Supes Question Housing Authority

Nobody expects the Housing Authority to have an easy job with federal budget cuts, but yesterday’s hearing revealed how misfunded and potentially mismanaged the Housing Authority has become. Despite owing the City $8.2 million, the Housing Authority continues to run a budget deficit. Meanwhile, San Francisco police aren’t sure if they can patrol the housing projects – because the City and the Housing Authority are legally separate entities. With increasing frustration over the City’s lack of control, is it time for the Board of Supervisors to take over the Housing Authority?

Beverly Sava lives in a public housing complex at 430 Turk Street, in the heart of the Tenderloin. Her building used to have 24-hour security at the front desk to monitor people coming in and out of the building. Now the Housing Authority has replaced them with a desk clerk who’s only there from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., security cameras in the building that nobody’s watching, and a roving team of security guards who patrol various senior and disabled housing complexes.

“There is urine and fecal matter in the elevator,” she said. “There is aggressive behavior from outsiders, constant noise and distraction.” Security cameras might help prosecute a crime after it happens – but it won’t stop an elderly tenant from getting mugged in their own building. Roving security guards are no substitute for 24-hour security, because the building needs a constant presence that only a round-the-clock desk clerk can bring. “All the good work that our one desk clerk does is ruined by the 16 hours when we have no permanent security,” she said.

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