Supervisors hear residents’ complaints as SF Housing Authority faces deep HUD funding cuts

San Francisco supervisors heard more than two hours of testimony from residents who said cuts to on‑site security and maintenance at public housing sites have left seniors and people with disabilities living in fear.

Supervisor Chris Daley convened the Budget & Finance Committee hearing after petitions and complaints from residents at Sal Burton and Clementina Towers and other sites. “This is a hearing that my office has called for, based on a significant amount of input that we received from residents of several public housing buildings in our district,” Daley said.

Greg Fortner, a housing authority official, told the committee that the authority has faced years of federal funding proration under HUD and has taken a series of steps to absorb cuts, including a 20 percent reduction across many line items and workforce reductions. “Our budget, 99.9% of our money comes from the federal government,” Fortner said, summarizing the fiscal constraint that led to service changes. He said the authority’s security budget is about $2.4 million: roughly $1 million to the San Francisco Police Department and $1.4 million for private security at selected senior and family sites.

A budget analyst for the Board of Supervisors reviewed audited figures and shortfalls, noting the authority reported only about $3.6 million in cash as of Sept. 30, 2005, while a contingent payment‑in‑lieu obligation of about $8.2 million has not been invoiced or recorded pending board action.

Residents gave detailed accounts of daily life in affected buildings. Beverly Saba, a resident of 430 Turk Street, told supervisors that when desk coverage was reduced to one guard from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., “the tenants being elderly, being disabled, having frailties, they dare not try to stop this” when nonresidents follow them in. Tenants at Clementina Towers and other developments described propped doors, vandalism, theft, drug activity, and a fatal fall by someone scaling an exterior wall.

Speakers pressed for returns to 24‑hour desk coverage where desk guards demonstrably reduced nuisance activity, better custodial service, alarms on fire‑escape access points, functioning camera monitoring and clearer processes for priority transfers for victims of violence or residents with medical access needs.

Supervisors pressed Fortner on alternatives, including bonds and redevelopment; Fortner said full rebuilding could cost on the order of a half‑billion dollars and that housing advocates and officials are meeting to make financing recommendations. Monique Zamuda of the Controller’s office offered to help identify city funding sources and to convene a study of services and funding options.

The committee unanimously approved a short procedural follow‑up: supervisors asked staff to prepare a committee letter to Chief Heather Fong and Captain Hetrick of the Narcotics unit asking police to review housing‑site incidents and coordinate with the housing authority, and they asked the authority to provide cost comparisons between roving patrols and 24‑hour on‑site security. On the motion to file the hearing record, the committee took no further immediate action but said it would continue oversight and follow up on the data provided.

What happens next: the housing authority agreed to supply information about the financial tradeoffs for security models and to meet with resident groups; supervisors said they will consider further oversight and possible future hearings depending on the information returned to the committee.