Dear Gloria Wood, HUD, SF City Attorney, MOD, and other concerned parties: My name is Zach Karnazes, and I'm a disability advocate and a journalist for the San Francisco Street Sheet. I mention this, because people with disabilities comprise the vast majority of our current homeless population. Here are the statistics from the most recent 2019 point in time count: 8,035 Total Homeless (Point In Time, 2019 SF Official Statistics, usually much higher) 24% People aid Disability was the major obstacle to gaining employment = 1,928 people 74% People Health Condition = 5,946 people 27% People with Physical Disability = 2,169 people (most conservative number) 31% People with Chronic health problem 15% People with Brain Injury 7% People with AIDS / HIV 10% People Seniors (over 61) = 803 people 13% People are Homeless from eviction Source: http://hsh.sfgov.org/research-reports/san-francisco-homeless- point-in-time-count-reports/ Disabled people and seniors who cannot work, are evicted, and have chronic health problems (including life-threatening health problems) are feeling the brunt of the "housing crisis." I want to express the seriousness of this; these are people literally dying on our streets. Since 2016, nearly 400 people have died on the streets of SF: Source: https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/report-nearly-400-people-died- homeless-on-sf-streets-since-2016/ Using the above statistics as a rough estimate, that's over 100 people dead with physical disabilities in less than 4 years. However, what a lot of people don't know is that when you're severely disabled and you can't work, you also live on an extremely tight fixed income. The maximum California SSI recipients get to survive is $943.72 a month: Source: https://ca.db101.org/ca/programs/income_support/ssi/faqs.htm Right now, as far as I know, there is 0% affordable housing for people in this demographic. That means, to be severely disabled to the point of unemployment, is a death sentence in San Francisco. Unless you have previous rent-control, outside help and donors, or a similar extremely special circumstance, you can, and probably will, die homeless. I urge HUD to prioritize housing developments for well below 20% AMI, that are exclusively targeted at severely disabled people and seniors, and do not allow rentals above 20% AMI. Otherwise, disabled people will continue to be excluded from housing where higher AMI rates and "better" non-disabled prospects will be considered. Unfortunately, even though the FHA says discrimination against disability is illegal, in my experience, it happens all the time. It is one of the reasons I've struggled personally to get housing in the past. People with rent control, and thus affordable housing, also frequently do not have ADA access since the laws for access primarily only apply to new units built after 1990. Disabled people and seniors need new affordable housing (<20% AMI, "extremely, extremely" low-income) so that we can have ADA Fair Housing access. It is crucial to our survival as one of the most vulnerable demographics of San Franciscans. I appreciate your time and attention for this letter. If you have any additional questions, either about my lived experience as a disabled person living in San Francisco, or are interested in additional statistics, please do not hesitate to ask. -- – Zach Karnazes Disability Advocate | Journalist | Artist https://zkarnazes.wixsite.com/access/
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