have you ever been homeless? today, you are going to meet a young woman who was formally homeless is now running for miss california. there are an estimated 2600 homeless young people. some of them got together to produce a sub service announcement. >> we are here to help. >> and that was produced by some of the young people who found ambassadors of hope and opportunity. here in the studio with me is the founder of ambassadors of hope and opportunity. zara babitzke and andrea perel son, now in the running for miss california! >> it's bin going for three years now. if you go to the kids, they always don't have transportation. talk about that. >> we talk about why it's important to meet the kids where they are? >> because they don't have transportation. it's easy for them to get to. so we try to do our best that they feel comfortable and is not stigmatized. >> we provide comprehensive survival services. we have three levels have housing including emergency housing where youth can stay from one to ten days until we

we have more homeless. in my opinion, who supported the initiative and i support all the homeless people in sentences of receiving cash or anything. i support them because it is important and that these people have money. supervisor kim: thank you. i have to have you wrap up. thank you. >> in the afternoon, supervisors. i recently became homeless again. three years ago, i utilize to the shelter systems the was very beneficial to me to the point where i was able to save, who moved out, and of placing in the bayview area. i have just recently moved out and because of drug dealing right in my building. i am 63 years old, not 23. i decided to not get caught up in any type of problems behind this scenario. i decided to utilize the shelter systems again. i would like to address an issue. one particular issue with how the staff communicates with the people are living in the shelters. three years ago, i address that issue with the human rights commission on how they serve the food. now i will address how they talk

of the homeless population in the shelter system, 300 individuals represent 6% of the homeless population. a number of shelter beds as 1134. 1094 beds are for the general public. of those, 345 vs five recipients that represent 30% of the beds in our shelter system. this came out of concern that 6% of the homeless population, we reserve 30% for the population which might make it more equitable for the veteran individuals. we are currently in conversations. i like to think the department head to see if there are at the ministry of ways that we can fix. this has been brought about because it was something that was brought to the voters in 2002. the discussion is ongoing and we want to address inequity. we also want to address that there is anywhere from 58 to 70 beds that go vacant at night. all beds should be occupied and we're currently looking for ways to address that issue. we can open up for questions or colleagues before i go to public comment. it is still enforced to have a public airing. -- hearing. supervisor farrell: i have a number of concerns here and love to direct my questions

in fact, secretary shinseki has declared that va will eliminate homelessness, or end homelessness, andthere has been a 5-year plan in place to end homelessness among veterans, which includes a comprehensive constellation of programs and services for individuals that are homeless. to address homelessness, though, it's not just a matter, of course, of providing housing. that is one important aspect to make sure the individuals are in comfortable, secure surroundings. but it's also critical to address the mental health problems that a lot of homeless individuals have, as you noted. and so we have, in va, a variety of programs that address both aspects and oftentimes very much together, where we have residential treatment programs that specialize in providing individuals with that secure and safe surrounding, while they're initially receiving intensive care that they may need. and then following that, there is a range of additional services for homeless individuals so that they can get their lives back. and that doesn't only include shelter and emotional health; it's an important part, but

i am homeless. what good does that do me? if i went through the program, like i asked, i could have gotten the housing giving you another bed for the shelter. i am stuck there. >> thank you. speaker. >> good afternoon supervisors. i am here to support care not cash, because it was voted in by 60% of the voters in 2002. the cash that is given to these people, at that time when they get it, they are a fragile population. there are a lot of those people for whose their autonomy is a liability and they can't direct the funds because of the problems that they have to the resources that would really help them. by giving them the cash, there are so many problems that all you have to do is to go and look at the check cashing place at 7th and market two minutes after midnight on the 1st and the 15th and watch the predators trying to lure and victimize this population, which happens all of the time. and also the people coming in from other places because there is not any sort of comparable cash program being offered at any surrounding

i live in a homeless shelter when i was homeless and had a great understanding of what it is like and the challenges that are faced not only by the residents involved but also the shelter staff. i also served with the monitoring committee which is the vehicle of the shelters and insures that the standards of care are being met. i have been on the body for two years and was just recently appointed to the chair. i feel that i am well rounded with the knowledge of what it is like to be homeless, what it is like to live in district 6. i would love to serve on this body because there is currently a disconnect which means small businesses and homeless people and i would like to bridge that and actually help businesses hire people who are homeless. working together, we can solve many problems. we can provide them with employment and also helping to improve the number of businesses and the livelihood of those businesses. >> thank you. are there any questions? at this time, we will not open it up for public comment. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm troubled by the fact that you have five se

i was homeless in the early '90s. i had made a very ill considered career move at the beginning of a recession, and i had an apartment and i was renting ab art studio as an artist and couldn't afford both at one point. the art studio was $150 a month and i was working for about $300 a month in an art gallery, so the apartment went and i took my dog and wound up sleeping, you know, in a warehouse and being very cut off from normal life. and it's hard to get back out of that without help. >>> you're an educated person, did all the right things that we're taught to do. it happened to you. >> and i might not have done all the right things, but i would like to hear from the person who has. [ laughter ] >>> it's a challenge for everybody. >> but, you know, the thing is, the people who stay homeless for a long time and the difference between them and me is it was not me. it was the people around me that i got help from other people. there was somebody an employer is willing to take a chance on me, despite the fact i had a ga

the homeless go for a shot at redemption.nd why so many people who've served their country find coming home so hard. >> hey, good morning, you guys. how you guys doing? we're going to have a great stand down this year. >> pelley: it's a friday morning in july. jon nachison is greeting his troops, homeless vets and their families who'd waited all night to get in. >> jon nachison: we're going to open the gates. let's do it. >> pelley: they were literally a battalion-- 947 men, women and children. >> good morning, sir. welcome to stand down. we'd like to give you a breakfast bag and something to drink. >> nachison: when people come in, they're instantly transported back to the military, a time when they wore the uniform, where they were proud, where they were walking tall. >> pelley: you want them to remember a time in life when they were proud of themselves. >> nachison: i want to evoke that person in them. >> pelley: nachison does that by putting them inside a military- style base on a san diego high school athletic field-- 30

formerly homeless families and individuals. there is also an enormous amount of opportunity for homeless people to gain jobs and job training opportunities. we wanted to acknowledge the work of supervisor kim. her and her staff worked hard over the past few months to make sure all of the goals and the plan that we have worked hard to achieve are going to be real and meaningful. thank you for the work that you did. [applause] and over the years, we have had a really great community partnership with the treasure island development authority. the board has been amazing. they have had the vision of including low income and formerly homeless people from the ground up, from the start, so i want to thank the treasure island development authority for all of their leadership over the years. i also want to thank the director of operations. [applause] really, i know supervisor chu said that it takes a village to build a village, but it has really been that kind of story. that is why you had the 11-0 vote. it is not just city government do

or formally- homeless persons. i also want to recognize the incredible efforts by some in the different people who have come together to make this happen. i know a lot of these people personally. so many of the entities in between. when deraa was describing the entities they came together to forge a $31 million it took, he named seven different agencies that had to combine themselves in different ways, including redevelopment, housing, state, and all of these entities have to work together. i am so glad that we have a mayor's office of housing that can help with a reputable community-based agency to forge this kind of relationship. because, when you are working in a building where you also promiseall of the construction g on, and when our goal is to make this building seismically safe, and when every unit gets a working bathroom, accessible showers on every floor come and that people can live here while that is happening, that is an incredible, complex thing to do in the heart of our city in the tenderloin. tried t

the pets of homeless people. obvious question is, why have a pet and how can you care for an animal if you have no home? in cat keeping me alive right now to date. these are my -- this is my medicine. my cat. you know, without them, i really wouldn't know what -- where i would be right now. i really wouldn't. but with these guys they give me a lot to expect and, you know, they are just my soul mates. cats are. and there is nothing i would do to give them up. >> a group of volunteers called vet sos offers help to these pet families. meet veterinarian. >> nice to have you here. >> thanks for having me. >> you are the founder of this group. it's been around for ten years. i'm guessing people do not know about it because they not homeless perhaps. and tell me how you started it and why. >> well, we starteds in june of 2001 so we just celebrated our ten year anniversary and it was brought to my attention there was a need in the community to do out reach to pets of the homeless by formerly homeless client of mine when

homelessness. we have a problem in california with the excessive and addictive use of alcohol, heroin, and cocaine among rock stars. did anyone propose that recruiting millionaires to be prohibited the would be out of office rather than voted into it? we were to claim that lawyers ought to have preferential treatment because their money is somehow better, they would sound equally laughable. we have only been able to have this ridiculous debate because of the notion that poor people are somehow different from the rest of society and unable to make decisions. i want to clarify that the initiative says one simple thing. shelter is not housing and should not be rented out at housing rates. homeless people not deserve to be told of allied that is. >> i am a member of the public that has had the opportunity to have real discussions about this initiative with san franciscans have been most closely be affected by this initiative. these are people who are homeless, many i talked to were homeless by choice.

then you have another category of homelessness, which is chronic homelessness. it is not just living paycheck to paycheck, but other issues like mental health or drug addiction. that is a much harder population to address. i think -- the district that i represent as many of the community organizations. it continues to be a pressing problem. >> where do you think the attics and mentally ill will go? supervisor kim: first of all, a ton of families live in the tenderloin. people do not realize this, but the tenderloin is a family neighborhood. it in not a proponent for cleaning up the tenderloin. i love the tenderloin. i love what it is right now. you know, i recognize that we have a diversity of folks who want to live there. i do not have a problem with people being out on the streets and socializing. it is part of the character of the neighborhood. i do not think the party is something we should criminalize. that being said, we cannot have open drug dealing. i do support a foot patrol. we are currently working with several organizations or have safe passages wher

but i hope that as we look at homeless policy, we take a man approached that does not blame homeless people for their own predicament but looks at how we can improve the economy, jobs, and educational opportunities for many people who are currently homeless. >> you started to touch on this a little bit as the city's housing needs. what do you think the board of supervisors should be doing to address some of those needs? supervisor mar: even as we will be holding a hearing on senior housing needs in a few weeks, we did a study with the budget analyst office that shows that there is a huge need for housing, especially for affordable housing for the lowest income population, but even for our middle-income, aging population, there is nowhere near enough housing that is affordable for people, so it may mean an exodus of more working families, or seniors that are middle or lower income from the city, we must build more housing that is affordable. there is also the danger that san francisco becomes a city that loses families because it may be cheaper or more affordable to live in daly city