Last week we asked the candidates for District 9 supervisor — then four, now five — how they would incentivize landlords to repair fire-damaged buildings to prevent a situation like the one now underway at the building on the corner of Mission and 22nd, where some 60 tenants have been displaced and may be unable to return to the neighborhood.
The tenants displaced by the Mission and 22nd fire that were housed in Treasure Island and Parkmerced only have one year left before they must find new accommodations. How will you as supervisor help these tenants stay housed until their units are repaired? Will this require legislative action?
Respuestas en español aquí.
Edwin Lindo, Vice-President of External Affairs at the Latino Democratic Club
The tenants face uncertainty of when they will be able to return home. Their uncertainty is compounded by the fact that the Good Samaritan Law only guarantees housing for 24 months. With DBI recently declaring the building a nuisance, it is unclear how fast the property owners will move to reconstruct a new building, or whether the City or community take ownership of the property. Either way, the Good Samaritan Law will need to be amended or reinforced with support for good samaritan landlords to make sure tenants have as long as they need until they can come back home.
Hillary Ronen, Chief of Staff for Supervisor David Campos
I’ve worked with families living in the Mission for over 13 years and know the hardships they face when they’re displaced from their homes and communities.
As a staffer in the District 9 office, I had the honor of working with the survivors of the 22nd Street fire and helping them find the housing they currently live in. I think it’s important that they not only be able to live in San Francisco, but be able to return to their home, jobs and schools in the Mission.
As Supervisor I’ll work to pass legislation that gives priority to affordable and emergency housing for families displaced by fires, earthquakes and other disasters. I will make sure that the 22nd Street survivors are part of that program and housed in the Mission.
Melissa San Miguel, education advocate
What happened to the residents displaced by the fire at 22nd and Mission St. is both tragic and unfair. I firmly believe we must support the vulnerable, including our children, families and elders, who were burdened through no fault of their own. We cannot let members of our community slip into homelessness. As Supervisor, I will work with local agencies to ensure they have stable housing, look into how our relocation policies for these situations can be strengthened, and explore legislative means to ensure that rent control protections remain and survivors retain a right to return. Finally, I would explore ways to incentivize property owners to repair blighted buildings quickly and ensure tenants are able to return with all due speed.
Joshua Arce, civil rights attorney and Community Liaison for Laborers Local 261
If elected Supervisor, I will ensure that permanent housing is available for all the tenants at 22nd and Mission streets by any means necessary, even if this requires legislative action.
The city needs to do whatever it takes in order to facilitate rebuilding on this premises. This is exactly the type of project that should be fast-tracked under legislation recently introduced by Supervisor Wiener.
Regardless, currently our city has hundreds of affordable and public housing units that are underutilized, where possible we should ensure that these units are made available for tenants displaced by tragedies such as this one.
Iswari España, Training Officer with the San Francisco Human Services Agency
As Supervisor, I will move to amend the Good Samaritan Law to read that under strenuous circumstances the length of program participation should be extended.
The City should allocate funds to purchase the building, or should support non-profit agencies in the area that want to purchase the property in order to build affordable housing.
There is no time for passive aggressive attitudes in our district. People are tired of hearing career politicians apologize or come up with solutions while being out of touch with reality. We need new people with passion and experience with city government to defend our issues.
43 Questions is a weekly series — started 43 weeks before Election Day — to question the candidates running for District 9 supervisor. Send us your questions to info@missionlocal.com and let us know in comments or in an e-mail if you think candidates have answered as asked.
Nearly a year ago, I obtained the City’s homeless emergency declaration that enabled various agencies to open the Navigation Center on Mission Street, which is in Campos’ district. I am not aware of him or his office doing a damn thing to get that declaration enacted and now, almost twelve months later, Lazy-Ass Campos is finally thinking about such a declaration. He is one disaster of a politician who is basically clueless and has little to show for being a City Hall employee in one capacity or another for over 15 years.
You can read the actual 2015 declaration here:
http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2015/04/homeless-emergency-declared-for-mission.html
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Homeless Emergency Declared for Mission Navigation Center
Ok, who knew about this declaration of a homeless emergency by Department of Public Works boss Mohammed Nuru on Jan. 26th, so construction work could begin on the Mission and 16th Street Navigation Center? News to me.
A recent public records request to the Mayor’s Office for documents out of his homeless czar’s HOPE Office at City Hall related to the center, which I very much very as a PR stunt during an election year, produced the two-page emergency declaration.
Here are the key sections of the declaration:
“An emergency exists in San Francisco due to the inadequacy of facilities to link over 6,000 chronically homeless individuals with needed services. Street homelessness is found to have profound health impacts on the individuals experiencing homelessness such as exacerbating disease, undermining addiction recovery, increasing vulnerability to violence and generally shortening life expectancies. […]
“The need to provide [the Navigation Center] immediately constitutes an emergency involving the health, safety and property of the citizens of the City and County of San Francisco. […]
“In order to move forward with the work on the Navigation Center at 1950 Mission Street, an emergency is declared to exist under the provision of Section 6.60 of the San Francisco Administrative Code.”
This creative use of an emergency declaration to move City bureaucracy should be studied by homeless and affordable housing advocates to move their agendas forward.