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San Francisco supervisors seat homosexual asylee to metropolis panel

The San Francisco Regulatory Authority has appointed a Malaysian-Chinese gay asylum to a city inspectorate committee. Hans How is the first LGBTQ immigrant who is not yet a US citizen to serve on a local advisory board.

Regulators unanimously voted 11-0 at their March 23 meeting to include How along with Bernita Burge, Jon Jacobo and John Baranski on the Housing Stability Fund’s Board of Directors. Their term of office ends on December 13, 2022.

Regulators also appointed Davida Sotelo Escobedo, a city-raised Chicanx trans binary from Oakland, to the fund’s regulator. Their term of office ends on December 13, 2024.

The board approved Remhai Menelik, General Fujioka, Fernando Marti, Shanti Singh and Alex Lantsberg to serve in the supervisory authority, which also ends on December 13, 2024.

How has the second non-citizen been approved for membership on any of the city’s public oversight bodies in recent weeks? Earlier this month, Sarah Souza, a DACA recipient from Brazil, received approval to join the city’s Immigrant Rights Commission.

Souza and How were both instrumental in last fall’s successful campaign to end Proposition C, the amendment to the Emerging Citizens’ Charter, in November. It brought urban policy in line with a change in state law introduced in 2019 that made it possible for non-citizens to be appointed to national supervisory and advisory bodies.

The Housing Stability Fund Oversight Board is also the result of the adoption of two city election measures passed in November, supported by District 5 supervisor Dean Preston. Proposition K approved 10,000 additional units of permanently affordable housing in San Francisco and also enabled the creation of community housing, a form of affordable housing for the common good, the collection of low rents, and the creation of a wide range of incomes.

And part of Prop I is used to pay for such apartments. A higher tax was introduced on property sales in the city worth $ 10 million or more.

The fund’s regulator will make recommendations and provide guidance on how to use the city’s Housing Stability Program fund for social housing development. The money is monitored by the Mayor’s Office for Housing and Community Development and used for purposes such as purchasing land, building or renovating housing developments, and providing loans and grants. The city office can appoint one person to the eleven-member supervisory body.

How did I apply for asylum in the US after being persecuted in Malaysia, a country where LGBTQ citizens may face up to 20 years imprisonment? How, who has lived in San Francisco for four years, became an asylum in December after winning his case just before Christmas.

He is a volunteer vice president of AsylumConnect, a not-for-profit technology organization that has created a website and mobile app for LGBTQ + asylum seekers. How has you dealt with issues of affordable housing in various functions since 2017, most recently as an Impact Investment Associate at New Island Capital Management?

How promised to use an equity lens as a member of the advisory board at the board committee hearing on March 15 that recommended which applicants to join the fund’s board of directors. He noted that he brings his experience of public housing with him, and when he arrived in San Francisco, he was living in a single-occupancy hotel in Chinatown.

“I am determined to capitalize on my experience in affordable housing and development and gain experience for marginalized communities and use my experience as a non-citizen in the housing authority,” How, who now lives in Nob Hill, told the panel.

As a campaign coordinator at Jobs with Justice in San Francisco, Escobedo focuses on the housing needs of union members and other workers in the city. As a result, much of the work they do overlaps with the remit of the oversight board, leading Escobedo to apply to be one of its founding members.

“I am fighting for the ability of workers to stay housed in San Francisco. This body seems like an opportunity to build public housing that really works for all San Franciscans and all workers in the city,” said Escobedo, who is a 2018 San Francisco was an intern in the Housing Affordability Planning department.

They told the Bay Area reporter they were interested in returning to town at some point. However, due to the COVID pandemic, you plan to stay in Oakland for the time being.

“We’ll see how the year goes,” said Escobedo.

Regulators also voted Tuesday to allocate just over $ 10 million in property tax revenue, the first to be donated from the money generated by Prop I to the purchase, creation and operation of affordable social housing through the Housing Stability Fund . A similar amount was allocated to the city’s Rent Resolution and Relief Fund to help tenants and small homeowners who have amassed COVID-related debt.

“This is housing equity in action,” said Preston. “The Franciscans voted overwhelmingly to ask for more from the richest real estate investors, and today the board honored the electoral mandate by using that money to help tenants and small homeowners struggling with re-rent and To finance permanently affordable housing. “

Web Extra: You can find more queer political news Monday morning at http://www.ebar.com under Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. This week’s column covered the renovation of an AIDS memorial in Los Angeles and a call for the names of those lost to the epidemic to be added.

Stay up to date with the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/politicalnotes

Do you have a tip about LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or email m.bajko@ebar.com

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