Yesterday, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to allow the sisters of Fraternite Notre Dame to move their soup kitchen to the Mission.

Once renovations on the new space are completed, likely within the next few months, the French nuns will begin serving the homeless community at 1930 Mission St. (at 15th).

About a dozen people opposed the project at yesterday's hearing; as we reported yesterday, most of them were residents of the 15-unit residential building above the proposed location.

But there was also a sizable contingent that came out to support the nuns, who are being forced out of their space on Turk Street after a rent hike.

After the nuns spoke out about their plight last year, millionaire self-help expert Tony Robbins stepped in to get their lease extended by a year in the Tenderloin and finance their new ground-floor soup kitchen at 16th & Mission, as well as a separate space for them to live.

But residents of the upstairs building and the adjacent residential building were concerned that the soup kitchen serves a population that would attract drug use, prostitution, trash and "urine and feces" outside the building.

Some suggested that it wasn't the right place for a soup kitchen, and that moving such a service to more industrial area—or making it mobile—would be a better solution.

But supporters disagreed, claiming that the sisters' work would only improve the area.

The sisters' work is "essential" to helping solve the homeless crisis, said newly elected District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen at the hearing. "They are not making the problem worse. If anything, they are helping to prevent families at the margin from falling into homelessness."

"This project is exactly what we need at a time when we are facing the worst affordability crisis this city has ever seen," Ronen added.

Other supporters praised the nuns for their work in the Tenderloin, arguing that they transformed the neighborhood and would be a positive resource for the 1900 block of Mission Street. Some also touted the quality of their food.

Just before the vote, one commissioner called the testimony "compelling," while the commission's vice president, Dennis Richards, said the nuns do "amazing work"—and that he would like to go try their food himself.