Audit & Oversight Committee forwards multiple housing, CBD and technology items to full Board; amends early-care grant

San Francisco’s Government Audit and Oversight Committee voted June 6 to forward a package of administrative and housing items to the full Board of Supervisors, including assessment ballots for three downtown districts, extensions and bond-related authorizations for housing projects, an MOU extension for Clean Power SF, and several contract and grant actions.

Assessment ballots and city parcels: OEWD senior program manager Chris Korgas summarized three related resolutions that authorize the mayor or designee to cast assessment ballots on city-owned parcels for proposed or renewing districts. Union Square ballots were mailed May 24 and close July 9; Civic Center and Downtown ballots were mailed May 31 and close July 16. Korgas provided city obligation figures: Union Square city obligation $339,655.77 (about 5.63% of the total assessment budget); Civic Center city-parcel obligation $979,000 (about 30.83%); Downtown $6,144 (about 0.16%). Union Square executive director Karen Flood told the committee her renewal requests a roughly 65 percent increase in the BID budget and asked the city to demonstrate visible support.

Clean Power SF oversight: The committee approved forwarding a one-year extension to the memorandum of understanding between the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the San Francisco Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) to maintain oversight of Clean Power SF’s development and implementation. Michael Hyams (Clean Power SF) said the amendment adds one year without increasing the $2.1 million total not-to-exceed amount; BLA reported about $1.89 million had been spent and roughly $200,000 remained.

Bond and subsidy authorizations: MOHCD presented two CDLAC-related items and long-term local operating subsidy renewals. Item 6 seeks authority to apply for up to $48 million in conduit residential mortgage revenue bonds for a 108-unit project at 500–520 Turk Street (construction expected to begin Jan. 2020). Item 7 covers a proposed issuance up to $103 million to finance two supportive-housing buildings totaling 258 units (seniors and adults experiencing homelessness) to be developed by Mercy Housing California and Episcopal Community Services; MOHCD said it will return for final bond-issuance approval later this year. MOHCD also requested renewal of two Local Operating Subsidy Program contracts covering Bishop’s Wing Community House (subsidy ~$5.6M over 15½ years for about 75 units) and Mason Street Apartments (subsidy ~$18.1M over 15½ years for about 55 units); MOHCD described these as permanent supportive housing projects serving extremely low-income formerly homeless adults.

Early care grant amendment: The committee considered and amended a proposed first amendment to a grant with Wuyi Children’s Services to add ~$4.1 million and extend the term; after a BLA clarification the committee moved to reduce the proposed total by $420,870 and forward the item as amended to the full Board.

HSA/CalWIN and audit work plan: HSA contracts director John Sudhakawa asked the committee to authorize continued participation in the 18‑county CalWIN consortium and to increase oversight spending authority for the DXC contract to cover operations through the statewide CalSAWIS transition in Feb. 2023; BLA recommended approval. The committee also adopted a motion directing the Budget and Legislative Analyst to conduct four performance audits in FY2019–20 covering workforce development/community benefits, HSH administration of homeless services, MOHCD site-acquisition policies, and Public Works street resurfacing and tree maintenance.

What the committee did: Items were moved to the full Board with positive recommendations or committee-report status; the Wuyi amendment was adopted and forwarded as amended.