Are you speaking on this one . Jeff, director of the department of homelessness, i welcome you to the mic. The floor is yours. I dont need to tell you or member of the public, were in the midst of a humanitarian crisis on our streets in San Francisco. We currently have approximately 7500 people experiencing homelessness on any given night, 4300 or 58 of the Homeless Population in San Francisco is literally unsheltered. The other the remaining population is in the shelters or other locations or other institutions, but we have 58 of the population living on the streets, so its one of the highest percentages of unsheltered homeless in the united states. And often times, well hear people dont want to come into shelter and i would say that is untrue. Our shelters are generally full on any given night with the vacancy rate of less than 4 , generally caused by people who arent able to make it for the reservations. We also have a consistently every a thousand people waiting on the list. I want to point out that last year, 198 people experienced homelessness in San Francisco passed away. So this is clearly a crisis. Impacts thousands of people who are living on the streets as well as impacts our neighborhoods as well. You also notice that there has been a dramatic increase, youll see on slide 4, of individuals calling with complaints or often time concerns about People Living on the streets. We currently are seeing well over 5,000 calls a month between 311 and 911 and those numbers have been increasing up through 2017, in terms of people had are concerned about what theyre seeing on our streets. And while San Francisco does have and has invested significantly in the homelessness response system, we have currently over 2300 temporary shelter beds that are available for individuals, both shelter beds, winter shelter program, transitional housing, stabilization units and of course Navigation Center beds. Clearly we have not been able to meet the demands. You can walk outside in many neighborhoods in San Francisco and see the results of that. So as such, as you know, mayor lee challenged the city and challenged our department and the department of public works and others to get a thousand people off the streets, in addition to those we would have served with current resources. Were following multiple strategies in order to achieve that goal, including opening up new Navigation Centers, opening up Supportive Housing, opening up transitional housing programs, including one targeted at women who are pregnant and who are currently homeless and a variety of other programs. In order to expedite this work, we have proposed an ordinance, oneyear, that would allow expedited contracting with waivers of certain administrative sections that would allow us to construct and rehab shelters slights more quickly, be able to purchase ff and e for the shelters quickly, provide services and operations at the sites more quickly to address the problem with the urgency that we all agree it demands. The benefits of this ordinance would save approximately six months per site in the contracting process for operations and services. Public works estimates that the ordinance would save 120 days per site in the contracting process for construction and procurement and that it would result to in 1015 cost savings per project. This is what were including in the ordinance, including the Transition Housing Program for the pregnant women. Supportive housing site 125 bay shore, fifth and brian, the Navigation Centers and other cal tran sites that may become available. Were very excited about the opportunity to work with cal tran. I think were the first in the state that is taking advantage of the law that allows to us lease at very little relatively no cost sites to be able to serve people experiencing homelessness and then including in the Navigation Centers for expansion and extension of the sites. And would want to point out that in adding new sites, the city or the partners could identify the sites, we must notify the board of supervisors in advance and confirm availableability of the sites and would need to come back to the board in any event for the funding to engage in additional sites. We have also through this board consult appropriately with the board member whose district it is in. Well be opening the site. We do Robust Community outreach and all required noticing. And then adopt Site SpecificHealth Sanitation and safety plans and just a really good example is the one that we have at 15 south van ness, where with ework the community and public works to ensure that the area is kept safe an clean. We have a downtown streets, one of the nonprofit partners has a Job Training Program and their participants are out cleaning the streets twice a days, getting job experience and getting paid for their work. We have security onsite and great collaboration with the police department. That concludes the apprenticing presentation. Do you have questions for the director . Well go to the analyst to hear the report. Yes, the ordinance Code Provisions for Emergency Shelter sites. This is consistent with the boards declaration of emergency in december. He laid out the sites there, its on page 22 of the report. There are five specific sites and then two categories of sites that are not as specific and well identified. On page 26 of the report, we do list what we evaluate is the cost for developing the sites. This is the information presented in other reports. For the two cal tran sites, 125 bay shore, cost are 11 million and operating costs are 12 million. There is costs for the gentlemen lawny house and the hotel, we havent fully developed yet, but talk about in the report. Our understanding is the Mayors Office will have to verify the funding. We consider it Competitive Bidding to be and the other Code Provisions to be important provisions in terms of ensuring city contracting. We think given the board has declared emergency given there are five sites, we think its reasonable. We believe that the cal tran sites that are subject to future identification, and given that the department will have to come back to the board for additional funding to implement the sites, we considered that these sites could be removed from the ordinance and waiver approved at a future time when funding is available. Also for the existing Navigation Center sites, the ordinance would cover them if they were to be extended beyond their current date. Of the five existing navigation sites, only two are scheduled to close during the period in which the ordinance is in effect. Therefore our recommendations are that the board remove the cal tran sites not yet identified until those sites have been identified and funding has been identified and including Mission Street and van ness, that are currently scheduled to close prior to 2019. We considered this to be a policy matter, because it does waive provisions. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I dont know if there is anyone i dont see is there any other questions you have for the director for the department of homelessness and Supportive Housing . Seeing none, Public Comment at this time. Come on down. Quickly, please. Thank you. Welcome. Hi, good afternoon. Im the chief programs officer at Community Housing. We provide housing to San Francisco residents every day in the 17 buildings. We run the Civic Center HotelNavigation Center where we have served over 300 chronically homeless. Our city has a chronic problem on our hands. We feel it is essential we do all we can to expedite on bringing on Navigation Centers and housing to meet the needs. It is imperative that processes be stream lined to begin bringing on more housing in order to combat the emergency we face here. I implore us all to do everything in our power to make this happening. Were in support of the ordinance. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon. Im the director of clinical and Strategic Initiatives for Community Housing partnerships and here in support of the ordinance. Since january 2016, the Civic Center HotelNavigation Center has provided a safe respite for 300 adults. We serve those who are otherwise not able to access shelters and this includes 197 women, and 10 women who identify as transgender. These folks are particularly vulnerable while living on the streets. We also know that housing takes time and is a limited resource. And the Navigation Center offers an opportunity and support for our participants to successfully transition off the street and into a more structured environment. The nontime limited and problem nature of the Navigation Center allows us to support the participants in building skills and addressing challenging behaviors that lead to future success in Supportive Housing. Navigation centers also have a key impact on the community in which they are. Prior to becoming a Navigation Center, the Civic Center Hotel was severely underutilized space. The ground floor was mostly boarded up windows and neighbors experienced safety and quality of life concerns. With the hotel turning into a Navigation Centre, the entire ground floor is now used. Weve addressed neighbor concerns. All of this works to display to the community that serving folks who are experienced homelessness with dignity and respect is a key san franciscan value. Thank you, next speaker. Good afternoon, im the chief operating officer at project homeless connect. Were an organization that is dedicated to connecting individuals experiencing homelessness to the resources they need in the community. While San Francisco has been innovator in services and programs, including the Housing First model, weve been limited in our ability to put innovations in practice. Our programs see more than 7,000 people a year. When asked about their needs, we get creative to find solutions because Simple Solutions are not available. While permanent housing is the end goal, the longer people are on the streets, the more severe and lifethreatening their situations become. Mental health deteriorates. There cannot be delays if were to have any chance in succeeding for our neighbors. I speak today on behalf of project homeless connect and the thousands of participants as we implore you to pass the measure, allowing the city to expedite the process of shelters and housing sites. Thank you, next speaker, please. Good afternoon, im the director of shelters for community services. Ecs provides 534 beds and two shelters, our next door shelter and our sanctuary shelter for single men and women. We provide an additional 60100 seasonal mats for the winter shelter. In addition to that, were currently do 50 additional slots at our next door shelter for popup shelters. We also offer two Navigation Centers, one of which is one of the ones identified for close youre. We provide 139 beds at those two Navigation Centers. So we are 100 behind the departments cause to try increase the number of beds, expedite the process for making those beds available. We believe that this particular service, these services are needed to stabilize, provide respite for many in immediate need for Critical Care and improve the quality of life for both the homeless and stable citizens of the city. Thank you. Thank you. Is there any other member of the public that would like to speak on item 8 . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Supervisor fewer . Yes, i have an amendment. Good, because i have questions. Great, do you want to start with the questions . Thank you, so what weve done, weve done a considerable amount of conversation around homelessness and we acknowledge its a crisis, but its not a new housing crisis. With that said, are we planning at all for this ongoing problem longterm . One of things that concerns me, were creating all these Navigation Centers, but before jeff got on before board, there was dustin and they said that Navigation Centers were temporary. Im hearing conflicting messages and i want a better understanding of what is the longterm vision . Thank you, i think Navigation Centers may have been temporary at particular sites, i believe there is still increased demand for temporary shelters and we need to meet the demands to get individuals who are currently living on the streets off the streets and into a place of safety. As far as longer term plan, the result to the solution to homelessness is helping people find access to house, whether thats through temporary rent subsidies or Supportive Housing of which we have 1800 units in the development pipeline. I think all of these resources need to be combined to have a more systematic thoughtful approach to addressing homelessness. Our framework lays out what our plan is, but we need to be smart about adding to all parts of the system. More street outreach, more diversion and prevention programs, more temporary shelters as well as more housing exits for individuals. In order to again our plan lays out in more detail where some of gaps in the system are and again, the eyeball test, you can go out on the streets and look around and see there is a need for additional shelter beds. We estimate close to a thousand more shelter beds to meet the demand we currently are seeing on the streets. What is currently in the pipeline is going to help meet that need. So my question is, does this need to be treated as an emergency every single time . Im looking to see some forward thought, some forward movement, instead of constantly responding. Im looking for a proactive strategy. I believe we put forward in the framework a proactive strategy around using coordinated entry and what we call problem solving which is ways to quickly divert people who are newly homeless out of the system, prioritizing people who are the longterm homeless and the sickest individuals into the permanent Supportive Housing. And more effectively using the resources we have. I believe that this is a Regional State and federal issue as well. Weve been meeting closely with my counterparts in counties regionally to talk about data sharing and resource allocation. Been working at the state level on a number of potential increased investments in at the state level around building more housing for people in need, as well as i think we need to continue making this a federal issue as well. Despite the fact that we may not be heard by the current administration, at the end of the day, its important to recognize that from 1978 to today, the hud Budget Authority has been cut by 81 , which very much corresponds with the rise of modern day homelessness in the united states. And i dont believe that without state and federal assistance, which we are lobbying for and advocating for constantly, that we as a country are going to be able to solve this problem, but here locally, mayor lees creation of the department and the framework we put forward does show potential for a Forward Vision and reduction in homelessness in a variety of categories. Think the focus needs to be on housing and were again working on creative and traditional ways of expanding the house stock, but there is immediate need on the street. You can see them. I dont think the needs are going to go away quickly without finding additional housing exits. We need to meet the needs of penal the streets. I i believe when people have to sleep outdoors in up safe conditions, in the weather, theyre not only putting themselves as risk, theyre creating challenge in the community in many of the communities and adding more Shelter Systems and Navigation Center to the shelter system, i do believe is an emergency given what were seeing on the streets. I also want to point out that part of the although the homeless numbers have started to go down, one of the things that changed in San Francisco over the years is really development on the eastern part of the city, where you know, there used to be large number of Homeless People in what is now the baseball stadium and in mission bay. Those individuals have been displaced if you will, into residential neighborhoods and business districts, so the problem is more visible and having greater impact on the lives of san franciscans who are housed or tourists and business leaders. And you know, i dont think that the crisis is any different than it was ten years ago when it wasnt quite as visible. I do think people are sigh see seeing it now. People in the Community Want to find solutions.