Thread by @_fruchtose

Hello, San Francisco. I'm attending a meeting of the Coalition for a Complete Community. Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood Council Board Member David Woo is introducing the meeting. There will be a representative from the Mayor's Office later. hanc-sf.org/24-home/570-cc…

Calvin Welch, HANC land use chair, is presenting some background on the project. There have been three affordable housing projects in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood since the 80s. He makes note of Mercy Family Plaza Apartments, the old Polytechnic High School, + 1 other.

CCC put together a plan with four ideas in mind:

• It should be transit-oriented, with no parking
• It should have mixed-use residential and ground floor commercial
• It should serve seniors, transitional aged youth, and families with children
• There would be an interim use

Karen Crommie is reading a letter to the City asking for housing at 730 Stanyan to be earmarked for seniors.

Crommie: I've only heard one response to this letter, from Dean Preston, and it was a form letter.

One activist, Louise, just made another statement in support of senior housing at 730 Stanyan, saying the community is united in demanding it.

Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development Director Eric Shaw is here, with colleagues Jonathan Gagan and Lydia Ely.

Shaw: I spoke with the executive director of CCC about their concerns about senior housing. When the RFP was written, it was designed for homeless families and youth. It's difficult to get funding for those groups plus seniors.

Shaw: A lot of groups need housing. There's an extreme need for housing for homeless families. And MOHCD has other plans for senior housing. We made several commitments:

1. the number of affordable senior homes in the pipeline, and

2. to prioritize seniors for the marketing of the affordable home lottery slots.

3. Present to a community meeting

Shaw says he can show the funding sources that make it difficult to combine mixed-income and mixed-population communities.

Shaw: We're trying to use other policies at our disposal to prioritize affordable units for seniors. I support neighborhood planning, but I can't change federal and financing regulations. I share the goal for affordable housing in Haight-Ashbury.

Shaw is now giving Lydia Ely the floor.

Ely: When I met with CCC a few weeks ago, people asked why we can't have seniors + families, because 222 Taylor does that. I found that those are "811" units, federally designated for adults w/ developmental disabilities.

Ely: there used to be a [Housing and Urban Development Section] 202 program, which allowed senior housing. It's no longer in effect. We could build senior housing at 730 Stanyan if we divided it into two projects with separate buildings, contracts, permits, etc due to HUD law.

Ely: There was a question on the Senior Operating Subsidy program, like at 1296 Shotwell. That doesn't apply here. And funds from November 2019's Prop A will probably be used here.

Now going to Q&A.

Q1: I looked at the senior housing pipeline. I don't want to say a lot of planned senior projects are in bad neighborhoods, but H-A has good amenities with access to Muni, green space. Nobody wants to be stuck where they need a cab to go to the grocery store.

Shaw: A lot of our developments have services. And we're working with Planning to make sure amenities come online at the same time. And we will work to ensure seniors are prioritized for the lottery.

Lorraine Petty, Senior & Disability Action: HUD does have funding for intergenerational housing. And SF's 2014 Housing Element Objective 7 says the city should secure funding in innovative ways.

Shaw: We're pursuing state and federal funding. We want a diversity of funding, but it comes with a number of rules: e.g. income, construction, timeline requirements. We need to reconcile those rules to make a viable project.

Ely: We have over 1,000 senior units in the pipeline right now, and we're going to use funding from Nov 2019 Prop A's $150M senior housing allocation. That's good for around 4 projects, depending on the size. One on Geary w/ 100 units, Lagunda Honda, one in D6.

Ely: There are efforts at state level to make it easier for jurisdictions to combine different age groups in affordable housing. There was AB 3154 (Rivas, 2019-2020), which failed, which would have made it possible to combine seniors + TAY in a project like 730 Stanyan.

Eric Shaw once again noting neighborhood preference in selection of applicants for affordable housing.

Q2 is from Louise: Please define "family" in the family housing. Does that include a single person, like for a studio instead of a 2-3BR unit? Many seniors live in District 5.

Ely: Because we're getting state funding, there are occupancy requirements. If a single person applies and they're eligible, they can receive a unit.
Shaw: Unit mix is still being finalized. There will be studios, 1BR, 2BR, and 3BR units.

Louise: So there are units not for families?
Ely: There are units for the general public, but we cannot set them aside for seniors. Seniors can still apply, though. If there's state funding, we can establish preference for up to 25% of non-homeless units. If not, up to 40%.

Ely: Homeless units are leased through a separate process. Those are referred through the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, not awarded through a lottery.

We're now going to interim use discussion with Mary Howe of the Homeless Youth Alliance.

Howe: We have 55 residents and 8 vacancies. Twenty-two people have successfully transitioned out of the space. Five began eligible for shelter-in-place hotels,

Howe: ....five for permanent supportive housing, eight people left town, one person was referred to a program, and two people left after having compliance issues. The camp is a remarkable, respectful place where people have reprieve, safety, and showers.

Howe: Our waitlist is long. People interested need to sign up with us [HYA] or Larkin Street Youth Services. People from D5 can apply. This site gives people an opportunity to connect to long term solutions.

Lisa Awbrey is presenting on the interim use for the site.

Awbrey: In 2017, City negotiated to purchase site for >$15M and planned temporary interim use until housing could be built. That's been unfolding for nearly 3 years now. CCC held 6 meetings with hundreds attending.

Awbrey: A plan was being formed with HYA, Huckleberry Youth, and Urban Sprouts to provide youth and senior services in a non-commercial setting.

In 2018, the City released an RFP for interim uses planned between 2019-2022.

Awbrey: MOHCD received two major proposals: an Off the Grid Food truck park including soccer, and the CCC proposal. MOHCD put off a decision until after Nov 2019 because of Prop A. In 2020, City resumed interim use discussion.

Awbrey: In Jan 2020, MOHCD selected TNDC and CCDC to develop the site. They put interim use decisions on pause due to concerns about safety resulting from COVID-19. Mayor then decided to make 730 Stanyan a safe sleeping village until October 31, 2020.

Awbrey: City has changed its position on interim uses three times. We feel it's our responsibility to make sure it's fully activated before construction commences.

Supervisor Preston is now up. He's thanking Lisa Awbrey for the thorough recap of the interim use saga.

Preston: We've gotten confirmation that the safe sleeping village will be extended through November. With a few exceptions, everyone views the site as a success and we're happy to have it last the full 6 months and discuss its future with the City.

Preston: This has been a difficult period for HYA and Larkin to take a leap of faith on this pilot and provide these services. It took hard work and bold approach. Part of success is from neighbors and neighborhood orgs volunteering, like Cole Valley Haight Allies and HANC.

Preston: I'm committed to advocating for what the community wants at 730 Stanyan. There's growing consensus on a lot of points around serving seniors, familes, and youth, and reducing income requirements to as low as possible.

Preston: We haven't had a lot of Haight affordable housing developed in recent history. Part of my job is to push the envelope and look into ways we can include senior housing and increase the size of the site.

Preston: We want to fight for citywide funds for affordable housing. The Haight hasn't asked for that. TNDC and CCDC have been very responsive to community input and they're flexible. Happy to answer questions.

Q&A is ongoing, but that's it for me for now. Thanks for reading.