it sold and, you know, her dad said to treat the customers right and people will keep on coming back and 75 or 74 years, you know, that is quite an accomplishment i think of it as our first 75 years and like to see that, you know, going into the future um, that ice cream shop will be around used to be 4 hundred in the united states and all gone equipment for that one that is the first and last we're proud of that we're still
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standing and people people are you tell people it's been around in 50 years and don't plan on >> asian-american pacific heritage month is about taking a moment to think about who you are and where you come from and appreciating the wealth and diversity that we bring to our community. >> it's about celebrating tlc, bringing in new years by visiting temple and giving to the monks. >> it's about inclusivity. >> it's about keeping family traditions. >> it's about hindi culture. >> it's about your heritage and knowing your roots. >> it's about culture sharing.
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>> about thes it reconnecting with my past. >> it's about celebrating heritage for api. >> it's about learning the culture differences and finding ways to celebrate them. >> it's about being proud of yourself. >> it's about keeping tradition alive from my parents to my son from chinese new year to celebrating the holidays. >> it's about recognizing and celebrating our culture richness and the importance of inclusion. >> for a brighter and just future. >> let's celebrate aapi heritage month by writing our own history for the future and we spoke with people regardless of what they are. that is when you see change. that is a lead advantage.
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so law enforcement assistance diversion to work with individuals with nonviolent related offenses to offer an alternative to an arrest and the county jail. >> we are seeing reduction in drug-related crimes in the pilot area. >> they have done the program for quite a while. they are successful in reducing the going to the county jail. >> this was a state grant that we applied for. the department is the main administrator. it requires we work with multiple agencies. we have a community that
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includes the da, rapid transit police and san francisco sheriff's department and law enforcement agencies, public defender's office and adult probation to work together to look at the population that ends up in criminal justice and how they will not end up in jail. >> having partners in the nonprofit world and the public defender are critical to the success. we are beginning to succeed because we have that cooperation. >> agencies with very little connection are brought together at the same table. >> collaboration is good for the department. it gets us all working in the same direction. these are complex issues we are dealing with. >> when you have systems as complicated as police and health
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and proation and jails and nonprofits it requires people to come to work together so everybody has to put their egos at the door. we have done it very, very well. >> the model of care where police, district attorney, public defenders are community-based organizations are all involved to worked towards the common goal. nobody wants to see drug users in jail. they want them to get the correct treatment they need. >> we are piloting lead in san francisco. close to civic center along market street, union plaza, powell street and in the mission, 16th and mission. >> our goal in san francisco and in seattle is to work with individuals who are cycling in
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and out of criminal justice and are falling through the cracks and using this as intervention to address that population and the racial disparity we see. we want to focus on the mission in tender loan district. >> it goes to the partners that hired case managers to deal directly with the clients. case managers with referrals from the police or city agencies connect with the person to determine what their needs are and how we can best meet those needs. >> i have nobody, no friends, no resources, i am flat-out on my own. i witnessed women getting beat, men getting beat. transgenders getting beat up. i saw people shot, stabbed. >> these are people that have
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had many visits to the county jail in san francisco or other institutions. we are trying to connect them with the resources they need in the community to break out of that cycle. >> all of the referrals are coming from the law enforcement agency. >> officers observe an offense. say you are using. it is found out you are in possession of drugs, that constituted a lead eligible defense. >> the officer would talk to the individual about participating in the program instead of being booked into the county jail. >> are you ever heard of the leads program. >> yes. >> are you part of the leads program? do you have a case worker? >> yes, i have a case manager. >> when they have a contact with a possible lead referral, they give us a call. ideally we can meet them at the scene where the ticket is being
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issued. >> primarily what you are talking to are people under the influence of drugs but they will all be nonviolent. if they were violent they wouldn't qualify for lead. >> you think i am going to get arrested or maybe i will go to jail for something i just did because of the substance abuse issues i am dealing with. >> they would contact with the outreach worker. >> then glide shows up, you are not going to jail. we can take you. let's meet you where you are without telling you exactly what that is going to look like, let us help you and help you help yourself. >> bring them to the community assessment and services center run by adult probation to have assessment with the department of public health staff to assess the treatment needs. it provides meals, groups, there
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are things happening that make it an open space they can access. they go through detailed assessment about their needs and how we can meet those needs. >> someone who would have entered the jail system or would have been arrested and book order the charge is diverted to social services. then from there instead of them going through that system, which hasn't shown itself to be an effective way to deal with people suffering from suable stance abuse issues they can be connected with case management. they can offer services based on their needs as individuals. >> one of the key things is our approach is client centered. hall reduction is based around helping the client and meeting them where they are at in terms of what steps are you ready to
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take? >> we are not asking individuals to do anything specific at any point in time. it is a program based on whatever it takes and wherever it takes. we are going to them and working with themhere they feel most comfortable in the community. >> it opens doors and they get access they wouldn't have had otherwise. >> supports them on their goals. we are not assigning goals working to come up with a plan what success looks like to them. >> because i have been in the field a lot i can offer different choices and let them decide which one they want to go down and help them on that path. >> it is all on you. we are here to guide you. we are not trying to force you to do what you want to do or change your mind. it is you telling us how you want us to help you. >> it means a lot to the clients to know there is someone creative in the way we can
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assist them. >> they pick up the phone. it was a blessing to have them when i was on the streets. no matter what situation, what pay phone, cell phone, somebody else's phone by calling them they always answered. >> in office-based setting somebody at the reception desk and the clinician will not work for this population of drug users on the street. this has been helpful to see the outcome. >> we will pick you up, take you to the appointment, get you food on the way and make sure your needs are taken care of so you are not out in the cold. >> first to push me so i will not be afraid to ask for help with the lead team. >> can we get you to use less and less so you can function and have a normal life, job, place
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to stay, be a functioning part of the community. it is all part of the home reduction model. you are using less and you are allowed to be a viable member of the society. this is an important question where lead will go from here. looking at the data so far and seeing the successes and we can build on that and as the department based on that where the investments need to go. >> if it is for five months. >> hopefully as final we will come up with a model that may help with all of the communities in the california. >> i want to go back to school to start my ged and go to community clean. >> it can be somebody scaled out. that is the hope anyway. >> is a huge need in the city. depending on the need and the data we are getting we can definitely see an expansion.
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>> okay, kids. our next guest speaker for career day is the sheriff from san francisco. >> hi, everyone. does anybody know what a deputy does? >> they involve the law. >> you know what, let me show you what it takes to be a deputy. ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ >> at the san francisco sheriff's office, we're looking for a few good deputies. ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ >> we need people who aren't afraid to push themselves. ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪
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>> who are willing to go the distance. ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ >> men and women who is up for a challenge. >> who love it as much as we do. >> [foreign language] >> you'll probably drink coffee with us. >> [foreign language] keeping it real, this job is challenging. >> when one door closes -- >> we make sure another one opens. >> we protect san francisco courts. >> court is now in session. [gavel] >> helping justice to be serve. >> during election season, we
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make sure every vote is counted. >> we wet people where they -- we get people to where they need to go. >> and forward our city's hospitals. >> it's important we can keep you safe. >> whether you're celebrating your quinceanera or getting married >> congratulations! >> we'll stand up for you so your voices can be heard. >> protecting your first amendment rights. [cheers and applause] >> (indiscernible) in uniform. [cheers and applause] >> go warriors >> we train hard to get to where
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we are. ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ >> [whistle] >> we offer a competitive salary. ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ >> and average of more than $100,000 a year to start. >> (indiscernible). >> including great medical coverage. >> and a pension you can actually retire on. >> [foreign language] >> this folds really good. >> we're looking for those who think outside the box. >> and people who want to save lives. ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ >> for people who want to change lives. >> for those who want to serve our city. >> we need you. >> we're committed. >> you bring something to our team that no one else can.
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>> you! >> all right. now, who wants to be a deputy? ♪ [ music ] ♪ ♪ [laughter] >> three, two one. >> top notch benefits. >> is that too much. [laughter] >> no. >> say your line, sheriff. >> your line, sheriff. [laughter] >> let me show you what it takes to be -- >> action. >> when one door closes -- [laughter] >> what did you say?
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