Latest On HYA's Eviction

Latest On HYA's Eviction
Amy Stephenson
Published on December 31, 2013
If you signed the petition to keep HYA in its current space, you probably saw a response from Dr. David Smith, building owner and supervisor. If you didn't sign it, here's what it said.

The following letter was sent out to those who signed the petition through moveon.org. Here's the text in full:
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: MoveOn.org <[email protected]> Date: Tue, Dec 24, 2013 at 2:04 PM Subject: A response to the petition you signed, Stop the closing of Homeless Youth Alliance (HYA) We received the following statement from Dr. David Smith, Supervisor and Building owner in response to the petition " Stop the closing of Homeless Youth Alliance (HYA)" (http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-the-closing-of-homeless), which you signed. We thought you'd like to see it. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Happening House Ventures, the owner of 1692 Haight Street, has supported the Homeless Youth Alliance (HYA) with below market rents since 2008 after the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics, Inc. (HAFCI) abruptly terminated its relationship with HYA. Prior to that, the building was rented to HAFCI at below market rates for over 30 years. Despite pressure from our neighbors, HYA was given two lease extensions because of its important work, including a one month extension to December 31, 2013. Mary Howe’s project provides a valuable service to the City and we believe it’s the City’s responsibility to find a new location for the program, since it is the City that has passed the soft-story seismic legislation with which the owner is obliged to comply. To meet the City mandate to seismically upgrade the building, HHV has lined up financing and contractors, and construction is scheduled to start in January 2014. The City will not allow a human services project to operate in a construction site (we’ve already explored this). Please contact Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (http://assembly.ca.gov/assemblymembers, scroll down to Ammiano”), who’s expressed great support of the HYA, and urge him to continue to press the City to find a City-supported site for the program. We will continue to do what we can to support HYA and Mary Howe. We hope the concerned citizens who have signed this petition will also contribute to HYA to ensure the continuity of its program (www.homelessyouthalliance.org/donation-options.html). Any rumor that a new restaurant is going in to the space upon completion of construction is false. We have no plans and have made no commitments for that type of business to occupy the space when construction is finished. In a nutshell: The City is requiring the owner to return the upper floors to residential use, thereby increasing the City’s rent-controlled housing stock. The City requires a major soft-story seismic upgrade. The City will not allow a human services program to operate during construction. The owner has made no commitments for occupancy of the first floor post-construction. David Smith ------------------------------------------------------------------ MoveOn does not endorse petitions created on our public petition website or the contents of this message. To report abuse of the system, email us at [email protected]. MoveOn's petition website is a free service that allows anyone to set up their own online petition and share it with friends. If you have any questions, please email [email protected].
We dug around and found their permit:
Today is HYA's last day in the space.