please stand by for the san francisco rules committee meeting of april 22, 2024. >> the meeting will come to order. this is the april 22, 2024 rules committee meeting. i'm supervisor ronan joined by supervisor shamann walton and supervisor ahsha safai, a committee member. our clerk is victor young and like to thank sfgovtv for broadcasting the meeting. mr. clerk do you have announcements? >> public comment will be taken on each item. when your item comes up and public comment is called, please line

up to speak on your right. you may submit public comment in writing in the following ways, e-mail victor.young@sfgov.org. if you submit via e-mail it will be forwarded to the sfr visor kbz inincluding in the file. you can send written comments by u.s. mail to city hall 1 dr. carlton b goodlett place room 244 san francisco california 94102. please make sure to silence cell phones and electronic devices. the documents should be submitted to the clerk. items acted upon today are expected to appear on the board supervisor agenda april 30, 2024 unless stated. i like to differ to our interpreter roburto to make the announcements in spanish if possible.

>> please come on up. >> good morning. [providing instructions in spanish]

>> mr. clerk, can you please call items number 1? >> yes, item 1 is rez wlugz urging department of homelessinize and supportive housing to prioritize families with children to receive shelter or hotel vouchers the same day they arrive at an access point to develop comprehensive plans that focus on children and families to prevent children living on the streets and develop a multilingual access public dashboard where families can monitor the waitlist and the process of moving families into permanent housing. >> thank you. i like to turn it over to the sponsor, supervisor safai. >> thank you chair ronan. appreciate you making the time to schedule this today and thank you supervisor walton and ronan for cosponsoring this really really important hearing. we have been working over the

last two months diligently to listen, learn and move in the right direction to address issues families are having accessing adequate shelter and particularly families with children. i'm sure like-i'm sure that like myself, many are away of the scathing reports and experiences we heard from unhoused families seeking refuge in our city. i have been horrified by these experiences of these families here today and many others not able to come forward publicly that reported to me and my staff and we spent time listening and going on visiting and hearing first hand not just in official government settings but community, churches and different places hearing from people about the experience they are having with our city. a city with tremendous resources. this isn't just a lack of transparency,

inadequate response and information they encounter, but serious lang ishing conditions of the shelter when it is made to them and many times threats thrown their way if they speak up or speak out. the limited time expired food they are offered at times, the lack of compassionate response in their situation when they report medical conditions or the streess so overwhelming that some ended up in the hospital and i think one of the days we had a meeting, one of the individuals had to go to the hospital and the teen age daughter had no where to go. we have babies that have not been able to access child care, making it difficult for their parents to navigate the bureaucracy that they have to go through. traveling all over the city to get answers from different partners. when children are enrolled in school from these families they are often falling asleep in class because

they are not getting access to the appropriate rest and food they need at very critical developmental stages in their life. i walked away--tremendously shocked at these circumstances as i said in the city as resourceful as we are, to be thinking about small children with their families in these conditions, it really is unconsinable and breaks my heart. many are immigrant families, newcomers to our city and from my personal experience not born in the country and fled violence, had family members that were killed, many of these families are leaving trauma to only come here in our city and experience more trauma. there is another thing we want to hear more about and that's the actual number of families that are on the

wait list. the number keeps moving. it is around 400, but we are not sure if that is the right number. we like to see how the wait list is managed, how they are processed and we don't have clarity how a family moves through the system with any demonstrable success, so we like to know what the metric are and how the outcomes are being measured. i'm hoping we can get clarity from departments that are going to present today and we'll listen learn and improve the ist ism to insure that families are provided what they need to exit the homelessness system. i like to know the network and city is building to support in order to insure that the safetynet for unhoused families with children do not fall into chronic homelessness and suffer long-term harm we know are

likely consequences of chronic homelessness and for children reported being tired, falling asleep in class, not getting the appropriate food they need, all this is really really important to address and understand how we are going to improve on. we are entering a difficult budget year. we all know that. we know this is a difficult difficult time, but we need much more reliable data so we can come up with better solutions. we have the resources. we have the resources in our city, we just don't have the coordination and the leadership on this issue. we need to understand that how we are going to better address this first hand. and we need real solutions, not band aids. we need a system that works to get families the wrap around services in a coordinated way so they can get through the system successfully and not held back and further traumatized by

it. we have two main departments here today colleagues that are going to present. first we have office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs and department of homeless supportive housing, with the department of human service agency on call if we need them. i believe that hsa director of disaster preparedness, doris baron is on standby. why don't we do the firs presentation now? i like to call up director revas and if we can take questions after each department that is better flow rather then have them both present. i will it over. the floor is yours. qulou have about 10 minutes and i know you will present data for us today and then we'll ask you questions directly and then go to the next

department and then open up for public comment. >> thank you. good morning supervisor walton, safai and chair ronan. >> would you mind pulling the microphone towards yourself. >> pleasure to be with all you this morning. my name is jorge rivas. i am joined by my colleagues rich whipal and richard who lead and work on the newcomer ish aoos in the office. we'll be available for questions at the end. thank you again for having us and giving opportunity to share backgrounds on trends, data and supporting the wave of newcomers. the office of civic engagement immigrant affairicize a policy compliance direct service grant making department and all our work focus on foster inclusive and welcoming city for all particularly immigrants. next slide.

just again, the quick reminder, we do this work in various-air yeahs which i wonets go into detail but civic engagement, community safety through ambassador program. provide grants to community organizations and service providers and lead the city language access work and provide immigrant services. next slide. next two slides are help paint a picture what we know and don't know about what is happening in san francisco with newcomer community. today is primarily focused on access to family housing and oceia was invited to share immigrant families are experiencing. we also know that immigrant families are a growing user and looking into enter the housing system in addition teert resources. the slides provide color what is happening in san francisco but by no means provides a complete picture of what is happening.

as we recognize there are gaps in the data collection. let me start with trends in our recent migration patterns to help ground in a conversation mpt we have seen the reports and news about the national surge in migration that is happening at the border, the buses sent to cities and are grower negative their ative. we know we have-title 42, the lifting of public health emergency for covid and processes contributed to the surge. there have been a growing diversity in the countries of origin, due to conflict, poverty and economic crisis. this means there is more diversity in the cultural language needs meaning that receiving cities and governments may be prepared with adequate resources. we know this in the recent

migration wave, increase number of migrants arriving don't have a support network or system that previous waves might have had. this means, it can lead to more families experiencing homelessness and the need for navigation and services upon arrival. as they have difficulty navigating our system. another important note is that in the recent wave we see more families and miners traveling alone and particularly single mothers. lastly, related to the first point, the biden administration created programs to facilitate migration from particular countries experiencing hardship. wealth of qualitative data and stories about the influx of newcomers in the city from community partners primarily collected through monthly asylum seeker community response planning

meetings which many staff attend on a regular basis. of the data affirms we are experiencing a steady stream of newcomer asylum seekers in particular. we have eare lied heavily on partners to support us with data. the unified school district shared monthly numbers of newcomer students and homeless newcomer student the main data point for us all along. in addition, the data regarding the demand for legal service from legal service providers is something we'll share today as well. however, there is very limited quantitative data to support this trend due to city data collection processes. efforts to protect the migrant communities, many departments do not ask for documentation status when assessing services to be in line with our sanctuary city policy. more data collection for

newcomers would greatly strengthen the case for more support and need. in this slide, it shows percent of new immigrant enrollment over the years. you will note that there have been some miner influxions over the last 10 years but steadily increase over the last three. and in this school year alone, you will note we have the highest newcomer enrollment in the school year isn't over yet. next slide. this slide takes a deeper dive into the number of new school enrollment with comparison to those who are unhoused. the numbers- >> director, can you go back to the previous slide? >> i just want to stop you for a second. it says 3 percent of-is that the total-

>> enrollment. >> entire-? >> entire. >> what is that number? 3 percent is what? >> i do not have that number. >> [indiscernible] >> it is 49.231 kids enrolled and the number is 1566. >> thank you supervisor, yes. >> please proceed. >> thanks for the question. in this slide, it takes a deeper dive into the new school enrollment with comparison of the unhoused . these are numbers from the last 6 months. this compare the newcomer enrollees and those unhoused. we thank the partner frz the school district, but they expressed the data may be a bit incomplete as they self--reported. this next slide is a data that comes from partners at the san francisco immigrant leem defense

collaborative. which provides legal representation and support to local immigrants and asylum seekers in need of immigration services. [indiscernible] response to the record number of unaccompanied miners, attained a wait list. routine wait list are a hundred to 200 individuals. as of the late, we have seen a wait list go up to over 900 individuals. again, the school district and data do not paint the whole picture, but it does illustrate by both community and public institution there has been increase in newcomer families attempting to access city services. the next slide is to further ground our current state of the reminder. i'm going to share what asylum seeker may or may not have access to.

have permission to stay thin u.s. while they fight their case and likely monitored to ice. do not have a right to the attorney or social security number and can apply for work permit for 6 months after filing for asylum. they are not eligible for most public benefit programs. they are eligible for medi-cal and some city funded programs administered by hsa and other departments. asked about the departmental coordination and work. in the late 2022, committee established to plan for mass arrival. various departments, developed a plan in a case of arrival of a large number of immigrants. we were seeing many cities. this will only be activated in the case of emergency. role was to support with

language service, create maintain newcomer response tool kits with resources available to immigrants and newcomers. hold meetings to align the work and support newcomers to collaborate and share resources with organizations on a regular basis. asked by hsa to provide training for all housing access point staff and partners around sf immigrant rights, resources and cultural competency. developed a training and collaboration [indiscernible] at the school district. this will be delivered later this week. departmental coordination has shifted. we started to focus on understanding and planning for the steady stream of newcomers. as it compls to supporting

newcomers we have worked in innovative ways and stretch resources. we convene community stakeholders on a monthly basis and thank supervisors, staff for attending and participating at those. we have also been working with legal service providers to expand work opportunities for newcomers for example, we host a work authorization clinic later this summer. we also have a rfp out to insure we have legal support service and navigation support service to the future. the team has been working to explore alternative housing options for newcomers. one is hosted housing, working with groups such as interfaith movement to identify private residents willing to house newcomers and develop a platform where hosted families program can be developed in san francisco. another effort which is a bit premature

to announce as we finalize details, but comfortable enough to sthair we have an agreement with usf, to utilize vacant dormitories over the summer to house newcomers. of course, as it pertains to language access and we have been and continue to partner with city departments to provide ongoing language access technical assistance and supplement language access service where and when it is needed. the last two slides are resources for all in the room and those here at home and anybody who may know somebody seeking asylum or needs immigration support. i encourage to visit the support hub. if you or someone you know is seeking asylum please visit the website on the screen. and then, the response and referral tool kit. the isis meant for community based organizations city departments and

other immigrant serving agencies to connect immigrants and asylum seekers. with that, i conclude my presentation. thank you supervisors. >> thank you director. really really appreciate the presentation. i have a couple questions for you. one is, can you talk more about the immigrant support hub? you mentioned it lightly. is it a point of contact? a place people new-comers and immigrant families can be referred to as they arrive in san francisco? can you give us more detail that? i understand the toolkit, i think that great you work in partnership with community based organizations, but like to hear more about the immigrant support hub. >> the immigrant support hub is a online-you find services available to newcomers. on line.

>> on line? >> online. >> is there anything your department does in person with staff? do you go around to community based organizations and out in the community in the field? >> yes, so, through our community ambassador program we have presence in many neighborhoods predominantly immigrant neighborhoods where the staff speak various languages and we often try to connect with merchants, residents, folks who may be looking for support services or other referrals. we also partner with different neighborhood organizations institutions to provide additional support or connection on a regular basis. in addition, we support with some grant resources, case management navigation but we do not have central office where newcomers can show up. >> it seems to be what you presented and the data is a important part of what you are doing, but it

seems as though we have a growing crisis on our hands. one in which is not being fully engaged on that is fully met and we heard of the experiences first-hand from newcomer immigrant families on the streets. i referenced some that. there is a better way you can do to coordinate with your department to get a better hold on the data itself? i understand and we heard what you presented that the school district, they have a de facto office newcomer families there, immigrant families that are dealing with this on the ground, but they seem to be one of the only main points. there is some cbo out there for sure that are doing great work, but this seems to be a main points. what are thing youz can do better to gather information or we could do better to gather information to get a better hold on the data? >> in response to that

question, i i like to continue we honoring the sanctuary city policy so it is important to navigate how we collect data, especially if we will be asking or thinking of asking community partners or partners funded by the city to collect data on the documented status of newcomers. i do think there might be other ways to work closely with community organizations that provide services directly to newcomers and maybe that is the goal and intention and can work with them to share their information with us. we have attempted and we have surveyed our partners to get a better sense what they notice on the e ground as well and we know that many of the new comer families may go through a process, have different needs. we know there is ways to get a sense what is happening without necessarily

having families disclose their documented status. >> i'm glad you mentioned sanctuary city. now more then ever it shows why it is so important we are a sanctuary city and we able to reaffirm those principals and stands up and engage and be a place where people feel safe as they are fleeing so many different tragedies around the world. i'll pause. i see supervisor walton. >> thank you chair ronan and supervisor safai. and they think -thank you for the presentation. just a few questions. you reference some of the federal government programs in one of the slides. does any translate to resources for localities for san francisco? >> the federal [indiscernible] released a few funding programs and i

know i have raised those as topics to explore. to answer your question, yes, it has but we have not pursued any of those just yet. >> and then has there been further conversation, i know some, but do you know where we are in terms of exploring or securing maybe more shelter services with the school district like they did at buena vista horace mann? >> i will let my my sister department respond to that. >> you want to do that now? >> after the presentation perhaps? >> and then do we know the capacity that usf is going to provide? >> we have various units up to 12 people over 8 weeks. and we are working to finalize details and hopefully secure for more. >> right now how are newcomers

connected to services? >> right now newcomers get connected through various entry points. there is no one location, so if they are going to the school district and enroll the school district connects them to services. if they go to a shelter the case managersp connect to resources. it is through the network and existence of the various entry points where newcomer may need support. >> typically they get connected if they are already a part of some program or service? >> ideally, yes. >> and then so there is no outreach or anything if they are not already connected? >> the outreach could happen through a network, yes, but there is no direct outreach happening i'm aware of to newcomer families by us or other city departments. >> thank you. >> supervisor ronan. >> thank you. thanks for the presentation.

the interdepartmental meetings you have been asking in case of a emergency, what is defined as a emergency? you have not yet defined what is happening today more newcomers enrolled in sfusd enrolled any time. 900 person waiting list for legal services. bigger then i think we have ever had in the past. you have not yet defined this realty as a emergency, is that right? >> the original definition for a emergency was a mass arrival. arrival at once. so like a bus or a plane with new immigrants like we saw in different cities. that was considered an event and emergency. the steady stream is not. >> the only time any emergency protocols is if there is a mass

arrival, so if like a thousand people arrive separately every day, that's not a mass emergency, but if a bus load of people arrive or plane load of people arrive-that's odd and doesn't make sense. >> that was defined by some of the collaboratives we had with different local jurisdictions and locally the different departments engage [indiscernible] trigger a no notice shelter program in response to the emergency. >> so, sorry, no notice shelter program. let's say you did declare a emergency, what happens that is not happening now? >> okay, so currentsly the departments engaged are dem, hsa, us, dph and mohcd and the idea, if there is a

emergency we stand up an emergency shelter, a emergency center where the bus immigrants will be taken to and they will be housed temporarily and assigned to a case manager. whether the case manager is with community and partnership with the city to help be connected to the resources they need and potentially to their final destination of san francisco if not their final destination. >> so it would be all most the creation creationf the hub that only exists online? >> i would not use the word hub because we use it as list of various resource s from legal to--it isn't just about the case management they may need to access public benefits, and i think the other idea that this is more a emergency as opposed to online on your own, and i also add to the-paint the color

is that, reception center welcome center different things for different people and also looks very different in different jurisdictions. we see where it is temporary stand up temporary folks can welcomed and connected to resources and move on. another is lot more long-term. >> i guess this will just then be a comment and i'm looking forward hearing from hsh, but i would suggest that there is a emergency happening right now and i think we will hear- [applause] we are going to hear from many people what we have heard in our office, which there are children sleeping oen the streets of san francisco every night and if that's not a emergency, i don't know what is. every moment there are more and more children and families sleeping on the streets, so i guess we are

wondering what is the city going to do? what is oceia doing to ring the alarm and have the urge ens a in the richest city and richest county in the world there are children sleeping on the streets? it isn't efficient to me to hear sfusd is the only entity in the city that has a way of recognizing [applause] -i forget i'm the chair of the committee. if you could use-instead of clapping we is a rule in the board chamber that you can use your-we call spirit fingers. [laughter] if you are in agreement with something, but we are not allowed to clap. if you could do us that favor, we appreciate it. [speaking spanish]

so, everything we are getting is half information. we are hearing anecdotally hundreds of people are coming into the bay area every day. we are hearing anecdotally from the one you know, one family shelter that they are turning away people every single night. we are hearing from outreach workers they find people-children sleeping on the streets every day. we hear from sfusd they are overwhelmed by the need of newcomer students and the only thing we heard so far

from oceia is you are doing the same services which are excellent and wonderful, but that there is nothing additional that is coming online given this realty. we are hearing from hsh the only thing so far we have been promised is 35 hotel vouchers for two weeks. we know hopefully there is more coming but i guess the reason for the hearing and quhie i cosponsored it, we are not doing enough as a city and there isn't enough urgency on the part of the department responsible for newcomers to meet the needs of newcomers. >> before you answer that director, i want to add to what she is saying. do you feel you are getting the support that you need? because i know we engaged with your office but i think this comes down to the mayor. where is the mayor in the city and county of san francisco? where is the support for your

services and your department? you are out there engaging with usf to try to get dorm rooms, we have a department that will speak after you that is responsible for coordination. we have the person on standby chair ronan, i think we should call them up. i wanted to get to that. the director of disaster preparedness because we have a crisisen our hand. who is responsible for declaring emergency? can you make that call? now, no, you can't. who is responsible for declaring a emergency? >> the department responsible is department of emergency management. according to protocols they were identified as lead department to make the determination and that triggers the resources that i mentioned. i think our office with the resources we do have again, i am trying to work on establishing workforce clinic to get folks with two work permits and also

trying to have additional legal service support services with the limited resources we have. we have been talking and exploring hosted housing and housing with usf and trying to address what we can. >> are you requesting new resources for these services? >> i think there is always a need for new resources. what we hear from community and through our monthly planning meetings is there is a growing need and what we can do is expand and grow those-contribute to the support provided through our current systems, but we just don't have the adequate resources we need. >> because during immigrant family day, the group that with met my office said they are requesting 6 new attorneys to meet the 900 person wait list. are you advocating for those funds to be able to do that? >> i think there is a

additional resources needed to support our legal support services, yes. >> thank you. >> i just have-just add to a couple questions. we underscored who has the ability to declare a emergency. is that doris baron, the person from hsa or from dem? >> hsa is the lead organization helping us stand the resources needed, but dem is the department that makes the declaration of a emergency. >> got it. so that is clear. and then, just to add on the physical hub, what are the barriers to have a physical hub? online is not accessible for the families. >> if we explore reception center welcome center i think we have

to agree what that looks like and the services we want to provide on site means and once we do that it is identifying whether we want to have an existing center to play the role or identify a new ones and that would require everything from case managers to shelter to a space that accommodates families to access to additional resources that we may not be able to have resources for now like legal services and so forth. >> okay, thank you. next we have- >> supervisor- >> sorry, didn't see you. >> thank you supervisor safai and chair ronan. i just want to piggy back and make a statement about supervisor ronan's statement around we are only catching this from school district data or self-identified data, and at the end of the day, it just makes no sense we are not proactively identifying and connecting families that need

service jz housing because they if they are not showing up in the schools and not part of the system and network already, this is why we have children sleeping in our streets so we have to do much more then what is taking place now and if it is resource question you have to raise the issue. i know you have been asked to provide cuts certain percent age, 10 percent and contingent 5 percent, is issue is a emergency and important and we need to know what resources help support us to combat what is happening now on our streets. >> thank you. before i move on, i just wanted to see is there anything else you can do to collect data better? is there anything we could

provide support wise, because it is clear we are just getting piece meal information from different departments. there isn't a coordinated effort to target and measure this crisis. >> i will pass this over to deputy director who has a suggestion for this. >> thank you. hello supervisors. i think we are having a different situation then other cities or other processes is more centralized or cities set up receiving strategies and shelters. that enable a one concentrated data set to refer and triage and support folks. here we have a very decentralized complicated system. today we are talking about families. we are not talking individual adults not coming to the school district or other places. we approached our community providers to see what we can do to have streamlined shared data sets. that is challenging because so many department grant so many things and different granting requirements. case managers ask for feedback

and input but to be clear, does not hold the grants for most service. we are more technical service and subject matter-we do think there is more city to do to explore where and where we know are touch points rather shelter systems or creative ways to ask folks about what they need, whether proxy questions asking about preferred language. we want to honor the sanctuary ordinance and understand the need. woo had a few conversations with hsh and keen to continue them and a important role for community providers to play how to centralize and share information. we have many so for the end user going door to door to different non profiticize a challenge and barrier and we want to share information across both city agencies that can and be doing better and community partners as well.

>> on that point, do you all have a response to that? do you have a suggestion to that? what i hear is decentralized and left up wherever people end up, do you scr a counter proposal? is there a better way we could be doing this in san francisco? that is quhie can ask about a physical hub and a lot are saying, what is it that needs to happen to declare this a emergency. what is the response to that? >> my response to this moment supervisor is i think we need to think about the existing network. i ideally i would recommend or think about the no wrong door approach, so thinking if somebody shows up to the school district, somebody shows up to a community center, there should be a way to get connected to resources opposed to a centralized location. i think there are benefits to both approaches. i think there is ways to do

both, but i think it needs adequate level of support. >> we can come back to that. okay. any other questions colleagues? >> supervisor, i wonder-are you going to call the representative from dem? >> they are not dem. i thought they were. they are hsa. >> there is no one from dem here? >> no, there is not. we will try to get someone here. >> okay. thank you. you want to call- >> yes, if emily cohen, deputy director can come. >> good morning chair, committee members. emily cohen, deputy director with homelessness and supportive housing and i first want to thank

supervisor safai for calling this hearing. this topic is very near and dear to my heart and issue incredible we at the department of homelessness and supportive housing are incredible passionate about so happy to share the work we are doing and i also had the honor and privilege of meeting with many of the people in the room, the advocates, the providers and many families directly and really appreciate their willingness to share their experience to elevate what is going on in their lives to help us make reforms. really appreciate that context. i have been asked to provide a lot of information about the homeless response system in general. not necessarily specific to newcomer families, but we can get into that as we go through the slides. as you can see from the family demographics, these are

families enrolled in the homelessness response system looking over 4 and a half years of data. families experiencing homelessness tend to be black, heterosexual, female lead and the head of household tends to be between the age of 25 and 34 years old. you can see the age demographics breaking down on the slide. we definitely skew younger in this community. the primary--i brought data about income source and cost of living in san francisco and bay area, because family homelessness is largely an economic crisis. we don't see as many of the additional factors that we do in the adult side of homelessness for families. this is really a issue of poverty, and you'll see here that about 26 percent of people experiencing homelessness

have earned income from employment. you see the other main source of income is cal works with a monthly allocation of $918 and about 70 percent of homeless families in san francisco have some sort of income with the average income being just over $1500. >> quick question now prop f passed. this source of income will go away if a family member is suspected of having illness and doesants agree to testing? >> only the cap. you see that is just over 1 percent or sorry just over 0 percent of families experiencing homelessness on cap. prop f will have a relatively small impact on this community, since calworks which is outside the prop f legislation is the primary benefit. >> okay, thank you for verifying that. that is helpful. >> of course. so, i just talked about the

average income of families who have income in the homeless response system, being about $1500 a month, and you will see here that in order to have 2-4 bedroom apartment in san francisco you need to make $61.3 an hour. this is largely a issue of housing and afford lt and poverty in our community. and then of course looking at the area median income limits for san francisco, the average median income is $175 thousand a year for extremely low income family of 4 we look at $55 thousand a year. clearly significantly more then families experiencing homelessness are

currently earning. >> can i ask you a quick question? on the slide 6 it says that there is a 196 thousand extremely low income renters in the san francisco bay area. is that the entire 9 county bay area? >> yes, the metro region. >> okay. >> the primary causes of family homelessness are economic and you'll see that for families, the dark green bar job loss is our primary cause of family homelessness at 23 percent. the other leading causes include a argument with friends or family resulting in you asked to leave a situation where you were informally living and the third is family or domestic violence. these are things we commonly know but important to stee see the data as we talk about root cause and solutions to family homelessness. we have been asked to talk about unsheltered family homelessness

and this can be a challenging data point to track. many families experiencing unsheltered homelessness work very hard to fly under the radar for obvious reasons. but we know that we currently have and supervisor safai spoke to this earlier about there is not- it is always changing the number of unsheltered families. the number is dynamic and change from the morning to the afternoon. i pulled the data last week as i put together the presentation and that day there were 375 families on the family shelter waiting list. 60 families were in temporary emergency shelter so that is buena vista horace mann or hotel voucher program. four families reported they had never been unsheltered. 311-so vast vast majority of families experiencing homelessness have spent at least one-night unsheltered during this

episode of homelessness. we know for families they are not staying in the same location. they might stay with friend or family when they scrape together, hotel, vehicle, tent and people cycle. they do everything to keep their kids off the street when they have resources to. it isn't these 311 families are necessarily unsheltered all tonight, but at least one-night over the course of homelessness they have been unsheltered. >> just before you go on, do you all-are you able to track how many are newcomer families? >> no. so, as jorge spoke to in his presentation, as a department that takes our sanctuary city responsibilities very seriously, we do not ask about immigration status, documentation status or really anything about your immigrant experience because

we do not want to deter anyone seeking emergency service. we want families to trust we are not going to turn their information over to any federal entity that they might be concerned about. we will ask about documentation status at the point of permanent housing placement, because depending on the funding source they may only be eligible for city funded housing. the last point on unsheltered homelessness is just from the 2022 point in time count that showed 205 homeless families and 87 percent of these folks were sheltered the night of the count, we know this is likely-as you all know, this is a single point in time, not over the course of the year and our administrative data has shown increase in family homelessness. in terms of requested language, this was a big source of questions topic of questions from supervisor safai and his

office. you'll see this year-we can look maybe at 2023 since that is the most recent completed year of data about 41 percent of the families in our shelters or family homelessness system requested servicess in english and 46 in spanish. we have a pretty large , did not note in the file and you will see between-really all the way back to 2018, the spanish language requests increased. we also seen more-shift in other languages but that is the largest trend we have seen. and in terms of language access in cultural capacity, or cultural competency i want to note that hsh service providers under their contract with us are required to provide services in the clients

preferred language. for most programs this means having bilingual staff who speak spanish. that meets the majority of needs, but if we have other languages requested that we might not have the staff person who can speak that language, all our providers have access to language line to provide translation and interpretation services. and we monitor this very closely through our annual programming and contract monitoring processes. we also partner with ocf for a lot of public noticing, so we snd out policies and different things we want to post in shelters. we will send them out for translation, but we also vet them often to make sure we are communicating as clearly as possible with folk whose speak any language. and then also, we are providing a new-it is cultural competency, but also immigrant service training for all our access point staff as we know that is

often people's first touch point with the homeless response system. so, what is the homeless response system and what are we fundsing? i categorized programs into three categories, access points where the front door of our system. temporary shelter, where people-and transitional housing where people can stay while they are in the experience of homelessness and get services wrap around support and then housing solutions, which is the ultimate goal. supervisor safai spoke eloquently at the beginning of the hearing about the social and health impact of homelessness on children. this is well documented, well known. homelessness and homeless shelters are no place for children to be living long-term. so the goal while of course we want temporary shelter for folks, but really we want to focus on where they are going to go after what we hope will be a relatively short stay in a emergency accommodation.

we have three family access points throughout the community, brick and mortar access points. those are civic center, bayview and mission. and then we also have a mobile team who can go out into the community. temporary shelter, we have over 109 beds in two congregate facilities, 6 family shelters providing shelters in single room. families share a small room but their own room with a locking door and we have 158 of those units. we have two hotel voucher programs and these are for families, pregnant people and families domestic violence. those are 30 vouchers. people stay in those units for a couple weeks until a room in a family shelter opens up. the hotels are not intended to

be long-term shelter, but really a emergency resource until the shelter can become available. then we have transitional housing programs which provide long-term stays mostly for families with complex challenges that need more time before transitioning into permanent housing. and then on the housing side, we have just under 300 time limited rental assistance vouchers for families, including survivors of domestic violence. we have 170 long-term permanent vouchers, funded locally, 70 slots of housing, can graduate and no longer need the support subs. emergency hotel vouchers federally funded similar to section 8 and 250 for families as well as behavioral health services for families in our system. so, we have a fairly robust

family homeless response system, but clearly unable to meet the daily needs of the community. i will not read the slide. there is a lot here, but this slide 13 talks a lot about recent inves vestments we made including the acquisition of city garden, the largest family supportive housing property. the ongoing funding for oasis family shelter a shelter in place hotel. more emergency housing voucher support services to continue to support the families that we housed in emergency hotel vouchers. and our proposed budget to the mayor office includes maintaining all current level of family programming. in response to the recent surge in need at the front door of the family system, what we are immediately deploying is a million dollars to expand family hotel vouchers by 35 slots, with the

assumption this serves probably at least hundred to 150 families over the course of the year because they are relatively short stays and that will be implemented imminently and then we are also proposing a new 5 year subsidy program. we are concerned about expanding shelter without expanding the housing for folks to move in afterwards, so we are planning to invest or spend $20 million from prop c on the family rapid rehousing subsidy after the budget process. i had one slide that got out of order but i did want to share, so pardon my back and forth here. i also wanted to raise up the number of households we housed as well as number of households we preventsed from ending home lessness over the last 3 years you can see here, over 1300 about

1300 families each year have been prevented from falling into homelessness through the sf erap program and the bottom graph shows the monthly housing placements into permanent housing out of the family homelessness system. so, we had a spike when we leased [indiscernible] which was exciting and the 20-25 a month placement is our steady state of the number of families we can move out without additional housing resources. again, apology for the back and forth. there were a lot of questions from supervisor safai from family coordinated entry and this can be a comp licated and challenging topic. we are doing redo for coordinating entry for families and adults. this started out of a evaluation from 2021. we have a community lead advisory body both to give input on make

recommendations of how the system should be reformed and we have implementation committee also made up of people with lived experience providers and hsh staff that is currently meeting and we anticipate finalizing our redesign by the ends of the calendar year. really excited-we have been hearing a lot from families about the need for this to be more trauma informed, simpler process and obviously faster. access points are the point at which families come into the system and receive accessment through coordinated entry, but also receiving services and this is the point where we want to be able to connect people with legal services and other immigration services outside what hsh does, but we know incredibly important for newcomer households. we did also receive a question about how we address complaints in

coordinated entry or family home lessness response system generally. all our access points are required to have a grievance process clients that is public available to them. our policy is for folks-clients to take their complaints directly to the service provider first, and then they can escalate it to us, and that we all respond to complaints within 48 hours. that is-this is available on our website in four different languages. we are undergoing really significant system changes in the family homelessness response system. not only to meet the growing need of families experiencing homelessness, which we are seeing, but also to make our system more functional we need to get more out of it for families. so, we already made two really

significant placement reforms and supervisor safai and think this speaks to laj wjs in the resolution that we long prioritized unsheltered families for shelter. makes sense? if a kid is sleeping outside, we want to make sure they are the top of the list to move into a shelter. but we used to require a verification of the unsheltered status and that verification was cumbersome and took too long so we have done away with the verification process. now it is seft reported. >> what verification? >> we used to verify- >> to move that were unhoused? >> to prove they were unsheltered. we understand a lot are unhouse but to be unsheltered. we had done away with that, it is too much stress and pressure on the families so that is done.

we also previously had a policy where if i offered you a shelter bed, you had 72 hours to decide if you want to take it. you may be couch surfing or doing other things and may have something else in line and if you are ready to let the process go and come into shelter and what we have found was that this lead to too many shelter units held offline when somebody is making a decision when somebody else needed the bed that night so now we only make same day offers of shelter so you come in 9 a.m. or 445 p.m., we want to make sure we are only offering things available that day and you need to choose that day so no bed is going unused when families are in need. since we implemented the reform around the new year, we have seen family shelter utilization go way up.

other systems reforms that are in progress, coordinated entry we talked about. we are reforming our problem solving strategy which is flexible financial assistance to help families avoid the crisis of homelessness. we are looking improvement to shelter and long-term housing options and on the horizon we have a community lead process including coordinated entry to broaden access points, increase training and coaching for staff at access points, better improved ways to help families identify their unique needs and strengths. we are looking at our prioritization processes and looking at to refine how we match families to services. through this process, have identified a number of system gaps and i will not go into them. >> are you all most done? >> just about done. the family homelessness system

is not equip to solve all the problems associated with recent immigration, with long-term intergenerational poverty, there are many many more upstream solutions that need to be brought together to really address long-term address family homelessness. and i will stop there and happy to take any questions you have. >> thank you. i appreciate the thorough report. trying to zero into the focus here. just going to jump right in deputy director cohen. thank you for being here and for your response and i can tell you personally want to do better. i think there is constraints thin system. when i introduced the resolution, the day i introduced the resolution the mayor was passing out a press release saying that you have made or city has

made significant improvements in capacity and shelter and housing for unhoused families and it made a real difference. but just over the last 6 months, even since we engaged on this, the stories and are information we are hearing on the ground is much different. they said shelter capacity would be increased, services increased but i didn't see that presented. i know coordination has gotten better so no more 72 hour and self-verification, so it seems to be a disconnect so that is one. second question is, can you talk more about the family flex program? as i understand it, there is over 160 spaces available. they are funded, but only 50 utilized now, is that right? ifthalities that's the case, why is there such a under utilization of the program? i want to understand is there

capacity increase and service increase and we have a example of a program and seems it is under utilized. >> thank you so much for the questions. in terms of capacity, i think we have added significant capacity over the last year or two in the family homelessness response system including the emergency rental vouchers from the federal government that we put 250 those towards families. we also funded the oasis shelter so taking that from a covid only response and making a permanent shelter, i believe that is 59 rooms that are now private rooms now available for ongoing shelter. i think one of the mayor puts in the press release you are referencing is the forthcoming capacity expansion of the hotel vouchers. >> this is on the horizon? >> it was approveped last month and should go into effect in the

next week or 2 so moving and the second component of this is what happens when families are in the shelter and the housing on the back end and that is where we are excited about the 85 to hundred 5 year rental subsidies on the horizon that will come after the budget process but we identified the source through prop c and eager to roll that out so families have somewhere to go on the back end of shelter. i know exactly where in the notes i have the answer to this question about flexible housing subsidy, so might need to look back to those and get that to you, but this is a really exciting program. we for the first time have a locally funded ongoing rental subsidy. a local section 8 for families and adult and 170 are dedicated to families. we just began rolling this program out. we will be ramping up lease up, but it is higher then 50 and i'll get that

number when i can look at my computer. this is a really excitesing program that is rolling out currently and will make a big impact for families. >> so, i guess what there is a lot of confusion in terms of what we are hearing on the ground, because you said you removed the self-verify scaigz and the reserve, but when people interact with them the wait list still feels cumbersome. people are not getting direct answers. they see and hear about spots being vacant or under utilized, and so where is the disconnect? the family flex program isn't fully utilized. shelter kneds beds are not fully capacity and i understand you are doing more and trying to remove barriers, but people are turned away when there's vacant-capacity to be filled. >> thank you supervisor. i agree the system is too

cumbersome to manage and for some--i would say that the shelter waiting list is complicated. it isn't as simple as you were here seventy-first -first and go on the waiting list. we have prioritization and family size matching we need to do. we might have-if a very large family comes in, unfortunately because we have fewer resources for large families they are likely to wait longer to get a shelter unit that can accommodate 6 or more people, which we see on occasion and it can be very challenging so that can be one reason why the shelter list, somebody with 2 or 3 members of the family move a lot faster even though they might come in later, if you will. another factor that makes the wait list complicated, again because it isn't just first come first serve, if a family is unsheltered, they will be prioritized move to the top. if a family is fleeing domestic

violence and no place in a violence response shelter, they move to the top that list. a family who might be couch surfing, equally homeless, equally in need of services, but they are going to wait longer for shelter then the family literally sleeping on the street with their child. >> what about the request in the resolution about hotel vouchers? if you cost the hotel vouchers out, they are less expensive per day then some of the places that we put people in. i wonder why that has not been looked at more aggressively? >> we are. we launched it recently the hotel vouchers we are excitesed about this. we have heard from families that the wrap around services at shelters are more robust then a mobile team that can be done at the hotels. meals can be harder to do at hotels but

it is part of the equation. >> let's see what we hear today. because i can tell what i heard on the ground. >> let me also-i had a lot of the same conversations. i recognize hotel vouchers are certainly more desirable then congregate shelter and possibly less desirable then single room shelter, so i hear where that is in the hierarchy. i talked to a lot of families about that specifically. >> okay. colleagues, any additional questions? >> supervisor, may i go back to the flex subsidy pool? >> we have 165. >> that is what-165. >> flex subsidy slots or vouchers. 130 households matched to the program or enrolled and 77 have successfully moved into housing. so, we anticipate 130 minus 77 those

households are still in housing search. probably moving in the next 90 days. and 1 >> [indiscernible] how long has this program been around? >> i believe a year. don't quote me on that. >> what's going on? you have 165 slots. people suffering. people that need. i don't understand what-tell me why only-i get you have 130 matched, but only 77 have been housed in a year? >> so, we are releasing the vouchers on a rolling basis so our providers have ample time on a monthly basis to identify the unit and help families move in and then do really intensive support service at the beginning to help them stabilize. they are not attempting to lease up all 165 at a time. we are doing this as a

staggered referral program. >> why? does that make sense? >> it is help insure it is successful. if we try to lease up 165 vouchers at a time our providers who does this work would not have the capacity to do that. >> you only have one provider doing the work? >> flex subsidy pool--i think it is one or two contractors. >> okay. >> compass family service does this so we have a staggered referral and placement process to insure we have the find the unit or provider find the unit families have time to see it, get matched and services to stabilize. >> colleagues, any questions? supervisor shamann walton. >> thank you supervisor and thank you so much for the presentation. do access centers have translation capacity? >> yes, absolutely.

>> always? >> so, they are required through the contract to have- to make services available in the requested language. most have spanish speaking staff and if they don't have the requested language they have access to language line to use in the moment. >> i know we hear reports sometimes it isn't available. >> i heard that as well and we sent our program monitors to look at that because that is part of the contract. sometimes that result in fewer spanish speaking staff being available at any one time, but they should use language line if that is the issue. >> i know we don't ask the status of immigration at time of housing or when we try to meet service needs, but we do have ways of identifying, correct? >> we also use school district data so we are seeing families involved with sfusd increase in newcomer

families and then a subset of those are experiencing homelessness. so, we see that increase with the school district data and also look at our language request to see sort . >> if they are not connected to the district we have no way of knowing km >> we know they are homeless and know many things about their family make-up and the type of housing and service needs they have, but would not know the immigration status. >> and then i asked the question earlier, and i know there have been conversations about this, just curious to where the conversation is about additional shelter service at school sites outside mediation? >> i think the discussion around the school sites is really interesting. i was a parlt of the team that

started bvhm with many of you and appreciate the support. there is a lot of folks who care and love this program in the room, this was seen as a incredible opportunity. we can take a public asset, like a school and use those overnight hours where it is sitting empty to help families in need. i think there has been challenges with implementation. we heard largely from families that an overnight only program is fine for a couple nights, but doesn't work when we look at 6 month stay in shelter because it is hard to get your stuff every morning, get out, pack up be out by 6, 6:30 to clean and convert to school use and across the shelter system we had a movement towards 24/7 shelters. now in the whole system i think we have two shelters not 24/7. one is bvhm because it is at a school and the other at a church.

the others are 24/7 and coming out of covid we had a movement towards private rooms and why we done the oasis. hsh is open to exploring school options and looked at a couple with staff. but i also want to listen to the families and don't want to replicate something that may not be in the best interest of the families we are serving, and i say that with all humility to hear differently from the families. we want to take their guidance and how to provide the best shelter, and i do think the hotel vouchers might be a better alternative to the congregate shelter. >> yes. >> so if those are the two things we are talking investing in, i would lean towards the hotel vouchers. >> i think we all agree on that. thank you. >> thank you. >> chair ronan. >> thank you. so, what i heard from many

families is that in for example, the bvhm shelter, families are staying there for 7 to 8 months, which is not what an emergency shelter system is supposed to look like. so, why is that? what's going on there? >> there are several things going on. basically, to boil it down, we dont have enough affordable housing on the back end for families to move out of shelter, and are this is why we have been cautious about expanding family shelter without having the housing exits-expanding housing simultaneously because now we are getting more families into shelter and we have a big surge when we leased up city gardens. people moved out and now we have turn-over units and we don't have another big building coming online to help facilitate people moving out. i do think when this 85-100

vouchers hits the streets if you will, we will see more families moving out as the flex pool units get leased up we will see more families moving out but it is around creating flow. we also dont have a time limit in the family shelters and so people are staying until they find a option that works for them. one of the largest interventions for families is rapid rehousing which is up to two years families lease a unit in the private market with a subsidy and receive wrap around social services. this is the primary family intervention across the country and generally it works pretty well. we have seen a bit-i don't want to over exaggerate, but seen a bit of reluctance from families to accept it this knowing it is only 2 years of subsidy and they need long-term affordable housing and they know that, but we dont have a ton that. they might not have the

disabilities that one would--permanent supportive housing is designed to meet. permanent supportive housing is designed for those with long-term barriers to successful housing placement outside economics. either behavioral health, mental health, physical health disorders and conditions, and so we are in the limbo where families might not need that intensive service level but they need more affords ability so if we had more general affordable housing we would see this go more quickly. i think we can make rapid rehousing more success and debunth the myths of rap idrehousing. i think there is a myth people are failing, but 70 percent of people remained housed when their subsidy expire jz that is quite good and something that i think certainly when it comes to household well being and health, two years in an apartment of their own in the community

versus waiting in shelter for something longer term, every family makes their own decisions, but i would certainly value two years in the apartment versus a long long shelter stay. >> you will increase the time to 5 years? >> we are receiving new money for 85 to hundred new vouchers that will have 5 years. we still have hundreds of vouchers on the 2 year timeline and looking what it takes to create parody across the system, but not there yet and we haven't identified the funding to do that yet. >> i see mpts really quickly, the other thing i heard for a reason that families get stuck in emergency shelter is that for immigrant families, they are not sort of categorized as housing referral status eligible. can you explain that? >> yes, there is nothing about your immigration status that would dictate- >> explain what housing referral status

is? >> when a family goes through coordinated entry they receive an assessment which is look ing at their needs, vulnerabilities and strengths. then they are put into 2 categories and we are looking at reforming this. the two categories are housing referral status and problem solving status. if somebody is in housing referral status, that means through the assessment it is identified they are going to need more then just flexible financial assistance to get back on their feet. they need some sort of subsidy whether that is permanent supportive housing or rap idrehousing so after they are determined to be housing referral status we work with them to get documents in order and id, birth certificate and match with units available. for some folks i am using my hand, there is a band of you are in housing referral status and this person up top

is most vulnerable and thern down here has more modest vulnerability. we start with more modest with rapid rehosing. those with deep vulnerability are queued for housing. at no point is immigration status a factor if you are in those categories, we do have federally funded slots in both, and so we need to make sure your immigration status aligns with the eligibility of the federally funded units and if it doesn't we have funded units in both categories, rapidrehousing and permanent supportive housing so it is factor with match but not eligibility. >> okay. >> we are not going to match to a federally funded unit if your immigration status would make you ineligible fl unit. we know that a little earlier and match to a locally funded unit.

>> okay. so, i want to switch for a minute and might go back to this for current system, but with this plan to get 85 to a hundred five year rehousing subsidies through prop c, that is amazing siteing. i have spoken to advocates about this. this is-will require moving money from a slot that is already been designated for ta housing or purpose in order to accomplish that and there is likely to be a lot of push-back on that. can you talk about where this funding is coming from? >>, the 20million identified is from the family housing bucket so eligible funding. this would not require any

shift of prop c. >> okay, so this is programmed for this purpose? >> this has been recommendsed by the committee and included in the budget proposal so assuming this will be funded in the next cycle. >> that is from family housing? >> i'm 98 percent sure that. >> okay. i'll circle back. it isn't what i heard, but we'll talk. so, we have currently 375 families on the waiting list for housing. >> for shelter. >> for shelter, but of those, you said that 60 were in a hotel?

>> let me be more specific. this wait list, the 375 people are on a wait list for the individual room shelters. >> i see. >> the primary wait list and while waiting, 60 are in the emergency beds. we know people are staying far too long in the emergency beds. >> what is your communication with families on the wait list about where they are on the wait list, how things are moving, what the likelihood time until they get the unit is going to be? >> this work is largely done by the access point staff. not super familiar with the frequency with which they communicate with the families on the wait list. i believe every couple weeks they are supposed to check in with the families. there is access point staff in the room so they might address that during public comment, but we do try

to keep that line of communication open. we have heard the request from the community to make that list public, similar to how we do it on the adult side on our website there is a shelter waiting list, and it is something we are considering we want to be really mindful of privacy, especially for families with domestic violence so working identifiers. definitely won't disclose somebody's identity and trying to figure how to do that with the different prioritization. so we heard that request from the community and something we are looking at. >> i have two additional question. there are lots of people waiting to speak. one is, what is your assessment of whether or not we are currently in a emergency? to me it feels like we are, and there has not yet been that declaration from the city to open a emergency shelter with case workers that can help

individuals? >> thank you. i think this is homelessness is a emergency. i think this has been a emergency for 30 years, and i think we need to be operating with all haste to address it for sure. i do think we are seeing more families then we have seen before and so it is definitely something that needs to be addressed with urgency. i don't know that the welcome hub with the shelter is-i don'ts know what the solution is necessarily for a influx in migration. i know the family homeless response system is at capacity and strained and making lives harder for people in our community. so, i certainly differ more to oceia a expert on immigration and what the solution would be. i do want to be sure we are avoiding a situation where the homeless response system become s our immigration response.

we are not staffed that way. we don't have that expertise. we are not large enough and many families who are coming do not necessarily need "homeless service", they need a pathway to stability and if we can do that without pulling families into a homelessness system and are help them launch more quickly in san francisco and in the united states i think that would be prefable, but i'm outside my lane. i'm not a immigration expert in any way, so we want to figure out the best way to support the households and help people avoid long-term homelessness. >> okay. i appreciate that. last question, i am getting texts from members of the community that are asking that they don't understand where all these two year rapid rehousing vouchers are. ment that they have been

working with tons of families that are in crisis that need that that would take a voucher and are two seconds and are asking how can families get access to these vouchers in a meaningful way? >> we are at capacity. the vouchers are leased up so we have to wait for turnover to come to- >> so there are no available? >> they are not currently available. they are in the system but families are using them now. >> the 35 that are new- >> hotel vouchers. >> those are just hotel jz just two week stays? >> the idea is for them to be short so that you have somewhere safe to be while you wait for a spot in the family shelter. we do want not to kick people out once in so we have extended them until the family shelter bed becomes available. >> given we know-this really will be my last question. given that we know at there

are families sleeping in the streets every night and we don't have anything left in the system for these families really, everything is spoken for in every program that we have, and we are in april, mid-april and the budget process is not getting wrapped up until the end of july and then after that it takes a while to get new programs up and running, it sounds to me like we should release these 8 0 to hundred vouchers earlier and do the budget supplemental and do it now and not wait for the budget process. is that-do you agree with that? >> i don't know it is necessarily because we are already doing the planning process and already working on-we are not waiting till the budget passes to assume we get the dollars. we are beginning the process now so i

suspects the budget process will catch up to internal planning, rfp processes and we can release the funds shortly after the budget is al located. if they come earlier we can move as quickly as we get the resources. supervisor, i have a answer on our city our home question. investment in the 5 year subsidies, the 85 to hundred subsidies not require a shift in the our city our home buckets, buckets is the categories of funding, but it would require a waver on our rapid rehousing cap. now 12 percent of-i believe 12 percent of the housing dollars can be used for anything short of i think permanent, maybe 7 years, and this would push over the limit on that cap so we would need a waver there, but it isn't shifting funds from any populations. >> okay. thank you. that's good to know. thank you.

>> we can ask more questions after public comment. i just know people are waiting. appreciate it. the one last thing i think would be helpful is to call up-hf-we have kim bomen from department of emergency management. thank you kim. i know director carol is at a funeral this morning so we appreciate you joining us. so, there is some concern around who has the authority to declare a emergency in the situation as we received a major increase in the number of newcomers and people living on the streets with children unhoused and in this crisis. i want to understand who has the authority to declare that emergency and then in your professional

opinion, is there a emergency and should we move forward? >> thank you for the question. so, in this circumstance, the department of emergency management would not have that responsibility. in fact, we don't determine if something is an emergency or warrants a local emergency proclamation, so we would differ to colleagues who are overseeing what you call the steady state or day to day response to these issue jz to meet these needs. better understand if they have capacity to handle influx of newcomers coming into the city. >> you are saying it isn't department emergency management, it is other departments in coordination? >> it is. they come together and discuss what their capabilities are and if appropriate to meet the needs of what they are encountering and then make a policy group recommendation to the mayor office on whether or not they think a local emergency

proclamation would be beneficial. >> so, it sounds like we have two main groups that are here, oceai and hsh. i guess we have to call them back up. maybe you can hang for a minute. director rivas, i want to hear your response. this is not a got you. not trying to embarrass anybody. there is is a lot of confusion in the room and we want to know, we have seen increase, we know people are suffering, we know people are turned away, there are children unhoused sleeping in gymnasiums, gas stations, all of the above. you heard it all, so tell us, what's the path forward? sounds like it would take you and a couple other departments to make recommendation to the mayor, is that right? >> to the mayor office and then she determines- >> so the mayor ultimately has

the power to declare a emergency or not? >> that's correct. >> okay, we have gotten clarity on that. >> i was going to respond, i think there is two different type of emergencies but i think the emergency i was speaking to is the protocols we put in place as departments we coordinate for this. p dm is first making declaration and hsh goes next and then we would come in with language service, case management and support. >> i got all that. i understand you coordinate, but it sounds there needs to be a step before that. this sounds like there needs to be a recommendation sent to the mayor, based on the current situation, so that is what we--we are still stuck in first gear. tell us how we get out of first gear. >> the recommendation comes from dem according to protocols established as a department. at the various departments. >> you have to send the

information to dem and then dem would send--i worked in this building for 24 years, i'm getting confused at all the bureaucracy now. let's lay it out clearly so everyone understands. how many departments are involved in this conversation? sounds like there is interdepartmental group that has been working, right? >> dem, hsh, hsa, mohcd, dph and oceia. >> quhoo is the lead? >> dem. >> dem is the lead of the group? so dem could ask all the interdepartmental groups, do you believe we need to move towards a emergency, is that correct? >> yes, that is correct, but that-the information provided to the mayor office would have to come from departments who are subject matter experts. if is a collaborative effort to determine if that's a appropriate measure to take and then recommend that

to the mayor. >> alright. okay. got it. thank you. okay. chair- >> yes. >> who is the recommender? who will be the recommender? for dem? all the departments are subject matter experts, but who is the actual department to recommend to- >> i'll call my colleague hsa. >> happy to answer the question. the way this works, we do come together to determine the scope and scale thof event. there is a policy group that is brought together by the department of emergency management and follow the key agencies that then discuss the appropriate response pathway or mechanism for that particular incident. so, you are correct in that all the departments planning together should come together to discuss what next

steps are. director carol will then look at the recommendation, determine next steps and then also meet with mayor and mayor office about that. this is standard emergency management response in the way we activate our various protocols. there are restrictions lose when a mayoral declaration so things to consider. but i'll leave department- >> i mean know because we went through this three year frz covid so we know the process. you make the recommendation to the mayor, the mayor declares a emergency and comes to this body and we approve by majority vote whether that is in effect or not. what i'm trying to understand, where are you in the process of determining whether this is a emergency, has the group come together and is it moving forward making a recommendation

in this instance? >> there isn't a formal recommendation or request for the group to come together, so the department heads to come together to make recommendation around whether or not this is a emergency. >> who makes that request? >> department of emergency management. >> department of emergency management snlt the expert on homelessness or immigration matters,ic so. >> we got that. it would be good if quou can convene the group and have policy experts come in and make a recommendation. >> currently we are-we have a standing planning body that comes together. that formal request from anyone to actually determine whether or not this is a emergency and how this will be addressed has not been made and we have not come to that path yet.

>> okay. any other questions? >> not for emergency, but we have to go-i have no more questions. i do have- sorry, but i think i finally light bulb has gone up and wonder if i with speak to director cohen about that. there is a huge disconnect of the data and plans and what we hear from the community and always confused about the disconnect and i think i just understand it little more now. so, what is happening with newcomer families and the only option is when they first get here and the newcomer families is bit different then in the past then when there was tight family connections. people are coming without connections and resources, and so they are it

coming here and their only real opportunity is emergency shelter. that is completely full so they sleep on the streets but say they get into emergency shelter. when they assess for housing referral status, they are really low on the list because they haven't been chronically homeless for a long time because they don't have the right to work and so don't have a ability to pay rent and so they end up stuck in a emergency shelter in a school that is only open in the middle of the night, because that shelter was never meant to be a long-term thing, but people are stuck there for 7 to 8 months and then or just on the street because that shelter is always full. so, there is a real serious problem here that i think there is a disconnect at how the department talks

about the problem in these, but we have plenty of the vouchers and this many vouchers and this many things and this that and all these new ones, but the realty on the street and what is happening is, the newcomer families are never prioritized for families because there are too many needing it at and they are at the bottom of the list. that is a light bulb knauz it is so confusing for evenen a policy maker to try to understand why hear such different things from the department and the community. can you talk about that? we don't have a solution for this, so we are basically--the departments are saying, we are not close to declaring a emergency. one department doesn't know who it starts the process if they wanted to and there is clearly a big disconnect there, and there is huge communities of people coming fleeing violence, fleeing persecution, fleeing gangs and

all these things trying to survive and we are basically telling them sleep on the streets. sorry, that's--please respond. >> absolutely. i think we have been really clear across the board, we do not have enough to meet the need oof someone in san francisco their entire life and experiencing homelessness or someone who recently came to the community and experiencing homelessness. this is a scarcity issue and i definitely agree, woo we have a robust system and don't have enough for either community. in terms of the prioritization for permanent housing, one of the many factors we take into consideration is the length of time you have been homeless. certainly wanting to take people on the streets homeless for 5, 8 years, and get them into housing. we know homelessness is expensive. the trauma that occurs in people lives, all these things exacerbated by

the amount of time they spend homeless, so but this is one of the thingz the primary thing we look at cordsinated entry reform is do we want to continue to prioritize by this category? >> i have like the upmost respect for you emily. this is not directed at you in any way shape or form. you are one of the assets to the city and care so deeply about people, so this is not at you at all. but i guess i would just wish more direct honesty from the city, and the honest situation is, you present lists of this many units here, that many there, thing coming that, that coming, but not saying honesty it is not for the newcomer people coming because they will be really low on the list and there are too many people either chronically homeless or in

danger of losing their homes to lived for quite some time in san francisco and they have priority and that's fine to say that if that's what is happening, but we need to know that so we as policy makers can say that isn't okay with us and we need to do more. i guess there is a lot of-what's the word? i can't pronounce the word--[indiscernible] i feel we haven't been straight up and honest with immigrant communities here to say, yeah, there is no housing for you here, and really if you are lucky enough to get into the school based emergency shelter, that's about all you will get and otherwise you will be sleeping on the street and then we can as policy makers say, that's not okay with us, we'll change something. to me the light bulb of the hearing is that is the realty in san francisco. >> i would just add on one other thing.

i think it is more simple then that. i think that one thing that i have found over the process of working on this issue is-again, this isn't directed at you emily, director cohen, there isn't acknowledgment of this population. they are not being seen. they are not being heard and not being acknowledged, so i think even in the conver sation that all most seemed like a bad skit from a comedy show- [laughter] sorry, but there isn't acknowledgment like take to the next step to declare there is a crisis and i think one thing that separates this population of people and that is what we started the conversation, there is a prioritization for people unhoused with children and babies and that is being missed here and want to bring it back to that. i think we have to acknowledge that yes, there is a rising just dat

a ashows it, a rising newcomer community and we are capturing that on the main data point at the school district, but we have the acknowledge this community and allows us to make that adjustment where we are. i understand yes, there are single adults, there is chronically homeless and addicted, there is mental health issues, this is different population of people and we need a different city response to address this head-on. so, if there are not other comments, if we could go ahead and open up for--you did have-- >> [indiscernible] >> yes. we will go for public comment. chair ronan will make an announcement. >> we'll open for public comment. we are sorry, but we will lose both our interpreter and perhaps quorum, so i do have to limit public comment to 1 minute and i'm so sorry about that, but you can send us any additional

information or support. i am also going to ask to let the spanish speak rs go first because we will lose our interpreter at 1 o'clock, so let me just translate that real quickly and then we'll get started. [speaking spanish] i don't can know how to say quorum. [speaking spanish]

>> all most good afternoon. >> [speaking spanish] >> good morning, my name is margarita. i am a immigrant from el salvador. i come with my 4 kids and my husband. i am part of the new member families here. a very important point--that is

dignity. dignity is something that one must be aware of and take care of. and that is what we have come here to ask for as a family. but we also have a solution to a problem. we need to respect our kids integrity, in a more transparency, more humanitarian effort. giving more movement to find permanent housing for families.

there is studies that show out of 165 shelters, only a few have been filled. we need for the department of homelessness and mayor office to work together with us so we can move forward and find a place to live. >> speaker time elapsed. >> [speaking spanish. waiting for translation] >> goods morning my name is-we

are from peru. we are transitional period from a emergency shelter, to a transitional shelter, and with the vulnerability we are trying to move ahead as immigrants. my son has missed a surgery and my younger son was beat up at school. with this new situation, with the transitional shelter, they have left us without a place.

i have evidence but there is only room for--or we all stay on the streets. so my younger son, having dealt with the trauma of separation, with his father due to this immigration deal. there were three slots available at a emergency shelter, i don't want my kids to end up on the streets to relive trauma. i actually on the streets myself. i left my kids with my husband. >> speaker time elapsed.

>> we should move forward. thank you very much for all the families. >> [speaking spanish. waiting for translation] >> hello, i'm a immigrant here with my husband and two kids. i am part of a newcomer families here. when i first arrived here there was no point of access that would take me in, i had to look for a hotel.

we are not a number, but yet we are surviving. we are human beings before being immigrants. and we need to value our humanness here in the sanctuary city and to date, they have not provided that to us. but our solution is for them to speed up the movement at the homeless shelter locations. homeless shelters that permanent housing it is a public need. but also to monitor the wait

list. but with these temporary homeless shelt ers, privacy is a concern. and we want a solution. thank you. >> [speaking spanish. waiting for translation] [indiscernible] provided to us. i agree w however there is no action taken.

yes there is resources and money there is just no empathy for the immigrants. the richest city in the united states, sleeps on the streets. not just immigrants. people who serve the community well today are out sleeping on the streets. this is unconscionable in a sanctuary state. there is money.

there is just no [indiscernible] to solve this problem. thank you. >> you can switch microphones if you like. >> good afternoon. [indiscernible] not able to be here with us today because they have an appointment to go to. this they is a 6 year old

daughter. they arrived here three months ago. they went to one of the access points to which they don't dealt with the bureaucracy-they are people not machines whether they qualify or not based on points. they were one of buena vista homeless shelter and removed them from their room. they recovered in another way with a friend.

action is not necessarily involved with homeless shelter, but they do help people. however, there are other resources, other places to go for action. we do not understand why you have [indiscernible] allocated, we want to make sure that money is very well used. >> speaker time elapsed. >> want to make sure there are [indiscernible] thank you. >> if you don't mind, if we can ask stay out with the wheelchair so she is not blocking the line.

there is designated wheelchair spots in the front row if you don't mind. thank you. >> [speaking spanish] >> i'm from peru. i am with faith in action and also part of the new member committee. as human beings we need to be included in society so they can permit us, to have a place in this big country. i find myself in a shelter.

we also need for them to put us in a hotel. we shouldn't have to wait for the 14 days. we ask the mayor and the city to just keep us in mind and we'll do our part in helping out the city. >> [speaking spanish] >> i'm francis lopez from nicaragua here with my son. we arrived 6 months ago to the buena vista shelter. we need transparency and for the city to be transparent with us.

we like the opportunity to pull forward with our family. we don't want to be a public nuisance, we just want to move forward with our jobs and help those within the city. we also it are asking for our wishes to be heard and also be approved. thank you. >> good afternoon. i am a single mother from columbia.

i am asking it give more opportunity to pull ahead and forward. we are not asking for much. to provide the opportunity and provide us with housing. we greatly appreciate on behalf of everyone who finds themselves here. all we need is a opportunity as said by the person before me. thank you.

>> good morning supervisors. i am from the dolores street community service, [indiscernible] one of the calls we want to do today is primarily recognize that the newly migrants arrival families are in desperate need and departments may not make the call, if this is a emergency or not, from my vantage point i would say we are in a emergency. the second thing i like to say is, coordinating entry needs to be redesigned. we are overlooked here [indiscernible] carrying from their countries. i'm a immigrant coming from

venezuela. we have to house refugees period. thank you. >> we need to keep the line moving. [speaking spanish] where is the interpreter? okay, thank you jorge. >> i can help a bit. >> go ahead. >> [speaking spanish] >> good afternoon. my name is [indiscernible] from el salvador. i'm part of the faith in action movement and have nothing prepared but

want to speak to you as a single mother, what i have in my heart. i would like to contra dict something said that there are people communicating with families in the shelters. that is far from reality and not something happening. as part of the group i'm with, faith in action we need more action and less words.

i would like-also grateful because i have a place to live and place to stay, but it is not what i need. i really need the demands from everybody here today are heard. thank you. >> thank you so much director. >> [speaking spanish] >> good afternoon everybody. i'm one of the families that just arrived.

me and my family went to some of the access points but told they could not help us because they were full. thank to god faith in action was able to provide us with a hotel for 15 days. we are looking for solutions for our children. so they are not experiencing needs in the streets. on the streets. thank you. >> good afternoon. i'm from buena vista shelter,

because at the only one that supported me. [speaking spanish. waiting for translation] i'm appreciative for the good group at buena vista shelter. thank you. >> good afternoon. i'm here, i'm very appreciative

for the doors opened to us at buena vista shelter. i have a 10 year old daughter. i have been here 6 months and thank god. provided with the place [indiscernible] thank god. may god bless mr. jackie as they have been with us. in the most difficult times she has always been with us. thank you to buena vista. thank you. >> good afternoon. as a family shelter service san francisco for over 53 years, you seen the level of need and service

increased especially for families who are currently undocumented. families are often seen as invisible side of homelessness and san francisco long under funded the family response system. as a shelter new seeking city funding, we want to be able to support these increase need and ask representatives and the mayor to allocate additional funding to all family shelters and programs in our community. it is critical we commitment funding shelter access and housing subsidies for every family experiencing homelessness in san francisco. thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is diana gomez and here with rachel bowls, members of saent marks luthian church and representing faith in action. i'm a mother and grandmirther

and retired school teacher and live-i have seen more and more people living on the streets in my own streets, and it is obious there is a problem. there is a problem of shortage everywhere. i really encourage us to think bigger picture. we need to hire more lawyers to help these people. we need to have more counselors in the schools to help these children. the immediateancy of the chairnts trying to raise children in the situation is drastic. these children are going to become the next problem in our city and they need so much more. these are such brave and strong people. i really encourage our mayor to get help for these people. thank you. >> hi, i'm suzy smith, also with saint

marks and on board called mlt, martin luther thao. with the redevelopment of the western addition, our church with a fha loan built-about to break ground on the second affordable housing for seniors and we know we are working on the third buildings for families for our campus and i want to thank you for your attention and i'll let mayor breed know that we need a bigger bucket. >> hi. good afternoon. my name is [indiscernible] a case manager family advot cain the mission. we provide information and social services support to san francisco immigrants with a focus on the latino

community. i'm here in support of the resolution before you. we see a high volume of newcomer families seeking critical basic needs services and face multiple barriers and closed doors. like many service providers, we are over capacity and unable to provide the services our community needs and deserves. the family shelter system wait list isn't new, it has become a crisis and inhumane. shelter family needs to be a priority and addressed with a similar urgency that unhoused adults are receiving. and stand with impacted families present and urge you all to move forward on the resolution. thank you. >> my name is cathy, i'm here as a member of bethany methodist

church with faith in action and recently retired from all most 40 years of teaching in sfusd and i seen what it is like to teach students in really insecure housing situations. they are so hungry that you know if you dont get them food in the next 5 minutes you lost them for the whole class. they won't be able to concentrate on anything. they is emotional needs. they are anxious, they are ashamed of where they are living. they hide where they are living to the point that many of their teachers don't know that they are sleeping in a shelter or in a car and are asking them to produce like any other student who isn't facing those needs. i know how difficult it is. also speaking i had the privilege of housing a migrant family from hon durs and shared a house with them for 3 years and they were hard working. the woman spnt hour on the

phone trying to get- >> speaking time elapsed. >> to get through social service and just i what they were able to accomplish they were only able to accomplish because they had stable housing. and because- >> speaker time elapsed. >> greetings. i'm the latino task force director. san francisco stand as a beacon of hope for every migrant. it was a refuge for my mother fleeing from the civil war landed on the mission. in the early 80. however the light of this beacon is fading. at the latino task force we serve 15 thousand clients a year. we have been serving average 8 migrant families a week across our three neighborhood hubs, so contrary to the city definition, we are in a midst of a emergency. we hear time and time again for mothers and fathers who come hoping for

a hotel voucher. they share the many failed attempts of securing access to shelter as they turn away time and time again. just contracted for legal services to help address the overwhelming need for immigration service. yz cannot imanage the pain and desperation our families phase. >> speaker time elapsed. >> thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is--here-a two decade educator representing united educators of san francisco and here to support the prioritization of families for shelter in the establishment of additional shelter for families including immigrant families. as a educator, we witness first hand the profound impact of homelessness on students and families. every day we see children coming to school hungry, exhausted and

anxious because they lack stable housing. every child in san francisco should have a safe stable place to call home where they can thrive academically socially and emotionally. prioritizing families for shelter is the right thing to do right now. in needed access to shelter can prevent further trauma and instability allowing parents to focus securing employment and access and resor sources and rebuild their lives. we have over 6 thousand members and over the years we have seen is san francisco becomes more unaffordable we see more families suffering from unhousing. thank you for having this hearing. >> hello, my name is danica, a mirther of three and first generation

immigrant of san francisco. i lived in san francisco 27 years. i am here today with the sense of urgency regarding the escalating homelessness crises faced by families in san francisco. as a concerned community members i'm troubled by the growing number of families who are forced to endure hardships and live on the streets with their children. it is unacceptable that in the city as prosperous as san francisco families are struggling to find a safe and stable place to call home. the lack of affordable housing and supportive service has exacerbated the situation. leaving vulnerable families without resources they need to rebuild their life. i ask a leader in our community to take immediate action to address this pressing issue. we cannot continue to turn a blind eye- >> the speaker time elapsed.

>> families in need of assistance. it is time-- >> speaker time elapsed. thank you. >> i fell behind and flunked in school. i was subject to being vulnerable, molestation and living in homeless shelter and locked in an attic. when you don't prioritize children and families, those are the type of impacts we are faced with and i'm a part of the group of people that you are leaving behind when you say you are not homeless enough because you are couch surfing. i incurred chronic back pain sleeping on couches while pregnant so think the

city needs to redefine how they prioritize homelessness and define homelessness because when you are homeless it shouldn't be you are not homeless enough to receive help in service for people here in san francisco. >> hi. my name is--a advocate with compass family service and also the granddaughter of the first black mab in the union who probably built this very building we are standing and sitting in so due to that lack of education, i have become homeless with 5 kids of my own. i was actually kicked out of shelter going to work every day and taking kids to school and coming back in time do to my chores and because i was so tired we were kicked out. if i did not advocate for myself, me and my children would be on the streets to this day and that is why i'm

advocate for twhose who cannot speak up for themselves and scared to speak up. because i be damn anyone i know love or care about has to go about any form of adversity and struggle i had to go through. i went through numerous cases of domestic violence [indiscernible] they told me my case isn't severe enough even though this perpetrator arrived at my job. san francisco-needs to make sense because it isn't making any sense at all. >> i was born and raised in the city and went through homelessness. i moved to vallejo for 20 years. through homelessness the lack of homelessness and stable housing not only robbed them of their basic human needs, but also stripped away

their sense of security and dignity. 50 hotel vouchers are a good start but not enough to meet the needs of homeless families. there are 442 homeless families in san francisco. i was homeless for two years. i had to network, was told i could not be put on the permanent waiting list. i was not homeless enough but paid to go out of state with my son. >> good morning. i'm here to read the rest of danicatestimony. i can't turn a blind eye to plight of families in need of assistance. it is time for meaningful and comprehensive solutions to insure every family in san francisco has a roof over their heads and access of

support they need to thrive. i implore to prioritize funding for affordable housing mental health service and provide wrap around support. by investing in these areas we can make significant strides. i urge to stand up the most vulnerable members of the community and make difference in the lives of homeless lives in san francisco. together we can create a future where every family has the opportunity to thrive and succeed. thank you for your attention to this important matter. i look forward hearing about the steps you take to address homelessness for families in san francisco. >> good afternoon. my name is [indiscernible] sf resident public school educator on sabbatical and teacher educator at usf and doctoral student who is investigating our school impact youth mental health and wellness.

since 2011 when i have been working and living here i watched how the city [indiscernible] yet fails to address basic human needs. we know as long as the current global economic system exists, migration is the only option for many. let us be a city that centers most vulnerable and create alternative to end dish parities. it is shameful we have restaurants for dogs while children sleep on the street. [indiscernible] the wellbeing olf everyone. this is a emergency not sfusd emergency or usf emergency, it is our collective emergency. let us do what is right and live up to this label of progressive city. housing for all. thank you. >> victor floyd on [indiscernible] joined by allison [indiscernible] also on the staff and there are more members here. we are with faith and action bay area.

about 6 weeks ago attended the community meetings at st.anyany when i learned there were children living under awnings at abandon gas stations in the city and wanted not to believe that. when i told my 700 member congregation this they also wanted not to believe this so we helped faith and action write letters and to get this hearing today. i also learned there are 84 billion airs in san francisco and i believe that some of those billions were made on the backs of the people who are now homeless. i believe in the city of 84 billion airs we have a way to solve this problem. thank you. >> good afternoon. i have been on the english

speaking team for faith and action and seen whether the advocacy work happened with the spanish speaking team over the past years and then especially the past 6 months. the fact they are in a trauma situation and are advocating for themselves is unbelievable and i just support them a hundred percent. >> my name is leslie in faith and action and early childhood educator. i know what it means to raise a family and to raise children and i know what bedtime should be like. i think we all do. no family should be sleeping in the streets nor be living in shelters for months with inadequate bedding, food and opportunities for health, --this isn't a matter of cost too much, in the research in faith in action on the past year, the city did not utilize

the full budget allotment for any housing subsidy programs in the departments we researched. these families are our future. they are already contributing and eager to contribute more and san francisco our sanctuary city surely we can insure there are no children and no families sleeping in the streets. >> i'm a member and speaking primarily as resident of district 1 and government worker who works in the neighborhood. i would like to ask that we not allow the bureaucracy and lack of data allowing us to help what is testifying to by the many school and faith based action groups that are stepping up to help. i'm proud of being a san franciscans and glad san francisco is a sanctuary city and progressive city. i don't think that is what we

are displaying here and reit quest we try to do better. >> hello, my name is michael mullen i live on knob hill and i am a member of saint dominic catholic church and only one person from that church. there were probably 20 people at the previous meeting, so i also worked for 28 years for the state bar of california so i really understand like what it is like to be somebody in a bureaucratic position trying to do your very best, and i think that a lot is being done in san francisco, but this hearing is very illuminating by showing how people-how this group of

people is falling through the cracks. i really do believe it is a emergency. it is a beautiful day today but rained all winter and it is just appalling that families with children are- >> speaker time elapsed. >> are living in the streets. thank you. >> my name is sonia, i work for homeless prenatal program and when i hear you were going to be here i go, i have to be there. there is no other way around. this is a sanctuary city, but what we are hearing today, it doesn't have nothing to do with being a sanctuary city. community has to start together to be able to have affordable housing, make sure they have basic things and

make sure they move forward with it. being in this type of situation that is a big barrier in there, so as someone that is a survival of domestic violence and are experienced homelessness, i know what it is to be on the streets with a daughter. if you get people in the community that really invest on your future, you actually get somewhere. i have been 30 years, giving services and- >> speak er time elapsed. >> we need to take care of the families. thank you so much. >> hello. my name is linda harris. as a mother, a person of faith who is a [indiscernible] nurse who spent most of my career working and teaching nursing student to work with children experiencing trauma and severe

emotional crisis, i am appalled that there are families sleeping on the streets of our city. there is a huge body of research on the rippling effects of childhood trauma on not only the individuals emotional, but also their physical health for a lifetime. the children in our immigrant families have often experienced much trauma in their countries of origin and on the pathway to our country, and we need to stop that now. i totally agree that there needs to be another category for homeless families that takes needs of these most vulnerable individuals into account. these children are the future of our country and our world and it is inconsinable for them to sleep on a streets of a city as wealthy as ours. thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is pat, i am a pastor

of first ninite church of san francisco people from the church. leader with faith and action. san francisco is fond as we all know of calling itself a sanctuary city, but with this noble claim come responsibilities that must be upheld by city officials and embarrassed and ashamed what we knew and what is so confirmed this morning that we are just not up to that task. we are not equipped to do that. we all know childhood trauma is the real deal. it has long lasting lifelong impact, so we hope that as policy makers you will all figure what it means what it takes to declare a emergency and find the funds to insure immigrant families with young children have shelters in the hort short-term and affordable housing long-term. thank you so much for the hearing.

>> hi. good afternoon. thanks for hosting this very powerful hearing. compass family service. i don't have anything to say that will be as moving as our family advisory committee leaders shared this morning, but i want to reiterate it is my hope this does not become a cause of the month in the run up to an election. hsh is over leveraged. we cannot tack on 30 more hotel vouchers and call solved. if the state of emergency means a emergency budget supplemental let's do it. let's put our heads together and think create ivly because there are children sleeping outside and what is the most fundamental job of the government if not to stop that? thank you. >> i hear very compelling

testimony today. i want to add up on that. the city does a lot of great things. it does things well and knows how to do stuff when it puts-focus together. this is one thing that you guys can't sleep on. you got to go ahead and just do this. i'm a homeless guy. came with my backpack. i don't know where i'll sleep tonight but i need a place and counting on you to alleviate some of these problems. it is time to act. thank you. >> thank you. any other speakers who like to comment on this matter? >> seeing none, public comment is closed. >> supervisor walton you want to say something >> thank you so much supervisor safai for calling the hearing and i want to thank everyone who came out and spoke today. i want to appreciate faith and

action, the latino task force, educators and everyone who has been working on supporting immigrant families and families with children experiencing homelessness. this is a crisis. this is something that needs a comprehensive plan and we need to jump on this right away and so i just want you to know that i am committed, we are committed to doing everything we can to address the issue in the short-term and of course to do everything we can to come up with solutions for long-term, but again want to appreciate supervisor safai for calling this hearing and appreciate all of you for coming out and sharing your experiences and working on solutions to solve this issue. thank you. >> i think the testimony speak for themselves. i think you all got to see first hand some of our own frustration when departments are talking past

one another and the bureaucracy can stand in the way. we can't let bureaucracy stand in the way to serve families, children, people suffering on the street. as with said earlier, we have to recognize and see people. we have to understand that this is a crisis. we need to call what it is. we need to see these are newcomer families and as people said here today, we can't just say we are a sanctuary city and just let that float in the air, we have to truly live up to those principles and deliver on those principles and insure that the most resourced city, one of the most richest cities on the planet can step forward and take care of the most vulnerable. if that means vouchers, it that means additional shelter beds, if it means better coordination, if it means better language access services, if it

means having a actual point of contact--i would say listen, there is debate in the city we have too many departments and too many commissions and too many focused on issues, but we have really important focus now around immigrant services and this can't be a department that gets looked over and after-thought and people say we need to eliminate the commission because if we don't have a tiny department like oceia handling the issues we need to make it more robust and step forward in this moment and access the resources that we have and as supervisor ronan we talked about earlier, if it means a supplemental budget request, if it means moving quicker to deal with the crisis and actually declaring it a emergency, we need to move forward with that aggressival so i want to

thank the families who came out today. [speaking spanish] thank you. thank you for everyone that came out today. >> thank you. i also wanted to give my thanks to supervisor safai for calling this hearing for faith and action and all of the allied organizations coming out and telling their stories and most importantly, to the mothers and parents and children who came out to speak.

[speaking spanish] we will keep on it. i think we have a lot to do after this hearing and we will be in touch, so supervisor safai, did you want to make a motion? >> i think it would be helpful to continue this to the call of the chair so we can come back with more information so we can see the progress and hold the departments accountable. we will have better answers regarding the issue of declaring emergency. we want to have a better answer on the vouchers both hotel and family vouchers. we want to understand the non congregate shelter and the coordination with the wait list. there is number of questions we

have, so we can come back and present information and hold ourselves and the city more accountable. thank you. if we can make a motion to continue to call of the chair, i would really appreciate it. >> roll call on that motion. >> on the motion to continue the matter to call of the chair, vice chair walton, aye. supervisor safai, aye. chair ronan, aye. the motion passes without objection. >> motion passes. mr. clerk, are there any other items on the agenda before us? >> there are no other items on the agenda. >> the meeting is adjourned. [meeting adjourned]

[music] since the opening on third and mission in 2010 the grove is a epicenter. tis is part of the community. we bring tourist, we bring convention ears and have a huge group of locers who live here. we are their living room and love to see them on a regular basis and seek newcomers to the city of san francisco and serve them a good dose of san francisco hospitality.

we make everything in house from scratch every dape we vahand carved [indiscernible] the chicken pot pie we serve probably a hundred thousand if not more. roasted chicken, prime rib, salad[indiscernible] coffee cake and [indiscernible] all the pies are fresh baked. the home made cookies are done, once, twice a day, depending how fast they go. we believe in goold old fashion home cooked food. we want to be a welcoming, warm hospitable place for everyone to come and hang out. respond time with friends and family, meet new people. have important conversation. relax and enjoy, rejuvenate, get restored, enjoy one another and the at mus sphere the growth. the grove is over 730 to 830, 7

days a week, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

[music] >> opening this space with my sister, and being able to continue the very deep literary lineage that exist in the mission is part of the fabric of the neighborhood. this is neighborhood of poets and litary readings. you see the writers from the neighborhood, their books are here. paul flores books are here. --that is what we are doing, keeping the litary lineage alive and going, you know? [music] >> san francisco is actually the only place that i can do

this. in its quite way, something i can actually do that is a benefit. sure, i like to open up a really cool well curateed spot. it would be beneficial but not the same beneficial it is here. when i say young folks that remind me of us, when we were that young, and they come in here, they can relax. nobody is following them around like they are going to steal anything. that means they can be a little more free and little more of themselves and i can do some small thing that helps them do that and that is part of what lets me know i'm doing exactly what i want and need to do. [music]

>> we have events here that focus on the deep neighborhood history here on the artists and writers. if you look now there is antany, his exhibit and focus is on neighborhood people. artists muralist, the space was basically a gift given to us in a really weird way. we had to work our asses off for, but it was that opportunity for me that chance to be that link in the long literary chain of the neighborhood. it is a blessing to be here. [music] (music).

>> happy 30th non-sfgovtv i'm

rap and i want to take a moment to thank you, thank you to sfgovtv and congratulate the staff for reaching the milestone we're grateful that sfgovtv work with our commission over the years and provided us with a citywide platform that allows us to highlight and showcase all of the residents what they do [♪♪♪] >> i just don't know that you can find a neighborhood in the city where you can hear music stands and take a ride on the low rider down the street. it is an experience that you can't have anywhere else in san francisco. [♪♪♪]

[♪♪♪] >> district nine is a in the southeast portion of the city. we have four neighborhoods that i represent. st. mary's park has a completely unique architecture. very distinct feel, and it is a very close to holly park which is another beautiful park in san francisco. the bernal heights district is unique in that we have the hell which has one of the best views in all of san francisco. there is a swinging hanging from a tree at the top. it is as if you are swinging over the entire city. there are two unique aspects. it is considered the fourth chinatown in san francisco. sixty% of the residents are of chinese ancestry. the second unique, and fun aspect about this area is it is the garden district. there is a lot of urban

agriculture and it was where the city grew the majority of the flowers. not only for san francisco but for the region. and of course, it is the location in mclaren park which is the city's second biggest park after golden gate. many people don't know the neighborhood in the first place if they haven't been there. we call it the best neighborhood nobody has ever heard our. every neighborhood in district nine has a very special aspect. where we are right now is the mission district. the mission district is a very special part of our city. you smell the tacos at the [speaking spanish] and they have the best latin pastries. they have these shortbread cookies with caramel in the middle. and then you walk further down and you have sunrise café. it is a place that you come for the incredible food, but also to learn about what is happening in the neighborhood and how you can

help and support your community. >> twenty-fourth street is the birthplace of the movement. we have over 620 murals. it is the largest outdoor public gallery in the country and possibly the world. >> you can find so much political engagement park next to so much incredible art. it's another reason why we think this is a cultural district that we must preserve. [♪♪♪] >> it was formed in 2014. we had been an organization that had been around for over 20 years. we worked a lot in the neighborhood around life issues. most recently, in 2012, there were issues around gentrification in the neighborhood. so the idea of forming the cultural district was to help preserve the history and the culture that is in this neighborhood for the future of families and generations. >> in the past decade, 8,000

latino residents in the mission district have been displaced from their community. we all know that the rising cost of living in san francisco has led to many people being displaced. lower and middle income all over the city. because it there is richness in this neighborhood that i also mentioned the fact it is flat and so accessible by trip public transportation, has, has made it very popular. >> it's a struggle for us right now, you know, when you get a lot of development coming to an area, a lot of new people coming to the area with different sets of values and different culture. there is a lot of struggle between the existing community and the newness coming in. there are some things that we do to try to slow it down so it doesn't completely erase the communities. we try to have developments that is more in tune with the community and more equitable development in the area. >> you need to meet with and gain the support and find out

the needs of the neighborhoods. the people on the businesses that came before you. you need to dialogue and show respect. and then figure out how to bring in the new, without displacing the old. [♪♪♪] >> i hope we can reset a lot of the mission that we have lost in the last 20 years. so we will be bringing in a lot of folks into the neighborhoods pick when we do that, there is a demand or, you know, certain types of services that pertain more to the local community and working-class. >> back in the day, we looked at mission street, and now it does not look and feel anything like mission street. this is the last stand of the latino concentrated arts, culture and cuisine and people. we created a cultural district to do our best to conserve that feeling. that is what makes our city so cosmopolitan and diverse and makes us the envy of the world. we have these unique

neighborhoods with so much cultural presence and learnings, that we want to preserve. [♪♪♪]