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By Tes Welborn, HANC Board

Money, Money Money! Tim Redmond called on the city to set up a 10 year Revenue Plan, as deficits will only be getting worse. The empty office buildings are going to ask for reassessments and lower property taxes, and that's about half of the city budget. Supervisor Connie Chan, heading the Supervisors' Budget Committee, tells us 2008 was worse! There are some hopeful signs at the state and federal levels of funds for more affordable housing. She'd like to see the proposed two-year budget in December, rather than May. Debbi Lerman, representing the Human Service Network, says nonprofits are struggling and they are often the first responders. They often struggle these days to find staff who will work for $17/hour. The mayor has spoken of cutting community and human services. Ms. Lerman proposes three rules for budget work: 1] don't cut life and death services, 2] don't cut items with other, dependent funding, and 3] don't cut services that will be hard to rebuild later. She noted that the city only funds the nonprofits 70%, of their budgets, even though they do much of the city's work, and only after the fact! So nonprofits have to spend time raising funds and struggling to have enough money to even start the year's work.

By Teresa Palmer, MD, Geriatrics/Family Practice (Attending Physician at Laguna Honda 1989-2004)

A final reprieve from closing Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Facility (LHH), our 780- bed public nursing home, was given by the federal government (CMS-Center for Medicare and Medicaid services) on May 18. This was just one day before evictions of all residents was scheduled to start.

CMS gave the reprieve reluctantly due to a serious citation (“immediate jeopardy”) that appeared after staff was supposedly trained to avoid these. (This deficiency in resident care was: having no plan for monitoring a known suicide risk.)

Evictions and closure now start Sept 19, 2023. Funding by the federal government (80% of LHH cost) stops March 19 2024. Since CMS shut down new admissions in April 2022, only about 530 residents are left at LHH. Between April and July 2022, 12 of 57 residents who were evicted died.

LHH may apply for recertification (and re-opening to admissions) as early as July of 2023. This would prevent evictions and closure. However, LHH will only be recertified if its house is in order. Delays past September are likely. Evictions may resume in the interim.

For Laguna Honda to be recertified (and to avoid closure and evictions), CMS has very detailed and strict requirements, as detailed in a May 18 letter from CMS which can be downloaded here:  CMS Laguna Honda Letter.  

The requirements include adequate support by the State (California Department of Public Health, along with the following:

   1. A Certified Nursing Home Administrator must be hired by June 26.

   2.There can be no more “immediate jeopardy” citations.

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By Christin Evans, HANC Board

This past month, the SF Reinvestment Working Group voted unanimously to submit two business plans, each over 50 pages each, to the Board of Supervisors. The group’s year-long work to detail the capital and operational requirements of a municipal bank concluded with final reports prepared by city funded consultants HR&Advisors and the Findlay Group. The first plan details the precursor entity called a Municipal Financial Corporation (MFC) which would operate in the first three years and establish the lending track record required by bank regulators before approving the creation of an SF municipal bank. The second plan details the operations and prospective lending priorities and products of the SF Public Bank once it receives regulatory approvals. The Board of Supervisors will take up consideration of the two plans at a Government Audit & Oversight committee scheduled for July 2023. The full plans can be accessed at: https://sfgov.org/lafco/reinvestment-working-group.

By Lisa Awbrey, HANC Vice-President

For nearly six years, our community (comprised of local business leaders, 3 community groups, service providers for Transitional Aged Youth/TAY and unhoused people, seniors and parents of young children) has robustly participated in the plans to build 100% affordable housing at 730 Stanyan.

I cannot overstate the value (and rarity) of partnership among local residents working with their electeds and city departments to find solutions for San Francisco’s chronic problems.  Neighborhood workers and residents understand our neighborhoods best and, consequently, are a critical part of local problem solving. So why then does it seem that some at City Hall and the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development/MOHCD aren’t partnering with us? 

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