Projects. The Overall Program consisted of transferring 29 of the Housing Authority profits to local nonprofit and private housing organizations for recapitalization, renovation, and private management. More detailed information is available if youre interested. This mammoth Citywide Program which included almost 3500 units of Affordable Housing throughout San Francisco required the collaboration of a host of public agencies, developers, consultants, contractors, funders, and, most importantly, the residents of Hunters Point eastwest and westbrook themselves. The program demonstrates the citys commitment to leaving none of its residents behind and we are very proud to have been part of it. None of this would have been possible without the vision and leadership of our local elected and appointed officials, many of whom are here today and well do some shoutouts a little bit later. Thank you for celebrating with us. Lets get started. It gives me special pleasure to introduce our first speaker. Ill tease you a little bit here, see if you can think about who that would be. Shes a native san franciscan. A former Redevelopment Agency and Fire Department commissioner. Former executive director of the africanamerican art and culture complex in the western addition. President of the board of supervisors. You might be getting it. Presently our current and future mayor. So a steadfast champion of Affordable Housing, community empowerment, and the creation of a more just and equitable San Francisco for all. Great pleasure to bring to the stage our very own mayor london breed. Mayor. [ cheering and applause ]. Mayor breed thank you. Hello, everyone. I am really excited to be here today because this is a long time coming. When we first set out on a path to just reenvision Public Housing throughout San Francisco, it wasnt easy. I remember when i first became a member of the board of supervisors and i went to our mayor ed lee and talked about our priorities, i made it clear that Public Housing was my number one priority. He supported those efforts. In fact, i grew up in plaza east in the western edition, where i lived in Public Housing for over 20 years of my life. Those conditions were very challenging. It wasnt just sadly the poverty and the violence that existed in my neighborhood. It was also the actual physical conditions of where i lived. The mold, the bathroom that basically had a number of challenges. We never even had a shower in the Public Housing unit that i lived in. The roaches, the lack of support that we got from our facilities crew to actually make the kinds of repairs where we could live in a place that was safe and live in a place that was the way that it should be for any resident of this amazing city. It was important to me that we made a change in San Francisco because the same conditions that i lived in are, sadly, some of the same conditions that still exist in Public Housing today. So we set down this course to try and make changes. No, we didnt have the resources completely to basically start all over from scratch, but we did have an opportunity through the r. A. D. Program, the rental assistance demonstration program, to really make investments now so that we can change the conditions of where people live now. That was so important. There were people who were concerned, including the residents who were skeptical about whether or not what happened in the filmore would happen in the bayview Hunters Point community. I too was concerned about that. In fact, the Public Housing development i lived in had 300 units and after it was rebuilt through hope 6 which was a whole other program before hope s. F. , there were only 200 units built. So clearly, everyone was not coming back. Thats why when i first started as a commissioner on the San FranciscoRedevelopment Agency and we set out on our path to try and rebuild double rock and other places, it was important to me that we did it differently than we did in the past, so that residents played a Critical Role in not only deciding what fixtures and windows and how they wanted their community to be, but they remained a part of their communities. So thats exactly what we did. It did require a lot of patience and moving around and a number of things. Yes, again, i know that people were a little uncertain as to whether or not we would get this project done because promises have been made over the years and promises not kept. But today a promise is kept. 439 units of Affordable Housing for people, for families, for this amazing community. Through the r. A. D. Program, we have already been able to rehabilitate more than 3,000 Public Housing units in San Francisco. No longer are we going to treat our residents, who happen to live in Public Housing, differently than we treat everyone else. Thats why this investment is so important. Not only in rehabilitating something as simple as making sure that the windows can open, that the heater is working, that the showers are working, that there isnt opportunity for mold or other things to impact the living conditions, but free wifi. Free wifi for all of the residents here so that folks have access to do job searches, housing searches, or anything else that anyone else could do in our great city. So i am really happy and excited to be here because this is a new day in San Francisco. Part of what my goal is to not only change the physical conditions of our community, but to make sure that we take care of these communities and we take care of each other. Because we are one community, were one San Francisco. Sadly, we have lost so much over the years due to violence, due to hopelessness and frustration. Part of my commitment to communities all over the San Francisco that feel neglected, that feel like theyre forgotten and not necessarily a part of San Francisco is that im coming to your neighborhood. Im coming to make sure that we make the right kinds of investments, that we provide Job Opportunities or opportunities for you to start your own businesses, that we make sure that we are taking care of kids in this community. In fact, our investments in our Public School system has been one thats unprecedented. Over 80 million of investments, including additional teachers stipends so that we can focus on Teacher Retention in schools that serve this community. Making sure when our kids are dealing with trauma, that we have Mental Health experts in our Public Schools. My commitment is to make sure that there are Wellness Centers in every Public School in San Francisco. It starts with our kids. It starts with taking care of each other. It starts with developing a new generation of hope for San Francisco. So this project is so much more than just rehabilitating units. Its really changing a community and making things better now and for the future. It starts with us and were in this together. Were going to get there one step at a time. I want to thank the John Stewart Company, Mayors Office of housing, bank of america, and who else was part of this project . Related. Thank you. It means a lot to have incredible partners. We dont do this work alone. But most importantly, i want to thank the people who live here, who trusted us to make this happen, who work with us every step of the way. It means a lot to have the support and trust of a community in order to get things done. Thats exactly what we were able to accomplish through this amazing project together. So congratulations. This is just the beginning of i know more thats get to come. Thank you. [ applause ]. Thats what im talking about. Mayor, youre so good at that. Youre just flying without notes. Im hanging on to these things for dear life. We do the work, but thats the leadership that gets it done. Thank you also for the 23 million in local financing and rent subsidies that made this effort possible. [ applause ]. And your unwavering support for Affordable Housing and ending homeless in our city. [ indiscernible ] im about to do it. Okay. Thats what i was going to say. Most recently the leadership, in the form of the proposed 600 million housing bond, which we are going to pass in november, okay. [ applause ]. Thanks also and a shout out to our current supervisor for his ongoing leadership around the housing issues in district 10. Thank you. Supervisor walton. Our next speaker is bill witty, chairman and c. E. O. Of related california. One of californias Largest Developers of affordable and mixedincome housing. Since founding this company 30 years ago, bill has overseen the development of 16,000 residences, including over 12,000 Affordable Housing units and he has more than 5,000 units in development. He is a busy guy. Earliest this year also completed the rehab of another r. A. D. Cluster, 300 units. Its my pleasure to my friend and colleague bill witty up to say a few things. Bill. Thank you, jack. Its a pleasure to be involved with a company, John Stewart Company, who has not only been a stalwart provider of Affordable Housing for years, but Close Friends of mine. Im particularly pleased that john stewart is here because im no longer the oldest person in the room. Cheap shot. Sorry. I have to tell you, ive been involved in Affordable Housing in the public and private sector for 40 years. Im pretty familiar with whats going on around the country. There is no mayor in the United States who has spent more energy and effort to ensure that Public Housing is given new life and upgraded and become part of the community than mayor breed. We should acknowledge that. It doesnt get the attention that it should. You heard why, but we dont read about that so much. Its really a story that needs to be told. I just want to say that this is great. I appreciate the residents patience in letting this process unfold. But we expect to be judged not just by how it is today, but how with jack and david sobel, how we are as longterm partners and owners. So the story is, as the mayor said, just beginning. I can assure you that it will remain a good story. This housing, just so everybody is clear, is permanently affordable. Its not just affordable for 10 or 20 years. This will always be highquality affordable. [ applause ]. I want to thank some people who were operating in the weeds to make this all happen, starting with under the mayors guidance the Mayors Office of housing, dan abrams and his staff who have been involved in all of these around the city. Mayors office of housing technically didnt used to be around Public Housing. Theyve taken over the task and done a remarkable job under the guidance of the mayor. The contractors who spent a lot of time and energy to make sure that we got the rehabilitation right. Nibby brothers, cahil construction who worked on eastwest deserve a lot of credit. Mimi sullivan who is the architect. While you couldnt change the buildings that much, a lot of time and effort was spent on designing the interior of these buildings so, as the mayor said, these would be marketrate quality units, not just for the short term but for the long term. Then our own staff at related. Our project manager andrew sccofar in the back and our Northern California affordable group. As i said, this isnt the last youre going to see or hear from us. I expect to hear from you if you think that theres something that warrants attention. Finally another prop a plug. Dont just clap. You got to vote. Show up and vote for prop a. Thank you. [ applause ]. Show up and vote, bill, because i think your call to me involved a very large check as well. Donate as well. He left that part out, but feel free. Bill, i hate to break it to you. When john arrived, you were not only the oldest guy, but not quite the funniest guy either. John, were going to give credit where its due. Bill, thank you, very well said. Next up is another of our codevelopers and the lead provider of Supportive Services for our residents here at Hunters Point eastwest in westbrook. David sobel is the c. E. O. Of the Housing Development corporation. A 31yearold communitybased nonprofit located here in bay view, Hunters Point. Over the last six years david has assembled support and staff. Under his leadership, the organization has grown from four people to a staff of 30, which provides Housing Development, preservation, financial empowerment, counselling, Supportive Services, Economic Development opportunities to over 5,000 low and moderate income residents every year. Also wellknown, at least to me as an accomplished jazz, blues, and rock keyboardist, but youll have to go to their annual gala to hear that, please help me welcome david sobel. [ applause ]. By the way, the board of directors did my Performance Review last night. It would have been great if you were there. Good morning, everyone. We are indeed proud to have partnered with such an auspicious team that others are mentioning in name and i will save time and not repeat everything. It has been extremely gratifying to take part in and witness a transformation of extremely dilapidated housing, turning it into safe, comfortable homes for families that remain affordable in perpetuity. But it is also about more than just the housing here. The city has the great foresight to ensure that there was Workforce Development and Onsite Service connection to make sure residents have at their doorstep access to other resources. We are proud to have partnered with Hunters Point family. Dev mission on the stem program that we have initiated across the sites here, all of whom are doing fantastic work and enhancing what resources are available to residents every day. I want to call out our services team, an Amazing Group of people, some of whom are here today. Even if theyre not, they deserve some recognition. [ applause ]. This team is fantastic. You show up every day doing challenging work and being a big support to residents. We cannot talk about Services Without acknowledging hodc who every day, week, and month are pushing, supporting, and guiding our programs, as they should. Thank you for that. Finally, these past five years are not about all of us speaking today. Its about the residents who endured decades of deplorable conditions. Five years of hard work is great. But the people who live here suffered through much longer hardships. Thats what this project is really about. Developing community, bringing Onsite Services, engaging with residents, having a longterm vision with our City Partners and everybody up here and all the residents, that has been the most rewarding part. We have really appreciated the positive impact of walking hand in hand with residents every day. Learning from them. They hold us accountable, and weve appreciated that as well. At the very beginning of this project, five years ago or so, when we went to our initial meetings, the residents said this is a ploy to kick us out. They said, youre going to raise our rents. We didnt. They said, youre not really going to renovate these buildings. We did. Youre not really going to have services onsite. We did. This was founded to help people stay in San Francisco, remain in their homes, communities, schools, businesses, congregations, and thats what this project is about as well. Thank you for all of your support all around. The resident leadership especially, weve enjoyed working with you. I know were going to hear from one of the resident leaders. Thank you all. It is our pleasure to be with you here today. [ applause ]. Well said. It really does make one think that how while certain leaders in washington seem to be doing their best to pull our country apart, here in San Francisco we are doing our best to reknit these properties into the fabric of our communities and neighborhoods. We are doing our best to now bring the San FranciscoHousing Authority itself more directly into the family of city agen