City and County of San FranciscoDepartment of Building Inspection

Single Room Occupancy (SRO) Task Force - October 16, 2014 - Meeting Minutes

Single Room Occupancy (SRO) Task Force - October 16, 2014

 

PDF iconSRO Minutes 10-16-14.pdf

 

 

SRO TASK FORCE

Meeting Minutes October 16, 2014

9:00 AM – 10:30 AM

1650 Mission Street, Room 431

 

 

Members Present:  Rosemary Bosque (DBI); Bruce Burge (SRO Operator); Angela Chu (Chinatown SRO Collaborative); Sam Patel (SRO Operator); Wolfgang Stuwe (DPH Housing & Urban Health; DPH); Pratibha Tekkey (Central City SRO Collaborative); Josh Vining (Mission SRO Collaborative); Scott Walton (HSA), Amelia Rudburg (Non-profit SRO Operator/Manager);

 

Excused Absences: Nicolette Alexander (Tenant Representative). Dan Jordan(SRO Tenant);  Yvonne Mere (City Attorney’s Office);

 

Unexcused Absences: Dr. Johnson Ojo (DPH)

 

Guests: Raul Fernandez-Berriozabal; Katie Fong

 

Minutes:  Nicole Rossini (DBI-HIS)

                             

1. Call to Order:

 

The meeting was called to order at 9:11.

 

2. Roll Call/Determination of Quorum:

 

Quorum was determined by Rosemary Bosque.

 

3. Approval of Meeting Minutes for June 19, 2014

 

Approval of the minutes was tabled until the next meeting by Rosemary Bosque.

  

Public Comment:

 

None

 

4. Administrative Announcements:

                                               

Rosemary Bosque stated that she had no administrative announcements.

 

Sam Patel announced that the project at 250 Kearney Street has been completed. He reported that there will be 136 units in the building.  6 of the former tenants from the building would be returning as tenants and the remaining 130 units would be used for chronically homeless veterans.

Scott Walton stated the target date for occupancy by new tenants is November 1st. Funding for this building is from City of San Francisco and the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Currently, a search for a service provider for property management is being conducted.  The Department of Public Health is working with Veterans Administration on a coordinated effort to identify the most chronically homeless vets.

 

Rosemary Bosque asked if there were other places like this one in the city.

 

Scott Walton stated that there was housing like this at 2524 Mission. The difference is that the Kearney Street housing is that the vouchers are site based. This will preserve the stability of the housing. DPH conducted a week-long veteran outreach and did street assessments in homeless shelters. The department assessed the length of homelessness and vulnerability of the 500 veterans that have been registered.

 

Rosemary Bosque asked how many rooms would be available.

 

Scott Walton stated that there would be 130 units available.  Vouchers have been already been procured for the veterans.

 

Rosemary Bosque stated that prior to Sam Patel’s involvement the building was pretty bad.  The building was empty aside from the handful of residents.

 

Public Comment:

 

None

 

5. Presentation by Edwin Batongbacal, Program Director, Adult & Older-Adult Systems-of-Care

 

Rosemary Bosque introduced Edwin Batongbacal to the SRO Task Force.

 

Edwin Batongbacal presented the group with an overview of Behavioral Health Services.  Behavioral Health Services are services for mental health and substance abuse and fall under the Department of Public Health Umbrella.  Funding for these services comes from the State of California and Medi-Cal. The state gets a boost in funding for these services as a result of taxation on millionaires.  For every dollar over $1,000,000 a penny is allocated to mental health services.

 

There is no expectation for a rise in demand for the services as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

 

 425,749 residents have been served by Behavioral Health Services. Services provided include substance abuse services, outpatient treatment, day treatments, emergency services, mobile crisis, acute hospital, long-term locked facilities, and 30 beds at Napa state hospital.

 

The programs cover the entire city. There are special programs for the various programs. A handout with a summary of the services provided by Behavioral Health Services was disturbed.  All residents of San Francisco are eligible for services by Behavioral Health Services. Behavioral Health Services is mandated to serve Medi-Cal clients.  Target population is people with serious behavioral issues.  The individual’s diagnoses must be severe that the individual is functionally impaired.  Functional impairment is exhibited by encounters with police, chronic homeless, being jailed, hospitalized or are in danger of being locked up because of behavioral issues.

 

Behavioral Health Services is trying to do intensive outreach to reach those how have behavioral health issues. Special courts are in place for individuals with behavioral health issues. There is a collaborative effort with Environmental Health and APS.  Working with them to address hoarder and cluttering.  They are hiring for full-time psychiatrist for outreach services.

 

The approach being taken is all-person care meaning primary care with behavioral health services.  With the ACA, they are working to improve public health.  The goal is to not have individuals seeking crisis care only.

 

Anyone need assistance can contact Behavioral Health Services at (415) 255-3737.

 

Edwin Batongbacal opened the presentation to questions.

 

Rosemary Bosque asked what if an employee or an operator of a SRO Hotel wanted to get assistance for a resident of their hotel. How would they be able to do that?

 

Edwin Batongbacal stated that the difficulty is that all services are voluntary.  There are instances when Behavioral Health Services provide consultations and do occasional outreach.  Behavioral Health Services find outreach is not effective because services not wanted by individuals.

 

Angela Chu asked what if a family member knows that they have a member of the family who is exhibiting mental health issues.

 

Edwin Batongbacal stated that it would still be under the voluntary system.  The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance regarding involuntary services. Wherein, a family can petition mental health director to go to court and to accept outpatient treatment.  The person is asked to appear before Superior court to evaluate if the individual must seek treatment.  Compliance from the individual is relying on power of persuasion of the judge to get treatment.  If they fail to comply, and if they become more acute, they can be brought by the police to psychological emergency services.

 

Rosemary Bosque asked when does someone bring forward petition to the court and what is needed for the courts.
 

Edwin Batongbacal stated that the individual must be a threat of danger to self or others.

 

Raul Fernandez-Berrizbal stated that the approach for hoarding/cluttering sounds punitive. He asked if there are non-punitive options for clients.

 

Edwin Batongbacal stated that there is no formal program. Currently there are clinicians who can assist those with hoarding and cluttering. There is a contract with Mental Health Association to provide outreach services, but individuals do not have to participate.

 

Scott Walton stated that is does sound punitive.  He stated that the order to vacate is not the first step. There are many attempts to resolve.  At the point the order is in place the individual’s room is a health hazard. He also stated going back to Angela’s original question; call the police when there is a critical issues. 

 

Bruce Burge asked how long the process in court is for forced or suggested treatment.

 

Edwin Batongbacal stated that there is a flowchart will be sent to the Task Force with more information about the court proceedings.

 

Scott Walton stated that there are other attempts that may be more proactive starting with inspection route.

 

Bruce Burge ask if only a family member that can petition the court.

 

Scott Walton stated that there are instances where it may not only be family to petition the court.  Requesting support services to do outreach when there is an issue is another option.

 

Edwin Batongbacal stated that threats of violence are grounds for the petition.

 

Rosemary Bosque asked about residents who feel vulnerable in the SRO for safety are services available.

 

Edwin Batongbacal stated that if they have a mental health issues there are.  They must be seriously impaired to receive services.  Mental health, non-specialty mental service, arouse from ACA in California for mild to moderate issues.  These services will be managed by Beacon.

 

Scott Walton asked if the services were in place or being developed.

 

Edwin Batongbacal stated that the services are being developed by the only applicant,  Beacon.

 

Scott Walton stated that dementia is being seen and individuals may need services to overcome their housing issues.

 

Edwin Batongbacal  stated that there are specialized services for older adults  with dementia. There are services at Central City Older Adults and Southeast Mission Geriatric. These organizations should be Apprised of the issues from the meeting today so they can assist with issues.

 

Angela Chu asked if there was any place in Chinatown.

 

Edwin Batongbacal stated Chinatown/North Beach for the clients of Chinatown.

 

Rosemary Bosque asked about an elderly person with single family home in blighted homes.  Are there services for this individual? DBI usually uses APS.

 

Scott Walton stated that APS is a good starting point if they are risk to themselves or being preyed on by others.  He doesn’t believe in-home services can’t really help with issues related to building issues. They may be able to help with the individual with financial issues. With aging adults the goal is to keep people in their own homes.  When they unable to manage, start with APS to report someone who is a risk to self.

 

 

Rosemary Bosque stated that on basis of the conversations, she will be talking about DAS because we want to see what can be done to be helped.  They need a lot of hand holding to get through the process.

 

Rosemary Bosque asked if Edwin Batongbacal had closing remarks.

 

Edwin Batongbacal wants to be helpful in terms of access.  Losing housing is direct result of behavioral issues.  He encouraged to the task force members to call for help. 

 

Public Comment:

 

None

 

6. Report from SRO Collaboratives

 

 

Angela Chu introduced Project Coordinator Katie Fong to the SRO Task Force.

 

Raul Fernandez-Berrizbal stated the last SRO census was conducted in 2002. A census is currently being done. Findings are expected in late November. He will have report and share with the group. The census is being conducted in Chinatown, SOMA, Tenderloin and Mission.

 

Scott Walton asked if Raul Fernandez-Berrizbal had been approved by the Board of Supervisors as a member of the SRO Task Force.

 

Raul Fernandez-Berrizbal stated that he went 10 days ago to the committee for approval.

 

 

Public comment:

 

None

 

7. Prioritization of Future Meetings

 

Rosemary Bosque stated the meeting for next month would be in Room 528.  The room change is due to Department of Building Inspection and the Planning Department are preparing for the soft launch of the new ACCELA program in December. Sounds like it’s time for DAS to come in

 

Scott Walton stated that having them come in to speak about their services sounds like a good idea. Find right contact for invitation

 

Rosemary Bosque asked if there were suggestions for guests or topics.

 

Scott Walton stated that there will be issues with attendance with November and December

 

Rosemary Bosque asked if there were scheduling issues for anyone else or any other issues on the November agenda.

 

Scott Walton stated that the Board of Supervisors a tiny amount of money to support some elevator renovations. They have identified about 30 elevators. They are looking for the owner to match the funds.

 

 

Public Comment:

 

None

 

General Public Comment

 

None

 

Adjournment

 

Meeting adjourned at 10:08.