Big Victory for Homeless at Surplus Property Committee

Monday’s meeting of the Surplus Property Committee began ominously, with a report from the Mayor’s Office of Housing that 150 Otis should be sold as it would be “financially imprudent” to convert the property to permanent housing for homeless persons. But after tough questioning and comments from Committee members, there appeared a growing consensus that not only was a sale of the property out of the question, but that the building could prove a model for what the surplus property ordinance originally sought to achieve.

The Mayor’s Office of Housing justified their conclusion that city funds should not be spent renovating 150 Otis by comparing it to four allegedly similar projects. But one of these approved projects greatly exceeds the cost of 150 Otis, and a previous comparison sheet handed out by MOH showed that the total construction costs per square foot of 150 Otis compared favorably to other senior housing projects.

As Committee member Tomas Lee, an aide to Supervisor Tom Ammiano stated, “MOH has provided no explanation of why 150 Otis is financially imprudent and no facts to support its claim that the project ‘doesn’t pencil out.’”

Further doubt was cast on MOH’s analysis when it was revealed that when it retained Asian Neighborhood Design to assess the property’s potential use as an SRO, MOH told AND to assume units of 350 square feet. But the vast majority of SRO’s in San Francisco are less than half that size. If 150 Otis was converted to 175 square foot rooms with kitchens on every floor, then the building could create at least 120 new units, rather than the 68 stated in MOH’s report.

150 Otis has sweeping city views on floors 4-9. Its living conditions would exceed the quality of the vast majority of housing units currently housing formerly homeless persons.

Members of the public, including James Tracy of Land and Liberty, Bianca Henry of the Coalition on Homelessness, Barbara Blong of Senior Action Network, and Sam Dodge of the Central City SRO Collarborative urged the Committee to stop the proposed sale and to request solicitations of interest from potential developers. Another speaker noted that the property was known as the “Otis Street Hotel” when it operated as a Juvenile Detention facility, and she thought it wonderful that the building could become affordable housing.

Committee members were very impressive in their assessment of the issues. Jill Fox, Mayor Newsom’s appointee to the body from the Open Space Committee, raised the critical point that the city was already spending $500,000 in state funds for a winter shelter on the first floor of 150 Otis. She noted that if the building were sold the city would have to repay this grant, as well as find new shelter space that could then require additional funds.

Considering the Real Estate Department appraised the building for between $2.2-2.4 million, the cost of shelter relocation noted by Fox could mean that the city would end up with barely $1 million for a beautiful 50,000 square foot building.

In addition, Committee member Jay Bradshaw, a member of the Carpenters Union, noted that it is “tough to find sites for housing the homeless.” He joined Committee members Leroy Moore Jr. and Ana Gutierrez in stressing that we all “remember what this ordinance (creating the committee) was about.”

At the close of the meeting members Fox and Tomas Lee agreed on a joint motion to both request a solicitation of interest from those interested in developing the site for homeless housing as well as to send a letter to the Board of Supervisors requesting they delay consideration of granting landmark status for the property. The motion passed unanimously, with results from the solicitation likely to be discussed at the Committee’s December meeting.

Sister Bernie Galvin of Religious Witness for Homeless People, the Committee member who has led the fight to save 150 Otis for the homeless, repeatedly urged her colleagues to implement the original goal of finding housing sites for the homeless. Since 150 Otis abuts the DHS building and is across the street from Planning and DBI, there will be no neighborhood nimbyism to interfere with low-income housing on the site.

Toward the end of the meeting Galvin accused the Mayor’s Office of Housing of “continually putting up obstacles to our desires.” But with virtually the entire committee and every public speaker opposing the sale and supporting 150 Otis for homeless housing, such obstacles were successfully overcome.