San Francisco’s office market has always been the brightest star in the Bay Area. Led by powerful tech and startup companies, rents have historically been high, and leasing remained strong. But the city’s prestige was upended after the pandemic hit. The metro has faced serious challenges in occupancy and leasing as workers switched to remote work and moved to lower-cost areas. Concerns around safety and quality of life in the city added to those troubles, prompting some companies to look elsewhere for space or commit to permanent remote work. The major shift is drawing attention to nearby Silicon Valley hub San Jose, which has been experiencing significant growth in office leasing, development, and population.

San Jose has also been known for its tech campuses and R&D (research and development) facilities, but for those looking for nightlife, culture, and anything else that city life has to offer, it’s hard to beat the atmosphere of San Francisco. But San Francisco’s much-publicized struggles with crime, affordability, and homelessness have reportedly led to residents leaving in droves, resulting in the nation’s highest office vacancy rates. So with so many leaving San Francisco, will San Jose’s development boom be enough to draw more tenants?

tech town

As the largest city in Silicon Valley, San Jose has a long history as a home to tech campuses. Companies like Netflix, Paypal, and Adobe all have major outposts in the town. But workers typically didn’t live in the decidedly more suburban area, with many commuting from San Francisco. Some tech firms tried making it even easier for their employees to get to campus, launching private shuttle buses to ferry them back and forth from San Francisco.

In 2011, looking to create more jobs, the city of San Jose adopted an ambitious plan, Envision San Jose 2040. The plan sets a roadmap for ramping up development and adding more density, housing, mixed-use developments, and walkability. Every year, the plan gets revisited and tweaked based on what else needs addressing. Building more housing, including affordable housing, is now a big part of that plan. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo set a goal in 2017 to have 25,000 new housing units in the pipeline by 2023. But the city still has a ways to go to meet that goal because, as of last summer, the city had only completed 3,348 housing units .

Recent data from Colliers shows that San Jose’s office sector is performing much better than San Francisco’s. Office vacancy in San Jose, according to the brokerage firm, is in the range of 9 to 10 percent, as opposed to San Francisco, which has a vacancy rate of around 20 percent and is twice as high as buildings in Santa Clara County and the Peninsula. Further showing its strength, a recent report named San Jose as the top metro area where Millennials want to move. At one luxury condo development in downtown San Jose, there is currently a 4,000-person waitlist for units at the forthcoming tower.

New developments in San Jose include Google’s 80-acre mixed-use project, which is anticipated to break ground by next year. Once built, the project will be the biggest development in San Jose’s history. Included in the campus will be 4,000 housing units, 1,000 of which will be designated affordable. Google has said that it expects up to 25,000 employees will work in the office. Facebook and Apple are also set to expand their footprint in Silicon Valley.

Last month, Caltrain announced new details for its plan to build a 1.2 million-square-foot mixed-use development next to the Diridon train station, where Google’s 80-acre campus is rising. The plans include two Class A office towers and ground-floor retail. That project could break ground by early 2024. One of the country’s largest office landlords, Boston Properties, is even restarting a development it had paused after the onset of the pandemic in 2020. That project, a pair of 16-story, interconnected office towers with more than 2 million square feet of office and retail, which was first proposed in 2018. “You don’t see, other than our San Jose project, us announcing major office developments at the moment,” said Douglas Linde, president of Boston Properties .

Future plans

Robert Sammons, a senior director of research at Cushman & Wakefield, lives in San Francisco and takes the MUNI to the brokerage firm’s office in the Financial District. He said he’s seen things change in the city, especially in the struggling downtown business district., while other neighborhoods have bounced back from pandemic-related struggles more quickly, as more hybrid and remote workers spend time in their neighborhoods and help boost local retail businesses .

“In some cases, neighborhoods are doing better than they were pre-pandemic,” he said. A bright spot for the city has been a major uptick in tourism lately, something Sammons called “palpable,” which has also helped boost retail performance around Union Square, an area that had been experiencing a lot of turnover. But are workers back in the CBD? Not really. “The numbers are ticking higher, but they’re nowhere near where they were,” Sammons said. Salesforce, the city’s largest private employer, has cut down its office footprint three times since the start of the pandemic.

Like many other cities, the office market in San Francisco is experiencing a flight to quality. Class A buildings with the most popular amenities are experiencing the highest occupancy rates by far. “Tenants are flooding into top-quality buildings,” said Sammons. Among “Tier 1” buildings in the city, which Cushman & Wakefield classifies as the best of the best, overall vacancy is 4.2 percent. Meanwhile, the overall average vacancy rate in the city is around 21 percent. Sammons said buildings within the city’s central business district are performing better in general, while buildings further from the city center that may have been popular pre-pandemic are struggling to lease up. “Tenants want safety, security, convenience—any buildings that check those boxes,” he said.

So see

San Francisco has gotten plenty of criticism lately, and not just from political rivals taking aim at city leaders. Prologis CEO Hamid Moghadam, who leads the largest industrial real estate firm in the country, was robbed last month while returning to his home in an upscale area of ​​San Francisco. In an interview after the incident, he called San Francisco “probably the most dysfunctional city in America.” Around the same time, tech executive Drew Oetting, president of the venture capital firm 8VC, which relocated to Austin, Texas from San Francisco, reportedly called San Francisco “the worst-run city in the United States,” during a conference.

Though the city is undoubtedly struggling with office occupancy and quality of life issues, officials have also been trying to revitalize the city and bring back pre-pandemic foot traffic to downtown areas. The Downtown San Francisco Partnership has launched the Public Realm Action Plan, a set of initiatives concocted by urban designers. The plan details how the city can use public and private spaces within a 43-block radius, bring back pedestrians, and restore character to the area that has been missing since the pandemic hit.

What really separates the two cities’ office markets are the physical and the not-so-physical: San Francisco is about software while San Jose and Silicon Valley are about hardware, said Sammons. The difference underscores why San Francisco’s office market has struggled more than San Jose’s. A massive amount of San Jose’s office market is dedicated to R&D space, where workers must be physically present to work on products—working from home isn’t an option. Meanwhile, 95 percent of commercial space in San Francisco is office space, much of which was occupied by startups and Silicon Valley companies that opened offices there over the last decade to appear workers who lived in the city and didn’t want to commute to Silicon Valley every day, according to Sammons. “Historically, the software market, that segment is the least desirable of coming back to the office,” he said.

However, there have been major office deals in “the city” lately, most notably with Google Cloud’s 300,000-square-foot lease in SoMa, where the company will take over payment processing company Stripe’s former headquarters. Late last year, Chime took 200,000 square feet in the heart of the city at 101 California St. “I think it will be successful in that they’re expanding rapid transit there, and BART is coming into San Jose over the next couple years, ” said Sammons of development in San Jose. “But they’re very different markets. San Jose is absolutely much more of a suburban market and San Francisco is San Francisco.”

San Francisco’s office market, while certainly challenged, does have bright spots—especially in the top tier segment of buildings. Tourism has come back, which is giving a much-needed boost to retail, and the city is taking steps to bring back pedestrians to once vibrant areas. If the city can address some of its issues, it could come back in a big way and restore its status as one of the most desired office markets in the country, but it may take some time. In the meantime, the plethora of new office and housing development in nearby San Jose and city officials’ ambitious plan to transform the city could be a model for other cities in the Bay area and around the country.

The post As San Francisco’s Workplace Market Struggles, San Jose’s Profile Rises appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

San Francisco’s office market has always been the brightest star in the Bay Area. Led by powerful tech and startup companies, rents have historically been high, and leasing remained strong. But the city’s prestige was upended after the pandemic hit. The metro has faced serious challenges in occupancy and leasing as workers switched to remote work and moved to lower-cost areas. Concerns around safety and quality of life in the city added to those troubles, prompting some companies to look elsewhere for space or commit to permanent remote work. The major shift is drawing attention to nearby Silicon Valley hub San Jose, which has been experiencing significant growth in office leasing, development, and population.

San Jose has also been known for its tech campuses and R&D (research and development) facilities, but for those looking for nightlife, culture, and anything else that city life has to offer, it’s hard to beat the atmosphere of San Francisco. But San Francisco’s much-publicized struggles with crime, affordability, and homelessness have reportedly led to residents leaving in droves, resulting in the nation’s highest office vacancy rates. So with so many leaving San Francisco, will San Jose’s development boom be enough to draw more tenants?

tech town

As the largest city in Silicon Valley, San Jose has a long history as a home to tech campuses. Companies like Netflix, Paypal, and Adobe all have major outposts in the town. But workers typically didn’t live in the decidedly more suburban area, with many commuting from San Francisco. Some tech firms tried making it even easier for their employees to get to campus, launching private shuttle buses to ferry them back and forth from San Francisco.

In 2011, looking to create more jobs, the city of San Jose adopted an ambitious plan, Envision San Jose 2040. The plan sets a roadmap for ramping up development and adding more density, housing, mixed-use developments, and walkability. Every year, the plan gets revisited and tweaked based on what else needs addressing. Building more housing, including affordable housing, is now a big part of that plan. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo set a goal in 2017 to have 25,000 new housing units in the pipeline by 2023. But the city still has a ways to go to meet that goal because, as of last summer, the city had only completed 3,348 housing units .

Recent data from Colliers shows that San Jose’s office sector is performing much better than San Francisco’s. Office vacancy in San Jose, according to the brokerage firm, is in the range of 9 to 10 percent, as opposed to San Francisco, which has a vacancy rate of around 20 percent and is twice as high as buildings in Santa Clara County and the Peninsula. Further showing its strength, a recent report named San Jose as the top metro area where Millennials want to move. At one luxury condo development in downtown San Jose, there is currently a 4,000-person waitlist for units at the forthcoming tower.

New developments in San Jose include Google’s 80-acre mixed-use project, which is anticipated to break ground by next year. Once built, the project will be the biggest development in San Jose’s history. Included in the campus will be 4,000 housing units, 1,000 of which will be designated affordable. Google has said that it expects up to 25,000 employees will work in the office. Facebook and Apple are also set to expand their footprint in Silicon Valley.

Last month, Caltrain announced new details for its plan to build a 1.2 million-square-foot mixed-use development next to the Diridon train station, where Google’s 80-acre campus is rising. The plans include two Class A office towers and ground-floor retail. That project could break ground by early 2024. One of the country’s largest office landlords, Boston Properties, is even restarting a development it had paused after the onset of the pandemic in 2020. That project, a pair of 16-story, interconnected office towers with more than 2 million square feet of office and retail, which was first proposed in 2018. “You don’t see, other than our San Jose project, us announcing major office developments at the moment,” said Douglas Linde, president of Boston Properties .

Future plans

Robert Sammons, a senior director of research at Cushman & Wakefield, lives in San Francisco and takes the MUNI to the brokerage firm’s office in the Financial District. He said he’s seen things change in the city, especially in the struggling downtown business district., while other neighborhoods have bounced back from pandemic-related struggles more quickly, as more hybrid and remote workers spend time in their neighborhoods and help boost local retail businesses .

“In some cases, neighborhoods are doing better than they were pre-pandemic,” he said. A bright spot for the city has been a major uptick in tourism lately, something Sammons called “palpable,” which has also helped boost retail performance around Union Square, an area that had been experiencing a lot of turnover. But are workers back in the CBD? Not really. “The numbers are ticking higher, but they’re nowhere near where they were,” Sammons said. Salesforce, the city’s largest private employer, has cut down its office footprint three times since the start of the pandemic.

Like many other cities, the office market in San Francisco is experiencing a flight to quality. Class A buildings with the most popular amenities are experiencing the highest occupancy rates by far. “Tenants are flooding into top-quality buildings,” said Sammons. Among “Tier 1” buildings in the city, which Cushman & Wakefield classifies as the best of the best, overall vacancy is 4.2 percent. Meanwhile, the overall average vacancy rate in the city is around 21 percent. Sammons said buildings within the city’s central business district are performing better in general, while buildings further from the city center that may have been popular pre-pandemic are struggling to lease up. “Tenants want safety, security, convenience—any buildings that check those boxes,” he said.

So see

San Francisco has gotten plenty of criticism lately, and not just from political rivals taking aim at city leaders. Prologis CEO Hamid Moghadam, who leads the largest industrial real estate firm in the country, was robbed last month while returning to his home in an upscale area of ​​San Francisco. In an interview after the incident, he called San Francisco “probably the most dysfunctional city in America.” Around the same time, tech executive Drew Oetting, president of the venture capital firm 8VC, which relocated to Austin, Texas from San Francisco, reportedly called San Francisco “the worst-run city in the United States,” during a conference.

Though the city is undoubtedly struggling with office occupancy and quality of life issues, officials have also been trying to revitalize the city and bring back pre-pandemic foot traffic to downtown areas. The Downtown San Francisco Partnership has launched the Public Realm Action Plan, a set of initiatives concocted by urban designers. The plan details how the city can use public and private spaces within a 43-block radius, bring back pedestrians, and restore character to the area that has been missing since the pandemic hit.

What really separates the two cities’ office markets are the physical and the not-so-physical: San Francisco is about software while San Jose and Silicon Valley are about hardware, said Sammons. The difference underscores why San Francisco’s office market has struggled more than San Jose’s. A massive amount of San Jose’s office market is dedicated to R&D space, where workers must be physically present to work on products—working from home isn’t an option. Meanwhile, 95 percent of commercial space in San Francisco is office space, much of which was occupied by startups and Silicon Valley companies that opened offices there over the last decade to appear workers who lived in the city and didn’t want to commute to Silicon Valley every day, according to Sammons. “Historically, the software market, that segment is the least desirable of coming back to the office,” he said.

However, there have been major office deals in “the city” lately, most notably with Google Cloud’s 300,000-square-foot lease in SoMa, where the company will take over payment processing company Stripe’s former headquarters. Late last year, Chime took 200,000 square feet in the heart of the city at 101 California St. “I think it will be successful in that they’re expanding rapid transit there, and BART is coming into San Jose over the next couple years, ” said Sammons of development in San Jose. “But they’re very different markets. San Jose is absolutely much more of a suburban market and San Francisco is San Francisco.”

San Francisco’s office market, while certainly challenged, does have bright spots—especially in the top tier segment of buildings. Tourism has come back, which is giving a much-needed boost to retail, and the city is taking steps to bring back pedestrians to once vibrant areas. If the city can address some of its issues, it could come back in a big way and restore its status as one of the most desired office markets in the country, but it may take some time. In the meantime, the plethora of new office and housing development in nearby San Jose and city officials’ ambitious plan to transform the city could be a model for other cities in the Bay area and around the country.

The post As San Francisco’s Workplace Market Struggles, San Jose’s Profile Rises appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

2021-2022 Civil Grand Jury Publishes “Shovel Ready: Best Practices and Collaboration to Improve San Francisco’s Capital Construction Program”

SAN FRANCISCO, April 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The 2021-2022 San Francisco Civil Grand Jury today released its report on best practices and collaboration to improve San Francisco’s capital construction program. The Jury’s interest in investigating this subject stemmed from its desire to follow up on recommendations made in prior Jury reports, including San Francisco’s City Construction Program: It Needs Work (2015) and Van Ness Avenue – What Lies Beneath (2021), which City leaders agreed to adopt, but have yet to implement.

san francisco relies on contractors for most of its capital construction projects, budgeted at $39 billion for the 2020-2029 period. To ensure the greatest chance of success, these projects require relevant experience, use of construction best practices, and close collaboration between the city and contractors.

One recommendation from the 2015 report focused on the need for City departments charged with managing capital construction projects to create and adopt a contractor performance evaluation database. The purpose was to find the best contractor for the job, by requiring these city departments and contractors to evaluate each other’s performance during and after a construction project, thus ensuring accountability, transparency and two-way communications. The Mayor, Board of Supervisors and head of each applicable department all agreed the database would have a meaningful and positive impact on project quality, budgets and timelines.

“Six years after the City decided to create this database, and two years after it was developed, the database remains unused,” said Michael Hofman, Jury Foreperson. “No department has entered data since February 2020. As a result, there is little contractor information in the database, and since the database isn’t being populated with evaluations, it’s unlikely to be used in selecting contractors. The City is failing to benefit from lessons learned on construction projects, and given the high stakes nature of the City’s capital construction projects, we want to see this change.”

The database, however, is only one example of a construction best practice. The Jury’s report finds that the City misses opportunities to benefit from other construction best practices too.

About the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury
The Superior Court selects 19 San Franciscans to serve year-long terms as Civil Grand Jurors. The Jury has the authority to investigate City and County government by reviewing documents and interviewing public officials and private individuals. At the end of its inquiries, the jury issues reports of its findings and recommendations. Agencies identified in the report must respond to these findings and recommendations within either 60 or 90 days, and the Board of Supervisors conducts a public hearing on each Civil Grand Jury report after those responses are submitted.

Civil Grand Jury reports may be viewed online at https://civilgrandjury.sfgov.org/

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO 2021-2022 CIVIL GRAND JURY
400 McAllister Stroom 008, San Francisco, CA 94102 • 415.551.3635 • civilgrandjury.sfgov.org

SOURCE San Francisco Civil Grand Jury

The post San Francisco Struggles To Use And Profit From Building Greatest Practices appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

San Francisco is facing a worrying rise in family violence and growing disagreement over how to respond.

During the course of 2020, the number of jury trials in San Francisco fell sharply and was completely suspended for several months. Domestic violence incidents also fell as victims had fewer opportunities to seek help due to pandemic-related closures, according to a recent San Francisco Department report on the status of women.

However, the decline in coverage has been accompanied by myriad research showing that incidents of domestic violence increased during the pandemic. The United Nations Population Fund estimates that intimate partner violence has increased by 20% worldwide due to quarantines and lockdowns.

The trend was a living reality for Lennette who managed to escape a violent and abusive relationship that began in 2015. (She declined to give her last name for privacy reasons.)

Last November, her abuser was convicted of incidents involving burning his girlfriend’s face and neck with a lighted cigarette, stabbing her thigh and abdomen with scissors, and handcuffing and gagging her last November when he gave her one electric drill held to his temple.

“There is too much in life to remain in a relationship that no longer serves any of you. Happiness means realizing that you’ve broken a toxic cycle. I know a traumatic bond is real, but once you break your bond with an abuser, you begin to see all of these possibilities and you can be successful, ”Lennette told about 30 prosecutors, law enforcement officers and community members at one of them The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office held an event honoring domestic violence survivors.

District Attorney Chesa Boudin and Evanthia Pappas, senior attorney for the Domestic Violence Division of the San Francisco District Attorney, lead a march in honor of domestic violence survivors on October 27. (Sydney Johnson / The Examiner)

Lennette’s story is one of hope and bravery, but it’s also rare, especially in the wake of the San Francisco pandemic.

“In San Francisco we have an amazing number of vendors offering services,” said Catherine Stefani, District 2 supervisor, who previously served as a district attorney in Contra Costa County. “But in my opinion we fail to hold the perpetrators accountable and provide them with the services they need to take responsibility and leave the cycle of violence so that they no longer abuse their partner.”

In 2020, around 24% of total domestic violence cases filed with prosecutors were prosecuted and prosecuted, a significant decrease from 2019 (32%), 2018 (35%) and even 2017 (27%). on the data provided by the office.

Earlier this year, Stefani requested data on domestic violence-related arrests and charges, which revealed that 131 aggravated domestic violence arrests were made and 113 of them were released in the last three months of 2020.

“When I got those numbers back, I have to tell you that I was absolutely shocked,” said Stefani.

In 2021, the percentage of indictable cases has already risen back to 31%. But at a San Francisco Public Safety Committee hearing Thursday held to investigate the city’s response to domestic violence, it was clear that some have no confidence in the system designed to hold perpetrators accountable.

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin told The Examiner that during the pandemic it would be more difficult to gather evidence to prove domestic violence cases. Other DA officials described the numbers as “selected”.

“If you see any differences in fee rates, it reflects the quality of the research we are receiving,” said Boudin. “Often times survivors are unwilling to attend law enforcement, and that means we have witnesses or other evidence to use in court. And unfortunately we didn’t have that much of it during the pandemic. “

Stefani and other lawyers for domestic violence victims do not accept the argument. Instead, they fear prosecutors will drop cases and let repeat offenders off the hook, citing examples like in April 2021 when a 7-month-old boy in San Francisco was murdered by his carer arrested twice earlier on suspicion of the crime at home Violence. Both times he was released without charge.

“Domestic violence cases are difficult, but any good prosecutor knows how to prosecute a DV case and you don’t have to rely on a victim’s testimony,” Stefani said. “These cases can be prosecuted. End of the story.”

Still, domestic violence cases are among the most difficult crimes to prosecute. Victims can be afraid to testify because retaliation is possible. And because of the intimate nature of the crimes, it is often difficult to confirm stories or find witnesses.

“We recognize that not every survivor wants to continue criminal proceedings. But we certainly hear from survivors facing severe domestic violence that their cases are not moving forward. We have to find a balance, ”said Beverly Upton, executive director of the San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium. “I don’t see prosecutors as an enemy, but the criminal justice system is there to protect the survivors and to protect the public.”

Evanthia Pappas, Senior Attorney for the Domestic Violence Division of the Prosecutor’s Office, understands the challenge she faces.

“The pandemic has undoubtedly impacted domestic violence law enforcement,” Pappas told The Examiner. “Anecdotally, I can tell you that once the restrictions were lifted in June 2021 and more vaccines became available in the spring, we had an immediate spike in coverage and there were more cases of SFPD and we are indicting more cases.”

Pappas, a national expert on prosecuting domestic violence cases, said the likelihood of a case being prosecuted often depends on what happens when law enforcement officers arrive on the ground. She is currently focused on providing new training and recommendations to the San Francisco Police Department on how to safely assist victims and gather vital information that can later be used in court, even if the witness later decides not to testify.

Even if the charges appear to be rising back to pre-pandemic levels, attorneys at the hearing on Thursday said there was room for improvement, including investing in alternative approaches to assisting victims and offenders outside of law enforcement.

The San Francisco District Attorney has launched a handful of emergency shelters and transportation for victims of domestic violence, including partnering with Lyft to offer free rides and another with Airbnb, which opened 20 furnished apartments for survivors for 90-day stays. It also introduced a text service so that victims can discreetly try to get help.

“At the start of the pandemic, we were immediately concerned about what local shelter would mean for domestic violence survivors. It is one thing to have shelter on the spot, it is another thing to have shelter with a perpetrator, ”said Boudin.

However, looking back over the past two years, some proponents say it wasn’t enough.

In 2020, 79% of clients seeking shelter because of domestic violence were turned away, according to the report by the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women. 70% of domestic violence victims were women, to whom the police responded, and black and Latin American communities were over-represented among the victims, the report shows.

Stefani is now introducing a law requiring quarterly reporting on incidents, arrests and domestic violence charges on the ground. Without such data, Upton and groups like the San Francisco Women’s Political Committee say it is difficult to understand the full extent of the problem.

Some proponents say an increased focus on law enforcement isn’t the answer either. Instead, they promote approaches that focus on improving access to basic needs such as housing and food, and promote community-based violence prevention and recreation programs such as Men In Progress, a peer-counseling program run by the Glide Foundation.

“The most common reason patients didn’t seek help in our emergency department because of medical emergencies was fear of the police,” said Leigh Kimberg, San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Interpersonal Violence Prevention Coordinator and professor of medicine at UC San Francisco. “We invest heavily in police work and not in structural security measures such as housing, food and income.”

The different approaches, protracted debates and calls for political change underline the complexity surrounding the issue of domestic violence.

For survivors like Lennette, however, the personal rather than the political is more in the foreground.

“It is brave to walk away from something unhealthy, even if you stumble on the way out. Not everyone will understand what it’s like to walk in your shoes, but you do, ”she said. “Take care.”

sjohnson@sfexaminer.com

Correction: In an earlier version of this story, Lennette’s name was misspelled. It has been updated.

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Tiffany Carter grew up on foods grown in her grandmother’s garden. Plums, lemons, and apples fell from branches and practically landed on her plate. Crispy kale, harvested from the same garden, was a staple food.

But Carter’s childhood is not the norm in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, where she grew up. Today, most residents don’t even have access to a well-stocked grocery store, let alone a backyard garden.

“It definitely has an impact on your psyche,” she said of the lack of food. “San Francisco is known as the Food City. People literally come from all over the world to eat here, but they don’t come to Bayview. “

Eating desert

The United States Department of Agriculture defines a “food wasteland” as a “low-income census district in which a significant proportion of the population does not have easy access to a supermarket or large grocery store.”

By that definition, the vast majority of zip code 94124 – which includes Bayview-Hunters Point – is qualified.

There are only two major grocery stores in the Bayview neighborhood – Grocery Outlet and Foods Co. – but none of these stores meet the needs of the community, especially when it comes to fresh produce and a range of ingredient options.

Local residents have gathered for a permanent solution for years, but many of the more upscale brands have poked fun at the idea of ​​invading the neighborhood. Others have come and gone. Fresh and Easy was closed in 2013. Duc Loi’s Pantry was closed in 2019.

“We were a food wasteland and people outside of Bayview were okay with that,” said supervisor Shamann Walton, who represents the neighborhood. “Things are changing, but only because we focus on creating more food security.”

The result is widespread food insecurity, or uncertainty about how to get enough nutrition to maintain a healthy diet. Instead, people turn to mom and pop stores and gas stations, where the shelves are lined with processed produce, or they eschew eating enough altogether.

“Anyone who thinks (food security) is an abstract concept is privileged to have these things already,” said LySlynn Lacoste, executive director of the community organization BMAGIC. “I think what families fight for is just the bare essentials, the bare minimum, so that they can have what others take for granted.”

Carter, who tries to combine her grandmother’s cuisine with fresh produce at her Boug Cali pop-up restaurant, hopes to change people’s perception of what is possible for the Bayview and the people who live there.

“We didn’t know anything about farmers’ markets and other options,” she said of much of her childhood. “I had to leave my church and see other things in different neighborhoods. We want whole foods here. “

There’s a straight line between the health risks Bayview residents face and the lack of healthy food nearby.

According to the 2019 Community Needs Assessment, a triennial report issued by the San Francisco Department of Health, inadequate diet and lack of physical activity contribute to nine of the top 15 causes of premature death in San Francisco: heart failure, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, prostate cancer , Colon cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, breast cancer and lung cancer.

The zip code 94124 has consistently had some of the worst health indicators compared to other citywide. Residents here are more likely to have cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and the area has one of the highest rates of avoidable emergency rooms and obesity in San Francisco.

“People have said it was genetics and poverty, which means it was the blacks’ fault,” said Michelle Pierce, executive director of Bayview-Hunters Point Community Advocates, a local nonprofit. “However, we still have the same health results. That said, it’s not a genetic thing. There are environmental pressures that need to be addressed. “

Lawyers, community leaders and elected officials point out a number of measures to improve access to food in Bayview and, consequently, improve the health of residents.

Helping each other

Bayview-Hunters Point was devastated by the pandemic. On November 11, it had by far the highest case rate of any neighborhood in The City: 1,377 confirmed positive cases per 10,000 residents, according to DPH data. The closest is the tenderloin with 970 cases per 10,000 inhabitants.

The neighborhood demonstrated the power of mutual aid among parishioners. Almost immediately, pop-up grocery banks and senior home delivery services sprang up, and community institutions like the Bayview Opera House and the YMCA stepped up service delivery and support.

They provided all kinds of help, but these groups had one thing in common: the power of established relationships.

Brittney Doyle was already running WISE Health, a public health organization providing advice and projects in underserved communities, when the pandemic broke out. She was able to start home delivery of groceries the same day the on-site lodging issue came into effect, an achievement she attributes to existing trust and knowledge of how to deliver groceries that the People actually eat.

“I know the participants and their families, and I have an insight into what the community really needs,” she said. “With this established relationship, I was able to redirect my business very quickly and identify needs.”

The city has provided funding and other support to grassroots food security groups. However, a December 2020 report from the COVID-19 Command Center, which led much of the emergency response in San Francisco, found that coordination between local government, existing organizations that can deliver large-scale food, and these grassroots groups should be improved .

“While this coordination is on an ad hoc basis, it is necessary to develop a sustainable strategy for coordinating these partnerships to ensure that fear or suspicion is not a barrier for individuals in need of access to food aid programs,” it says.

“Market to strengthen food”

Grocery banks and other delivery models are essential for now, but the ultimate goal of many community members is that Bayview residents have the right to choose their own food.

“The chalkboard is your Whole Foods. The blackboard is your safeway, ”said Frommer. “It is wonderful that it is available, but there is no choice.”

Enter the Food Empowerment Market, a place where people can pick up the food they want either at a discounted price or for free. Buyers could choose their own ingredients, and they would also have access to a communal kitchen or delivery service for the elderly and people with reduced mobility.

The idea grew out of a law introduced by District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safai, which is allocating $ 1.5 million from the Human Services Agency to the project. It would be run by a local non-profit and take the physical space of the now-shattered Duc Loi’s Pantry on Third Street.

Walton endorses the idea, saying it would provide residents with unprecedented healthy choices, and he hopes the city will stand behind any deal that is struck between the current owners of the empty space and the Human Services Agency.

Focus on seniors and families

Food insecurity is twice as likely to affect Latinos and black seniors in San Francisco, according to the city’s COVID-19 Command Center report. Many of them live in Bayview-Hunters Point and have historically had low enrollment rates for distribution and grocery delivery programs, making them difficult to reach.

Families experience the risks of living in a food desert early and intensely.

Nearly 27% of pregnant Latina mothers and 20% of black mothers in San Francisco don’t know where their next healthy meal is coming from. Children from the same families are also most likely to consume fast food than their white peers.

“We see children come to the centers hungry,” said Gina Frommer, CEO of the San Francisco Children’s Council. “Children who are hungry don’t learn. Children who are hungry are angry. “

All efforts to address food insecurity should focus on seniors and families, two groups particularly vulnerable to food insecurity, say proponents and officials. Not only does this contribute to healthier communities, it also begins on the path to ensuring equal opportunities and access for all residents.

“That wouldn’t happen to white kids in San Francisco,” Frommer said.

cgraf@sfexaminer.com

The post San Francisco’s Bayview district struggles to emerge from meals desert appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

It’s been a rough couple of months for Dora Quintero, a 97-year old resident of Redwood Gardens, a low-income senior housing complex in Berkeley.

In August, the sink and toilet of her first-floor apartment overflowed, flooding her bedroom — and not for the first time. Redwood Gardens, located on UC Berkeley’s Clark Kerr campus, has a history of intermittent, recurring plumbing problems, mainly affecting the first floor, several residents said. The flooding happens even when residents are out of town.  

Residents, whose rents are subsidized, are grateful for landing a coveted spot in a quiet campus setting, and some are hesitant to speak out. But the surprise of sink back-ups and slick puddles is part of the territory in some units, they said, describing whack-a-mole management fixes through the years.

Quintero’s daughter Patty Casetta, who helps manage her mother’s affairs, says she’s had enough. 

Her mother’s one-bedroom unit has flooded three previous times in recent years, said Casetta, who lives in El Sobrante. This time, she said, working with Redwood Gardens’ management company, FPI, which took over at the start of the year, has been a stressful obstacle course.

Quintero, who suffers from depression and early dementia, hasn’t been home since the August flooding, and is staying with her daughter.

After months of letters, faxes, calls and emails with Redwood Gardens management, Casetta said she was told last week her mother can move to a new unit at the complex — something the family has pushed for. But the apartment offered is also on the first floor, the level prone to plumbing problems, which Casetta said isn’t acceptable. It’s also next door to a problem tenant with a history of disturbing residents, according to Casetta and other residents. 

“My mother has lived in Redwood Gardens for nearly 20 years and she has never experienced the kind of mistreatment she is currently experiencing from the new management,” Casetta said.

Casetta has filed complaints against Redwood Gardens with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the city of Berkeley. She’s also consulting a lawyer. 

Protected senior housing

A Spanish-style stucco complex located at 2951 Derby St., the 169-unit Redwood Gardens offers HUD-subsidized affordable housing for seniors ages 62 and over and people with disabilities.

Built in 1922, with additions and renovations since, the tile-roofed Mediterranean complex was once part of the California School for Deaf and Blind, along with most of the Clark Kerr Campus. When the school moved to Fremont in 1980, the campus became part of the university in a 1982 court settlement with the city, which also wanted the land. Clark Kerr is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

As part of the settlement agreement, the site must offer low-income senior housing.

Redwood Gardens, which operated for years as a nonprofit co-op, has had a few ownership changes since then. Most recently, in January, it was purchased by a private developer, Pennant Housing Group, and a nonprofit partner, Foundation Housing.

By partnering with a nonprofit, Pennant qualifies for federal tax credits under HUD. In exchange, the owners operate the facility as low-income housing, with the federal government kicking in to subsidize rents.

To oversee Redwood Gardens, the new owners partnered with FPI, a Folsom-based multi-unit management company with a portfolio of over 150,000 units in 16 states. 

Navigating the way home 

Casetta said after her mother’s apartment flooded, she brought Quintero to stay with her. They met with Redwood Gardens resident manager, Dominique Robinson-Ward, to plan her mom’s return.

Thus began weeks of correspondence between Quintero’s family and Redwood Gardens management to get Casetta’s mother home. Much of the correspondence was shared with Berkeleyside. 

It’s a tale of forms and more forms. Confusing instructions. HUD regulations. Miscommunication and frustration. With time passing all the while. 

The family asked for a few things of Redwood Gardens, including moving Quintero to a unit that wasn’t prone to flooding, prorated rent based on the actual days she was able to live at Redwood Gardens, and reimbursement for items damaged by the flooding. 

Robinson-Ward was initially amenable to these requests, Casetta said. She told the family that a third-floor unit was available, which she would show them. But that offer never materialized, and Quintero learned she was denied a “management initiated transfer.” 

At one point, Quintero was asked to move the furniture in her apartment so a maintenance crew could do repairs. Casetta started the process, but stopped. Since her mother hadn’t caused the damage, she felt she shouldn’t be responsible for moving furniture for repairs.

She was also told that repairing her mom’s damaged apartment was a lengthy process, with replacement of flooring and carpets.

Casetta was advised by Robinson-Ward that the only way her mother could get moved was by filing a HUD “reasonable accommodation” request. Under the federal Fair Housing Act, landlords must offer reasonable accommodation to residents with disabilities, which is defined as a unit that allows them “equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.”

HUD is required to adhere to federal nondiscrimination laws, which define a person with a disability as anyone with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, anyone with a record of such impairment or anyone who is regarded as having such an impairment.

Subsidized senior affordable housing in Berkeley, like most places, has long waiting lists, and follows a first-come, first-served basis. Tenants eligible for reasonable accommodation can get priority.

Quintero’s first reasonable accommodation form was completed incorrectly. A third-party disability verification form was requested. The first of these was returned incorrectly. The second was emailed from Quintero’s UCSF doctor to Redwood Gardens, but reportedly never received. It was emailed again, and not received. It was faxed to a number provided by Redwood Gardens, which turned out not to work. Management provided a new fax number, and this time the form went through. 

On Oct. 16 the reasonable accommodation was approved. But Casetta is still waiting for word that her mom can move into an apartment not prone to problems, she said.

“We do not hear of anything right away. It has always been a week or more before they respond to any communication,” she said. “That has been the pattern.”

In a Sept. 15 email to Casetta, however, Robinson-Ward said, “I completely understand your frustration and concern and my intention has always been to help to the best of my ability …” She went on to say it was up to Quintero to submit required documentation.

Berkeleyside has left Robinson-Ward several voice messages, but hasn’t heard back. 

Berkeleyside reached out to FPI Management. Kyle Lehman, reputation and social media manager for the company said, “Ownership is committed to providing decent, safe, and sanitary housing to the community.”

Lehman wouldn’t provide any further comments.

According to Ed Cabrera, San Francisco-based HUD public affairs officer, Redwood Gardens has a history of complaints, but he couldn’t provide details. He also said:

“All units in the property are currently habitable, but if any of the above hypothetical situations you pose [flooding] happened the tenant would be temporarily relocated until the unit was made habitable or another habitable unit was provided.”

Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Board, which oversees the city’s rent control laws, doesn’t have jurisdiction over HUD properties, according to Leah Simon-Weisberg, chair of the board and a housing attorney.

History of flooding

Several residents of Redwood Gardens shared their experiences with plumbing problems in their apartments, going back around 10 years. They described overflowing kitchen and bathroom sinks, as well as toilets, in first-floor apartments. Floors coated in water, including running under doors. 

Incidents happened without warning, every few years, and sometimes in a cluster. Not all units are affected.

Management would clean and dry units afterwards, sometimes needing more pushing than other times, residents said. They’ve been told some of the problems are linked to plumbing use on upper floors, including of garbage disposals. 

“I had four floods, on the first floor,” said Teresa Baca, 73, an 8-year resident of Redwood Gardens. They occurred between roughly 2015 and 2018, she said.

“The third time was really bad,” Baca said, saying it caused mold in her closet. She said she called the city, which told her to tell Redwood Gardens management they needed to use equipment to soak up moisture.

“That’s when they put the dehumidifier in – it caught like 4-5 gallons of water,” Baca said. “They did replace the carpet and painted stuff that’s supposed to kill mold in the closet. A couple of months later they sent someone to check for mold; they said it was all clear.”

Earlier this year her sinks backed up but didn’t overflow, she said, and maintenance workers snaked the pipes clear.

Audrey Hansen, 100, a first-floor resident said she had sewage backups a few times, the last one six or seven years ago. “It was kind of a mess but they cleaned it up,” she said. She believes some of the building’s plumbing issues have been fixed, but, still, Hansen said, “we sort of hold our breath when we leave and hope that nothing happens.”

While a couple of Redwood Gardens residents were willing to use their names for this story, others weren’t. Some said they did not want to come across as complainers; others feared losing their place at the complex.

All the residents contacted said they feel lucky to have a place at Redwood Gardens, which they consider one of the nicest senior affordable housing options in Berkeley. “This is probably the best,” Hansen said. “It’s in a nice neighborhood. Back from the street. Close to the bus.”

They don’t like living with the threat of flood, but they would hate to go back to the drawing board, they said.  

Tenant activism is part of Redwood Gardens history, which some residents said makes them proud. In the early 1990s, a complex renovation stirred tenant complaints.

“It’s not easy to get into Redwood Gardens,” said one resident, who asked for anonymity.  “Once they open the waiting list, they have a huge number of applicants, and they have a raffle. I was lucky. The only time I’ve been lucky in my life.”

She has endured plumbing problems, she said.

“We have an issue here. My sink gets clogged quite often, it’s happened 6-7 times, perhaps more. It gets clogged and starts flooding.” When the kitchen sink floods, so does the bathroom sink, she said, explaining they share pipes. She said a maintenance person told her there was a problem with the plumbing’s design. “This is what I was told,” she said.

The fix isn’t minor, she said, which makes her worry about future tenant displacement for major repairs. “It’s not cosmetic. It’s not about changing the paint on the walls or the carpet.”

New management brings concerns 

Redwood Gardens was purchased by a private developer, Pennant Housing Group, and a nonprofit partner, Foundation Housing, in January. The management company FPI was hired to oversee the home. Credit: Kate Darby Rauch

Most of the residents said they are concerned about the new team running their home — Pennant, Foundation and FPI. The team has reduced management staff, ending weekend front desk hours, and is telling residents not to disturb staff on weekends except for emergencies, residents said.

“They’re really cutting everybody off,” Baca said. “We’re always getting leaflets and things around what we’re not supposed to do.”

But Simon-Weisberg, the rent board chair, said that what residents are reporting isn’t surprising, given that the corporate owners and managers have a track record of running lean. “In the old days [senior affordable housing] was run by mission-driven organizations and now we are seeing all of these private actors and there is no one there who cares anymore,” she said. 

Private housing corporations are purchasing senior affordable housing with an eye on profits, Simon-Weisberg said. “There is a big move for corporate actors to look at senior housing as a place to invest because it’s stable rent, people die and the rents can go up,” she said. 

In most HUD subsidized affordable housing properties, rent is 30% of a tenant’s monthly adjusted income. HUD pays owners for the remainder of their unit’s fair market rent. 

An internet search of FPI Management finds numerous lawsuits against the company by tenants and employees. 

In May of this year, for example, HUD reached a voluntary compliance agreement with FPI management over claims of “national origin discrimination.” The management company was charged with violating fair housing and civil rights laws at a Sacramento affordable housing complex by not providing translation for Vietnamese speaking tenants, and retaliating against an employee who spoke out.

Yelp reviews of the company average two stars, with comments from tenants in FPI properties complaining about maintenance, cleanliness and paperwork.

Quintero’s situation may be a test for Redwood Garden’s new owners and managers in Berkeley. The ownership group recently took over Harriet Tubman Terrace subsidized senior housing on Adeline Street. FPI manages four other apartment complexes in Berkeley according to its website, including one other low-income property. Redwood Gardens is its only subsidized housing for seniors and people with disabilities.

In limbo for two months, her mom is emotionally fragile, Casetta said. 

Casetta just wants Redwood Gardens to move her mother into an apartment that’s not prone to problems — a place that feels like home. “We are still waiting,” she said.

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SANTA CLARA (AP) – With the San Francisco 49ers stuck in a four-game losing streak and starter Jimmy Garoppolo having the worst game of his career, coach Kyle Shanahan is still unwilling to make a quarterback move – even if rookie Trey Lance is healthy.

Garoppolo flipped the ball three times and struggled to move the offensive for most of Sunday night’s 30:18 loss to the Indianapolis Colts but will remain the starter when the Niners travel to Chicago this week.

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“We didn’t go into this game because we thought Jimmy was just one bad game away from losing his job or something,” Shanahan said on Monday. “Jimmy didn’t play as well as he could. He knows it. I know that. I think it’s been pretty tough for him, for both quarterbacks, considering the weather. I definitely thought he could have played better. But this wasn’t a game where Jimmy will lose his job if he has a bad game.

Shanahan still called Lance the future of the Niners (2-4), but when the future will come is unknown. San Francisco gave three first-round picks this spring to create Lance third overall, and he played a handful of snaps before taking over against Seattle at halftime on October 3 when Garoppolo left with a calf injury.

Lance showed some positive signs on his only start the following week in Arizona but was inconsistent when throwing the ball and then sprained his left knee. He missed last week, but should at least return to training on Wednesday to a limited extent and could be deployed in a situational role.

Shanahan is getting hot as the Niners battle it out into its fifth season. San Francisco has won a season since Shanahan’s arrival and went to the Super Bowl in 2019.

He had excuses early on: an exhausted squad when he arrived and injuries in 2018 and 2020. This year would be different. Shanahan understands the current criticism.

“We’re 4-2 here, we’ve lost four games in a row that I think we all won and that’s where you want to start,” he said. “You want the chance to win every game you find yourself in. … We have to find a way to win some of those tight games that we lost. “

WHAT WORKS

First drive. The Niners put together a formidable, scripted opening move that moved 78 yards in eight games to score on Elijah Mitchell’s 14-yard run. San Francisco used rollouts and bootlegs to great success in this possession, but fought offensively for the remainder of the game. The 49ers either failed a first down or turned over nine of their last 10 drives without a one-play sack to end the game.

WHAT NEEDS HELP

Secondary. The Niners allowed Carson Wentz two deep passes in the field in wet conditions and again struggled to defend properly. San Francisco incurred five pass interference penalties, with Emmanuel Moseley caught twice and Josh Norman, Jaquiski Tartt and K’Waun Williams each caught once.

Three of these penalties were accepted for 97 yards and helped set up two TDs.

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“We gave them way too many explosive freebies,” Shanahan said.

For the season, the Niners have imposed 14 league-high pass interference penalties, including three that have been denied or equalized. The 11 penalties accepted have earned the opponents 250 yards, most in the league.

INCREASE

Mitchell. The rookie ran 107 yards on 18 carries, making him the only player alongside Derrick Henry to have a 100-yard game against Indianapolis in the last four regular seasons. Mitchell has already played two 100-yard games this season, making him the first Niners rookie to have multiple 100-yard rushing games since Billy Kilmer made it three times in 1961.

Stock

Brandon Aiyuk. After his 60 catches for 748 yards as a rookie in 2020, he’s been a sideline all season. He was targeted once at a 6-yard reception on Sunday, had a 3-yard run, and narrowly avoided disaster when he kicked the ball backwards into his own end zone after throwing a punt. The game was rightly decided a touchback. Aiyuk has only nine catches for 96 yards this season.

INJURIES

S Jaquiski Tartt (knee) will be absent for a few weeks. … DE Dee Ford, LB Aziz Al-Shaair are both on the concussion log. … CB Moseley left the game with a back injury, but should be okay. … Shanahan hopes LT Trent Williams can return after missing a game with an ankle injury.

KEY NUMBER

120. The Niners have made 120 rallies under Shanahan in more than four seasons, including four on Sunday. That’s seven of Tampa Bay’s NFL-worst 127 in the range. The turnovers have resulted in 397 points for the opponent – the most allowed by a team since 2017.

NEXT STEPS

The 49ers visit Chicago on Sunday.

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© Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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San Francisco has hired a permanent director for its Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, a challenging and crucial position in a city that has long struggled to serve its most vulnerable.

Mayor London Breed announced Thursday that Shireen McSpadden, the current Executive Director of the Department for Disability and Aging, will take over May 1st and fund a department with around $ 600 million to help the city’s more than 8,000 homeless .

McSpadden’s leadership team will include two new employees: Noelle Simmons, the current Assistant Director of the Human Services Agency, and Cynthia Nagendra, the executive director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, a research institute at UCSF that studies homelessness.

McSpadden will take over a department that has struggled to make progress since its inception under Mayor Ed Lee in 2016 – even if the budget has increased in recent years. An August city report found the department was understaffed and unprepared to serve the city’s most vulnerable. It’s also one of the few large departments in town with no formal oversight committee.

The Homeless Department spends more than $ 300 million, and an election for 2018 is expected to raise an additional $ 250-300 million per year for the department starting this year. Additional one-time funds of $ 500 million tied up in court until last fall were also raised.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health is spending hundreds of millions more to tackle mental health and drug addiction, often among the same population.

“Our response to homelessness is one of the most important, urgent and complex problems this city faces as we emerge from this pandemic,” McSpadden said in a statement.

Homelessness is one of the biggest problems in San Francisco, and elected officials have long vowed to address it. But promises, plans and new programs have been neglected and the tragedy on the city streets has worsened. The department has been without a permanent head since early 2020, when former director Jeff Kositsky resigned just before the pandemic began.

Interim Director Abigail Stewart-Kahn resigned last month after leading the department through what had been a tumultuous year.

Running the homeless section was a difficult task even before the pandemic squeezed city budgets and forced emergency shelters to reduce capacity. It is a position often entangled in City Hall politics, which must balance the needs of the city’s homeless with the demands of residents, businesses and lawyers.

“It’s a meat grinder of a job,” supervisor Rafael Mandelman previously told The Chronicle.

A major cause of the city’s homelessness problem is the lack of affordable housing. However, many people on the street also have mental health and drug use issues, which can make it difficult to get people into the house.

A record number of people died last year from drug overdoses, many of whom lived in the city’s single occupancy units or in rented hotel rooms. The increase is largely due to fentanyl, a dangerous opioid that is flooding the streets.

“Anyone walking around our city can clearly see that the city’s response to homelessness is failing,” said supervisor Matt Haney, one of the city’s most staunch critics of the city’s homelessness department. “We need a transformation leader who can effectively guide our response to homelessness.”

Breed said she chose McSpadden because it “has made innovative and effective efforts to care for some of our most vulnerable residents”. During the pandemic, McSpadden was running the food security division at the COVID Command Center when hunger skyrocketed.

Simmons will serve as McSpadden’s chief deputy and Nagendra will help implement the division’s long-term goals. These two new positions were created specifically to assist the new director.

McSpadden – who was unavailable for comment Thursday – will take over as the city emerges from the pandemic and struggles with the economic fallout. Before the pandemic, there were more than 8,000 homeless in the city. Experts say the number has likely increased as more people were pushed into poverty.

Last year, the department had to completely revise its homeless response. The shelters had to be thinned out and no new residents had to be taken in, which meant that the number of tents in the tenderloin increased. This led to a lawsuit from UC Hastings, businesses and residents, which the city settled a few months later by promising to find temporary shelter and shelter for those living in the tents.

The city sought to rent more than 2,000 hotel rooms for the homeless and created several “safe” campsites. While these locations have helped many off the road, they are temporary measures that the city will need to reassess over the next year.

In her new role, McSpadden will oversee the mayor’s homeless recovery plan, which includes a promise that anyone who has moved into hotel rooms will be offered shelter when they move out. If the plan doesn’t work, people could end up on the streets again at the end of the program, probably in the fall.

The mayor’s plan also envisages the largest expansion of the city’s permanent housing stock in 20 years.

Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the city’s Coalition for Homelessness, said the advocacy group is pleased to have an “experienced administrator who can breathe new perspectives and expertise at a time when we desperately need it.”

Mallory Moench, Chronicle contributor, contributed to this report.

Trisha Thadani is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani

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The pandemic has underscored the need at City Hall to make its residential and business services more widely accessible, including on cell phones.

A recent citywide inventory identified 967 government services that residents, businesses and visitors use to file a police report or pay taxes, for example. However, only 20 percent or 194 of these are available online in a format that is mobile-friendly and accessible for people with disabilities, ”according to the latest five-year information and communication technology plan, which the Board of Directors has yet to review.

City manager Carmen Chu, who oversees the drafting of the plan, wants this to change.

“COVID-19 has shown the importance of technology to reach our residents, especially when a face-to-face meeting is out of the question,” Chu wrote in the plan. “With the clarity of the experience learned, our mission is now to provide universally accessible services to every resident, business and visitor.” Universally accessible means “for use on a mobile device”.

However, it is not a small company.

“Many of the city services need to be redesigned to meet the needs of every resident, especially our most vulnerable,” the plan said.

For those who don’t have internet access, a mobile phone is often the main device to stay connected. “Over 100,000 residents do not have internet access at home and many rely on a single mobile device such as a cell phone to access the internet,” says the plan.

However, achieving the goal is associated with fiscal challenges. Chu noted that “the demand for technology investment continues to exceed the available resources.”

The plan was drafted by the Information Technology Committee, commonly referred to as the COIT, which Chu oversees.

COIT recommends increasing the usual technical allocation from the city budget by 5% annually through the 2022-23 fiscal year to “support service redesign projects”.

“The competing needs of aging technologies and the demand for modern services have reached a breaking point,” the plan said. “According to current trends, all existing COIT funds are being used up by replacing older systems.”

The board can only provide $ 17 million in IT funding for the next fiscal year, a significant decrease from previous years due to the economic downturn. The city departments had applied for a total of $ 36.9 million in general fund dollars to fund 74 technology projects with a total cost of $ 51 million.

By comparison, COIT provided $ 40 million in technology funding in fiscal year 18-19. COIT recommends The City to return to this level of investment within five years.

COIT also calls on the department heads to submit a “roadmap for digital transformation” starting with the budget proposals for the 2022-23 financial year. They would also be regularly informed about their status of making their services accessible via mobile devices.

The plan prioritizes redesigning workplaces, housing, and permit services, although it’s not clear how long it would take or what the total cost is.

104 different residential support services were identified, spread across 12 different departments, only seven of which are designed for mobile devices. There are more than 500 approval and license types grouped into 127 approval services, of which only 18 are designed for mobile services.

In 23 departments, 88 different job and business development services were identified to “empower workers and small businesses”.

“However, as we plan for the future, only a minority of them are designed to be accessible via mobile devices or to people with disabilities,” the plan said.

There is a project in the works to help job seekers.

The Bureau of Business and Human Resources Development plans to launch a $ 1.45 million online technology initiative called WorkforceLinkSF, known as a “one-stop job matching tool.”

Employers can post jobs and job seekers can apply.

“Job seekers can apply for jobs via WorkforceLinkSF and track the progress of their applications,” says a description of the project. “Employers can view résumés and hire candidates directly through WorkforceLinkSF while tracking a candidate’s progress through the website.”

“Our goal is to bring it to market this year,” OEWD spokeswoman Gloria Chan told the San Francisco Examiner.

A recent mobile-friendly measure that was seen as a success of the plan was the launch of DAHLIA in 2017, which postponed the application process and listing of apartments online below market price.

jsabatini@sfexaminer.com

Bay Area Newssan Francisco New Technology

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