San Francisco Youth Commission
Housing, Environment, & City Services
Minutes
Thursday, November 6, 2014
5:00-7:00 PM
City Hall, Room 278
1. Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl.
San Francisco, CA 94102

There will be public comment on each item.

Members: Rosa Chen, Anna Bernick, Noah David, Lily Marshall-Fricker, Precious Listana

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

Chair Chen called the meeting to order at 5:10 pm. There was quorum. Commissioners present: Bernick, Chen, David, Marshall-Fricker, Listana. Staff present: Allen Lu.

2. Approval of Agenda (Action Item)

Commissioner Bernick, seconded by Commissioner David, moved to approve the agenda. There was no public comment. The motion was approved by acclamation.

3. Approval of Minutes (Action Item)

A. October 23, 2014
(Document A)

Commissioner Marshall-Fricker, seconded by Commissioner David, moved to approve the October 23, 2014 minutes. There was no public comment. The motion was approved by acclamation.

4. Public Comment on Items not on Agenda (Discussion Only)

Two members from the public introduced themselves as students from San Francisco State University. There was no additional public comment.

5. Business (All Items to Follow Discussion and Possible Action)

A. Presentation on TAY Housing, Services, and Homelessness
Presenter: Zach Murray, Larkin Street Youth Services.

Executive members of the Larkin Street Youth Advisory Board introduced themselves: Isabella Black, Kayla Acker, and Jhane Harris. Staff introduced themselves: Alex Howard and Zach Murray. The board represents the homeless youth and clients within Larkin Street, making sure their voice is heard by staff.

Mr. Murray is the Coordinator of Advocacy on Youth Homelessness. He began sharing about information regarding Homeless Youth in San Francisco. Last year was the first year HUD con-ducted counts for homeless youth. It can be difficult because homeless youth and children avoid being found and seen. In 2013, there were 1902 homeless children and youth. 92% of these youth are TAY. 9/10 lack a safe place to sleep at night. He then shared about the de-mographics of homeless youth. Reasons for why there are so many TAY Homeless are educa-tion level of the youth, and type of employment type (79% lack employment at intake). Addi-tionally, today’s economy requires more education. At the same time, there is the inaffordability and inaccessibility of higher education, recession, astronomical rent. (Avg person needs to make $34/hr to live in SF to live in a $2873 one bedroom.)

Larkin Street offers a broad continuum of services providing youth with alternatives to street life and opportunities to achieve long-term self sufficiency. 76% of youth have stable housing when they exit Larkin Program. Lastly, he shares public policy of homelessness in the US, how much the country spends to serve homeless youth. Federal program: Runaway Homeless Youth Act spends $115 million for the 1.7 million youth, and SF as a city spends $165.7 million.

The federal government has focused in Veteran Homelessness, but not youth homeless people. Youth have different needs: budgeting, living skills training, etc whereas adults already have experience and just needs a home. Youth need a Housing Ladder. Mr. Murray shared some Policy Priorities: Runaway Homeless Youth Act Reauthorization and Appropriations, Higher Ed-ucation Access and Succcess for Homeless and Foster Youth Act, Unitied States Interagency Council on Homelessness: Opening Doors - goal to end youth homelessness by 2020, and Mayor’s Office on Housing goal to have 400 TAY beds by 2015 – currently 65% complete.

The group then shared thoughts on the importance of serving homeless youth, and youth in general. Commissioners inquired about Larkin Street’s capacity to house youth. The group also spoke about the dangers of living in the street: sex trafficking, labor trafficking, etc. Youth at Larkin have also accrued thousands of dollars in fines for sitting at a park.

Mr. Murray expressed his gratitude for the Commission’s work on Homeless Bill of Rights, and also Police Youth Training. He shared that November is Homeless Youth Awareness Month and asked everyone how we bring attention to this population?

After consultation about the need for more awareness, the group decided to dedicate energy towards the reauthorization of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act. The major changes to the legislation includes a section on LGBT competency training, language around trafficking, and having a Prevalence Study ($3 million to count homeless youth). The group decided to pursue drafting a resolution together with the potential of requesting a hearing during after school and work hours in the coming months. Larkin Street YAB will send over points to the committee, and the committee will be writing the resolution. They discussed timeline.

The YAB also expressed interest in other YC priorities: 12N, Police Training, supporting youth with Incarcerated Parents, CCSF Reauthorization.

A member of the public asked Is there volunteer work at Larkin. Mr. Murray responded that there is a long intensive process to be volunteers, and everyone is encouraged. There was no additional public comment.

6. Executive Committee Report

Commissioner Listana shared her request to the Executive Committee to have an item on the next Full Youth Commission meeting to have Walk SF present and for the commission to en-dorse the initiative. She also shared the upcoming 1-1 meetings.

There was no public comment.

7. Staff Report

A. Programmatic Updates

Mr. Lu shared with the group the Anchor + Plow Project, the CA Youth Empowerment Network’s Stamp Out Stigma Project, upcoming tours with businesses who have signed onto a CBA, and office hours. He also asked if any committee member would like to help write a commendation letter to DPH for their work on 12N, which would be presented at the next Full Youth Commis-sion meeting. Commissioner Bernick expressed her interest.

There was no public comment.

9. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 6:35pm.