by Jordan Wasilewski
From June 15 through June 18, I participated in Tenant Empowerment Week, which was one of the few opportunities for permanent supportive housing tenants to make their voices heard in City Hall. At first, I was a little nervous about it being organized by the Supportive Housing Providers Network, an organization that includes PSH landlords, as real tenant organizing should be independent of landlords. Still, I decided to attend, so I could connect with other PSH tenants, get face-time with policymakers, as well as salt the earth with a proposed PSH Tenant Bill of Rights that several of us tenants worked on back in 2022.
Orientation was on June 15. When I got to the space, I was pressured into wearing a nice T-shirt reading “Nothing About Us Without Us”, but I prefer a more business casual approach to meetings like this. I got a copy of the Resident Advisory Board’s talking points. I can’t say I disagreed with any of the points, which were mostly focused around making sure case management was consistent and had improved ratios of clients to case managers, and on providing different levels of care, pathways to workforce development, and food security, among other issues. I printed off copies, which I distributed to the 20 to 30 tenants who were there. I went through an orientation around messaging, signed up for nine of 10 meetings, then went home to prepare some legislative ideas for each supervisor based on their interest.
On Day 2, I rolled out of bed, printed out copies of the PSH Tenant Bill of Rights from the library, and then went to City Hall for a few morning meetings with members of the Board of Supervisors, beginning with Chyanne Chen’s legislative aide Jackie Prager. We talked about the decommissioning of permanent supportive housing, scattered-site housing—salient for a district with few PSH sites—and tenants who may need a higher level of care. Given that supervisor Chen called a hearing on the potential closure of permanent supportive housing sites, I decided to propose a “No Displacement Without Real Replacement” and gave Prager a one-pager on it.
After that, we chilled in the conference room for a half hour, enjoying some snacks, before our meeting with Supervisor Danny Sauter and his aide Tomio Nagano, who I have met on City Hall walkthroughs and seemed to really care about what we said during those times. Sauter opened up talking about the importance of little things to help improve people’s life, like elevator repairs, an issue that I was deeply involved in with Senior & Disability Action before the pandemic. Several tenants, in addition to the provided talking points, brought up “Brave buttons” (similar to those alert devices advertised on the classic “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” commercials back in the 1990s). I decided to present to Sauter a one-pager on the issue of us PSH tenants being carved out of statewide legislation (AB 628) requiring a refrigerator and cooking appliance in rental units and how to do a local version adapted to realities of SROs. For someone on the more moderate side of the SF political spectrum, Sauter and his aide seemed to take a genuine interest in it.
Then there was a two-hour break. To be honest, and I know this may sound silly, but the providers’ network should have at the very least gotten lunch for us. We are volunteering our time and while we may not be working in the formal economy, we are still working. Sharing lunch together could have been a community-building opportunity for us all. After the break, we went to the headquarters of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to meet with HSH staffers Kristina Leonoudakis Watts, Ousha Reed, and Adar Kolpis. They did a presentation on the different types of housing services provided by the department, and tenants brought up issues around different levels of care, which was the Homelessness Oversight’s Commission’s focus of a presentation this past March. I gave the department people a copy of the PSH Tenant Bill of Rights, as well as a one-pager and they made copies to distribute.
Then, we walked back to DISH to meet with Joaquin Guerrero, the sole progressive member—and only transgender person—on the Homelessness Oversight Commission. We had a conversation on how to take back our power, as well as who to approach on the commission with proposals. He also talked about his work mediating disputes with the San Francisco Bar Association. I also presented him with a copy of the Right To Pay Rent By Check and Remotely policy proposal. It felt rewarding to make our issues known.
There were several themes presented across the week. On the topic of workforce development, one individual described himself as a return on investment, and how one employed tenant can help support other tenants who are unable to work. Other tenants talked about being peer responders. When the issue of Matt Dorsey’s proposed sober housing legislation came up, everyone on the tenant side of things seemed to agree on there being options for recovery or drug-free housing, and the necessity for a space for harm reduction.
Given how much has gone on during this span of four days, I will expand on Day 3’s legislative meetings and Day 4’s departmental meeting, as well as giving reflections on how to drive the movement forward in next month’s article. Spoiler alert: Several times, a supervisor has actually thanked me for my ideas.
Jordan Wasilewski (she/her) is a long-term permanent supportive housing and SRO tenant advocate, former commissioner, and affordability activist. You may follow her on Instagram @sfpshsro.
