Dear Friend,

Despite the unprecedented challenges we faced in 2009, TNDC thrived.  Painfully, many of our residents did not.

Historically, many Tenderloin residents have been marginally employed. But 2009 was even worse.  As the economy sputtered and jobs were eliminated, an even bigger burden was placed on our residents. Many of those lucky enough to keep their jobs saw their hours cut.  In addition, three times over the course of the year, the State cut its payments to seniors and people with disabilities, and it narrowed the range of medical services it paid for under Medicare.

To get a sense of how our residents are faring, read these comments from our social workers:

• “There are no more places to get In-Home Support Services.”
• “Those who work are having their hours cut or losing employment altogether. Some are thinking about opening credit cards to get by.”
• “Healthy Families (providing basic health coverage to kids) now has a wait list.” 
• “Social Security has been cut three times this year (2009), and now folks are having to pay $96 a month for Medicare, when it used to be free.  Meds are no longer covered.”  
• “I work with a lot of frail seniors. Laguna Honda Convalescent Services are either shutting or getting smaller.”

Many of our tenants had to make the choice between food and rent or between health care and rent.  It’s not an abstraction:  these are people we know, and it’s heart-breaking.

TNDC did its best to cushion the impact of the global meltdown on our residents, limiting our 2010 rent increase to 1%, extending payment plans for residents falling behind on their rent and expanding our food distribution program.

A Transformative Year

On August 30, we received a call from our friends and long-time partner Citizens Housing: financial challenges would soon necessitate their closing, and their Board saw no better organization than TNDC to entrust the buildings and communities they had developed.  Thus began a series of events that led, in November, to TNDC’s assuming responsibility for managing Citizens’ San Francisco affordable housing portfolio. This will ultimately result in TNDC’s acquiring over 500 additional apartment units.  Expanding our staff to nearly 300 and now operating in five different San Francisco neighborhoods, TNDC is extending its reach as we bring our own style of community building to over 3,000 tenants.

While acquiring nine properties required a “drop everything, all-hands-on-deck” effort, it shouldn’t overshadow what TNDC accomplished in the normal course of our work last year:

• We opened two buildings that will house nearly 150 formerly homeless families and individuals.  It’s so simple yet so powerful: the answer to homelessness is supportive housing, and it’s less expensive to house people than to allow them to remain homeless.
• Our Tenderloin After-School Program provided an array of services to over 200 children and their families. The programming included taking a group to visit colleges in New York, assistance with the college application process and homework, and cultural, recreational and art activities, while serving as safe and welcoming place for Tenderloin children.
• Our nearly 20 social workers engaged with some 1,300 residents, helping them with issues ranging from reuniting with their children and stabilizing in housing to undertaking the daily challenges associated with struggling with health, mental health, substance use and recovery issues.
• We acquired a site at the corner of 5th and Howard Streets that will one day house 130 families.
• We are very grateful that many elements of our work were honored in 2009:
• Chief Financial Officer Paul Sussman and Property Management Director Felicia Wright were recognized by their peers as CFO of the Year and for Outstanding Achievement by an Affordable Housing Professional.
• Curran House was among 10 best new residential developments of the decade by SF Curbed.
• SOMA Studios and Family Apartments, which we developed with Citizens Housing, was named one of the 10 best new construction projects of the decade by the San Francisco Chronicle.
• 990 Polk Street, another joint venture with Citizens, won Best Affordable Deal from the SF Business Times and the national Best Project by Affordable Housing Finance Magazine.

What about 2010?

While 2009 was tough, we remain optimistic. For example, by this time next year, we’ll have begun the historic rehab of the YMCA, 172 units for formerly homeless individuals co-located with a medical clinic that will serve 4,000 low income people. And we’ll have moved 80 senior households back into their newly-renovated homes on Turk and Eddy Streets.

Still, despite some glimmers of hope, the struggle to fund efforts to improve the lives of Tenderloin residents will be more difficult than ever.  State and local budgets are stressed beyond the breaking point, and affordable housing capital has shrunk so significantly that TNDC now has had to suspend work on some 500 units of affordable family housing.

More than ever, we need the support of people like you, along with the effort of a dedicated and skilled staff and Board, and the inspiration of a purpose that is critically important to San Francisco. To that end, we will apply every pressure, and undertake every effort, to realize the promise of our mission, and improve the quality of life for people in the Tenderloin. Thank you as always for your belief in TNDC.

Sincerely,

Donald S. Falk
Executive Director