Latest / ChangeMakers with Katie Goar / Episode 151: Sarah Buchanan, Executive Vice President, San Diego Housing Federation

Transcript

Episode 151: Sarah Buchanan, Executive Vice President, San Diego Housing Federation · ChangeMakers with Katie Goar

0:05
Speaker 1: This is change Makers with Katie Gore finding the right
0:09
Speaker 1: solutions for the affordable housing community.
0:13
Speaker 2: My guest today is Sarah Buchanon, the executive vice president
0:17
Speaker 2: of the San Diego Housing Federation. Sarah is a nationally
0:21
Speaker 2: recognized nonprofit leader advancing housing across the region. Sarah understands
0:26
Speaker 2: that solving housing challenges require more than building homes, and
0:31
Speaker 2: at a time when communities are searching for solutions, Sarah
0:34
Speaker 2: is bringing them. She has emerged as a leader who
0:38
Speaker 2: brings people together and keeps the focus on the human
0:41
Speaker 2: impact behind the work. So with that, Sarah, welcome to
0:45
Speaker 2: Change Makers.
0:47
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Katie, pleasure to be here today.
0:49
Speaker 3: Thank you.
0:50
Speaker 2: It's an honor to have you here, and I can't
0:52
Speaker 2: wait to dive deep into what you're doing. And before
0:55
Speaker 2: we jump in, though, I think it is great to
0:58
Speaker 2: see you. We connected at the Women's Affordable Housing Network
1:01
Speaker 2: conference actually in San Diego. So shout out to ONE
1:06
Speaker 2: and Ashley for everything they're doing. This is a great
1:09
Speaker 2: by product of being together in the same place with
1:13
Speaker 2: sort of the same mission, isn't it.
1:16
Speaker 3: Yes, of course, I Love One has been such a
1:19
Speaker 3: great and important program and group to support, not only
1:23
Speaker 3: affordable housing, but women's impact and our networking and how
1:27
Speaker 3: we work together, and it's really been so strong in
1:30
Speaker 3: how it's brought people together and uplifted our voices.
1:34
Speaker 2: When did you first start participating in one?
1:37
Speaker 3: I actually met Ashley back when she very first started
1:41
Speaker 3: about four years ago at AHF Live, which is Affordable
1:46
Speaker 3: Housing Finance Live. It's a conference that happens in Chicago, Illinois,
1:52
Speaker 3: every fall. She had a table and was doing he
1:56
Speaker 3: headshots for everybody at the exhibit booth, and I thought,
2:00
Speaker 3: this is such an amazing opportunity to not only network,
2:04
Speaker 3: learn more about what they're doing, but also obviously you
2:07
Speaker 3: get a good picture out of it. So it was
2:09
Speaker 3: a no brainer to meet with them and then to
2:12
Speaker 3: learn what they're doing, and from there I've just been
2:14
Speaker 3: able to be more in contact throughout the years.
2:17
Speaker 2: One of the biggest takeaways from that particular event was
2:20
Speaker 2: actually hearing their keynote speaker who had written a book,
2:24
Speaker 2: and that was such a moment of inspiration. And what
2:29
Speaker 2: was there a specific takeaway moment that you had.
2:32
Speaker 3: Ooh, I had quite a lot of takeaway moments. Frankly,
2:36
Speaker 3: one of the things that I really really loved was
2:39
Speaker 3: how they emphasized not only the education and understanding, but
2:44
Speaker 3: how important it is to take care of yourself in
2:47
Speaker 3: this work and manage how you feel, as well as
2:51
Speaker 3: the compassion fatigue that comes through a lot of the
2:53
Speaker 3: work that we do, and the empathy that happened. So
2:56
Speaker 3: I felt like that group really takes a great understanding
3:00
Speaker 3: of how we need to take care of ourselves as
3:03
Speaker 3: well as how we take care of the community.
3:06
Speaker 2: I completely agree. So let's talk about you now. Tell
3:11
Speaker 2: us a little bit about your on ramp to housing.
3:14
Speaker 2: How did you get started, How did you start in
3:17
Speaker 2: this field? Just share with us a little bit about
3:21
Speaker 2: your career progression.
3:24
Speaker 3: Thank you, that's a great question. My background is actually
3:27
Speaker 3: not housing at all. So I fell into affordable housing
3:30
Speaker 3: about eleven years ago. I was working as a corporate
3:34
Speaker 3: event planner, so a lot of my clients were organizations
3:36
Speaker 3: like Baxter Healthcare, abb At Healthcare, Starbucks. We would do
3:41
Speaker 3: these large city wide buyouts and lots of opportunities for
3:45
Speaker 3: people to have meetings with one another as well as conventions.
3:49
Speaker 3: And I moved to San Diego in twenty fifteen and
3:54
Speaker 3: wanted to I didn't know anybody, and I really wanted
3:56
Speaker 3: to get connected into both San Diego region as well
4:00
Speaker 3: as the nonprofit space. My heart's always been in the
4:03
Speaker 3: nonprofit space, and I happened to find the San Diego
4:07
Speaker 3: Housing Federation was applying or was offering a job for
4:10
Speaker 3: membership and Events director, and this was a no brainer
4:14
Speaker 3: for me. I know how to do that, I would
4:16
Speaker 3: be great at it. Plus it's in the nonprofit space.
4:19
Speaker 3: So I was luckily hired and learned on the fly
4:23
Speaker 3: everything I know. So I had a great mentor and
4:26
Speaker 3: boss in Stephen Russell, who is the CEO and president
4:29
Speaker 3: of San Diego Housing Federation. Still he's been there also
4:32
Speaker 3: as long as I have, so eleven years almost. He's
4:36
Speaker 3: really taught me not only how to stay connected into
4:39
Speaker 3: housing and grow my network with housing, but also in
4:42
Speaker 3: San Diego. He's been in this community for over forty
4:46
Speaker 3: plus years and really understands not only the civic side
4:50
Speaker 3: as well as the nonprofit side. So I was very,
4:52
Speaker 3: very lucky that I fell into this work and from
4:56
Speaker 3: there all the trainings and growth that I've had has
4:59
Speaker 3: really been successful teaching me how to be a better
5:01
Speaker 3: advocate in housing.
5:04
Speaker 2: San Diego is one of the fastest growing markets I mean,
5:07
Speaker 2: it's gone through this period of being very affordable, but
5:10
Speaker 2: now it's very expensive, much like other cities right now.
5:14
Speaker 2: San Diego is an amazing city. I'm such a fan
5:17
Speaker 2: of San Diego. But tell us a little bit on
5:20
Speaker 2: the ground from your perspective, what's happening in this affordable
5:24
Speaker 2: housing market and in this sector just generally, and then
5:29
Speaker 2: we'll dive deep into what your particular organization is doing.
5:35
Speaker 3: Yes, thank you, so in San Diego. San Diego is
5:38
Speaker 3: not only an expensive place to live and work, but
5:41
Speaker 3: it's also an expensive place to thrive. We work with
5:44
Speaker 3: a lot of partners here in San Diego, not only
5:46
Speaker 3: a California Housing Partnership, but also two on one and
5:50
Speaker 3: a myriad of other partners to actually do a lot
5:52
Speaker 3: of data mining and research about what's happening here. We
5:56
Speaker 3: recently released a report with CHP that's about the cost
6:00
Speaker 3: of living and really the underscores that folks have to
6:04
Speaker 3: make fifty dollars an hour in order to afford to
6:07
Speaker 3: have a two bedroom apartment here in San Diego, which
6:10
Speaker 3: we think is astronomical. Most people aren't making anywhere near that,
6:14
Speaker 3: and so we see that there's not only this issue
6:18
Speaker 3: of affordability, but there's also an issue of just units
6:21
Speaker 3: not online right now in San Diego, where about one
6:24
Speaker 3: hundred thousand units underdeveloped for naturally occurring affordable housing, and
6:30
Speaker 3: which is different than the tax credit affordable housing which
6:33
Speaker 3: we can get into. So naturally naturally occurring affordable housing
6:38
Speaker 3: or NOAH as we call it, is really that type
6:41
Speaker 3: of affordable housing that you and I can afford that's
6:44
Speaker 3: generally on the market where folks can that they don't
6:48
Speaker 3: need any extra things to apply. They can be anybody
6:51
Speaker 3: can apply for that, whereas tax credit affordable there's a
6:53
Speaker 3: little bit of extra hoops that you have to jump through.
6:55
Speaker 3: So we've seen a lot of those properties be redeveloped
6:59
Speaker 3: in to more of a higher market rate non affordable housing.
7:05
Speaker 2: Mentioning the fifty dollars an hour really gives us context
7:08
Speaker 2: as far as what people need to be able to
7:10
Speaker 2: do to navigate some of these rents. So that's very
7:13
Speaker 2: very helpful. Tell us a little more about exactly what
7:17
Speaker 2: San Diego Housing Federation, what do you guys do? You
7:20
Speaker 2: mentioned a few of your goals and units that need
7:23
Speaker 2: or needed, but go ahead and start us from the
7:26
Speaker 2: top here and just tell us more about what you're
7:28
Speaker 2: doing in your day jobs.
7:29
Speaker 3: So this week wonderful. Yes. So the San Dieo Housing
7:33
Speaker 3: Federation has been around for thirty six years. We originally
7:36
Speaker 3: started because different cities we're doing in municipalities, we're doing
7:42
Speaker 3: housing work, but didn't have anyone to share the best practices,
7:46
Speaker 3: ask questions, and so we were formed by folks that
7:49
Speaker 3: were doing that hard work who really wanted to create
7:51
Speaker 3: that network of support, that peer to peer understanding, and
7:55
Speaker 3: from there we've grown into not only an organization that
7:58
Speaker 3: does policy and advocacy, we work with legislature as well.
8:03
Speaker 3: We also do education for folks in the affordable housing
8:06
Speaker 3: sector as well as folks that want to become people
8:09
Speaker 3: who are working in the affordable housing sector. So a
8:12
Speaker 3: lot of our programs focus on folks with lived experience
8:15
Speaker 3: of either homelessness or living in affordable housing and do
8:18
Speaker 3: advocacy and training, storytelling, and also teach them how to
8:22
Speaker 3: speak to elected officials and their staff regarding policy and
8:26
Speaker 3: actually work on real policy solutions. We also have some
8:30
Speaker 3: programs that focus on getting people jobs. That is a
8:33
Speaker 3: big part of the work that we do. We want
8:35
Speaker 3: to make sure that not only is our sector thriving,
8:37
Speaker 3: but San Diego is thriving, and you can't do that
8:40
Speaker 3: if you don't provide any support for that. So we're very,
8:43
Speaker 3: very lucky that we have a community college district here
8:47
Speaker 3: who supports a sixteen week education program for folks to
8:51
Speaker 3: become property managers of affordable housing, which is a very
8:55
Speaker 3: specific subsect of property managers. You have to not only
9:03
Speaker 3: understand how it all works in the tax credit field,
9:05
Speaker 3: you have to have people reapply every year and reconfirm
9:09
Speaker 3: their items in order to actually stay in housing. So
9:13
Speaker 3: there's a lot of different things that they have to learn.
9:16
Speaker 3: And then we also work with folks who are doing
9:18
Speaker 3: the services, so resident services as well as supportive housing
9:21
Speaker 3: services and asset management. We help them stay connected as
9:25
Speaker 3: well as continue to learn as they're growing into their career.
9:30
Speaker 3: Property excuse me, project managers as well or as a
9:33
Speaker 3: big part of the work that we do, and full
9:35
Speaker 3: developers and construction folks. So we touch every aspect of
9:40
Speaker 3: the housing world, not only in the education space, but
9:43
Speaker 3: as well as the advocacy space and the actual development.
9:47
Speaker 3: I'm very blessed to also get to meet with a
9:50
Speaker 3: lot of our members throughout the year and connect on
9:53
Speaker 3: what they're working on and really get to elevate the
9:55
Speaker 3: work that they're doing. And I've been excited for some
9:59
Speaker 3: of these new times apologies that are coming online, and
10:02
Speaker 3: also the ideas and how people are working together to
10:05
Speaker 3: create actual, real solutions.
10:08
Speaker 2: That's a very large scope that you guys are trying
10:11
Speaker 2: to tackle there in a very difficult market, so much
10:15
Speaker 2: needed work. Is there something specific that you just absolutely
10:19
Speaker 2: love the project you just did, anything you want to
10:23
Speaker 2: brag on. I'm sure you have a lot that you
10:25
Speaker 2: want to highlight, but I'm thinking some specific project or
10:29
Speaker 2: initiative or a before and after story that you can
10:33
Speaker 2: share with us.
10:35
Speaker 3: I have quite a few. I probably have so many
10:38
Speaker 3: back in here that I could pull out at some time.
10:40
Speaker 3: But one thing that I'm especially proud of is our
10:43
Speaker 3: coalition building. Especially over this last year and a half.
10:46
Speaker 3: There's been a lot of changes in policy on the
10:49
Speaker 3: federal level as well as the state and local level
10:51
Speaker 3: that are coming down the pipeline, and so a lot
10:54
Speaker 3: of us have understood that we are only as good
10:57
Speaker 3: as we are collectively, so how do we bring people together?
11:00
Speaker 3: So last year, with all of the changes federally, we
11:04
Speaker 3: created a basic needs Coalition. This group is about forty
11:08
Speaker 3: or so different organizations around San Diego County and we
11:12
Speaker 3: celebrate and support the advocacy and education and outreach about
11:17
Speaker 3: five different pillars. Housing is number one obviously for us, homelessness, hunger, healthcare,
11:24
Speaker 3: and childcare. So we believe that in order to actually
11:28
Speaker 3: be a thriving community, all five of those things need
11:31
Speaker 3: to be addressed or folks, we can't have somebody not
11:36
Speaker 3: having the healthcare or not having food and still have
11:41
Speaker 3: a house, and vice versa. You can't support somebody with
11:44
Speaker 3: healthcare if they don't have a safe place to lay
11:46
Speaker 3: their head at night. So we believe it's all connected,
11:50
Speaker 3: and so we actively work together on different policy initiatives,
11:54
Speaker 3: legislature and press events. And earlier in May we had
11:58
Speaker 3: a large press event where all of our collaborators and
12:02
Speaker 3: coldistion numbers came together and we were able to talk
12:06
Speaker 3: about all of these issues as well as the fifty
12:08
Speaker 3: dollars an hour issue that we believe is so important
12:12
Speaker 3: to talk about. And we were able to have folks
12:14
Speaker 3: from our Heel program, which is a lived experience program
12:17
Speaker 3: for folks with homelessness experience, so it's called Homelessness experience, homelessness, experience,
12:23
Speaker 3: advocacy and leadership, and so we had a few of
12:25
Speaker 3: our folks from that program speak about their specific lived
12:28
Speaker 3: experience and relation to these basic needs challenges. It was
12:33
Speaker 3: a really, really beautiful event.
12:36
Speaker 2: I'm just thinking, you go through and you build more housing,
12:40
Speaker 2: and you preserve housing, you help people out of homelessness
12:45
Speaker 2: to find a house, but then there are more people
12:48
Speaker 2: coming into homelessness, so it's like the cycle that just
12:53
Speaker 2: keeps having so you can't always rely on the numbers.
12:57
Speaker 2: Is there a way that you guys pitch this to
13:00
Speaker 2: show progress that you're finding is the most effective way.
13:05
Speaker 3: Yeah. We actually do talk about progress a lot. So
13:07
Speaker 3: we actually found that this year the rents are actually
13:10
Speaker 3: going down in San Diego, So even though it's still
13:13
Speaker 3: costing fifty dollars an hour to have a house, in general,
13:17
Speaker 3: the rents are lowering and it's a slow decline, so
13:21
Speaker 3: we see that'll probably happen over the next couple of years.
13:24
Speaker 3: We also work with the Regional Task Force on the
13:26
Speaker 3: Homeless here in San Diego on a daily basis to
13:29
Speaker 3: talk about what's happening for the homelessness population. And we've
13:34
Speaker 3: also seen this most recent point in time count that
13:38
Speaker 3: there's been a decline of folks that have been in
13:41
Speaker 3: that space this last year, so that's always a good
13:43
Speaker 3: sign for us. While that does feedback into the HUD
13:47
Speaker 3: system of how much money the region gets for housing
13:49
Speaker 3: and homelessness, it is a good sign to see that
13:52
Speaker 3: there are less people that are unhoused, there are less
13:55
Speaker 3: people who are on the street in need of services,
13:59
Speaker 3: and really great to see how things are changing in
14:02
Speaker 3: that way. We're also really really lucky to be partnering
14:05
Speaker 3: with an organization two one one, who is the group
14:09
Speaker 3: that receives a lot of these phone calls. So when
14:11
Speaker 3: people are in need, they call to you on one
14:14
Speaker 3: and then they're able to be directed through their CIE system,
14:17
Speaker 3: which is their continuum of care and basically find what
14:20
Speaker 3: services they might need. And so as a community, we've
14:24
Speaker 3: worked really really well together to actually figure out how
14:27
Speaker 3: to support one another and make these systems a little
14:30
Speaker 3: bit easier. There's still work to do, obviously, but there's
14:34
Speaker 3: a lot of opportunity and a lot of really great
14:37
Speaker 3: growth that's happened in this last year.
14:40
Speaker 2: When you talk to somebody who's not familiar with your industry,
14:44
Speaker 2: you know or you explain your job to your parents,
14:47
Speaker 2: so to speak. What is it you find that prizes
14:52
Speaker 2: somebody because you know, you're talking about technical pieces, regulation,
14:57
Speaker 2: you're talking about homelessness, all of these different things. Is
15:01
Speaker 2: there something that when you are conveying this to your
15:04
Speaker 2: community that people are shocked by something you say? Would
15:10
Speaker 2: you share that with us if there is something?
15:13
Speaker 3: There's a few things. I'm very lucky. I have three
15:16
Speaker 3: young nephews that are under eighteen right now, and they're
15:19
Speaker 3: all really interested in understanding what I do. So they
15:21
Speaker 3: asked me a lot of questions, and one of them
15:24
Speaker 3: recently read one of the reports that we put together
15:28
Speaker 3: on his own and called me up and said, I'm
15:30
Speaker 3: so proud of this work that you're doing. Tell me
15:33
Speaker 3: more about this. And so there's been a lot of
15:35
Speaker 3: opportunity to really teach and grow not only the folks
15:38
Speaker 3: that are coming into the world, but also the folks
15:41
Speaker 3: that have already been here for a while. And one
15:43
Speaker 3: of the things that's a shocking thing for a lot
15:45
Speaker 3: of people is that we're not talking about housing people
15:50
Speaker 3: at the lowest level necessarily all the time for income.
15:53
Speaker 3: We're talking about everybody. We need housing for teachers. We
15:58
Speaker 3: need housing for veterans, we need housing for you and me,
16:01
Speaker 3: And there's so many people that fit into that area
16:05
Speaker 3: that ami space that could be considered somebody who could
16:09
Speaker 3: actually live in these affordable units, and they don't know
16:12
Speaker 3: that they can, that they actually are part of that demographic,
16:16
Speaker 3: and so that's also a big part. We also talk
16:19
Speaker 3: a lot about the lack of what's being built and
16:24
Speaker 3: where the number is that that distinction, and that I
16:28
Speaker 3: think is probably the biggest shocker for a lot of
16:30
Speaker 3: people that there's been not only a lack of redevelopment
16:35
Speaker 3: for a lot of these properties, but there's been a
16:37
Speaker 3: lot of these properties that have come offline and gone
16:40
Speaker 3: into traditional market rate and luxury housing sometimes and so
16:44
Speaker 3: we've lost a lot of units and we just aren't
16:46
Speaker 3: able to get to where we need to be. Yet
16:49
Speaker 3: we haven't gotten there, and so really it's about money
16:53
Speaker 3: and then also the capital stacks. That's always a big conversation.
16:57
Speaker 3: People don't understand how to pencil a project, understand how
17:00
Speaker 3: many layers it takes to actually develop something that's not
17:04
Speaker 3: only approved through all of your funders, but also good
17:07
Speaker 3: for the city or community that it's going to be
17:09
Speaker 3: and there's a lot of work that goes into actually
17:12
Speaker 3: making a project happen, and sometimes those can be ten years,
17:16
Speaker 3: sometimes twenty five years. So, you know, it's.
17:21
Speaker 2: Interesting when you think about housing. A lot of people
17:24
Speaker 2: think it's like a person type of a social work job,
17:28
Speaker 2: but then when you break apart, there is a component
17:31
Speaker 2: of that. But then you're also like, like you said,
17:33
Speaker 2: the capital stack, and then you've got zoning rules and
17:36
Speaker 2: financing structures and policy debates, and then all of a
17:41
Speaker 2: sudden you find yourself watching the federal regulations or you know,
17:45
Speaker 2: the draft bills, and you're like, wait, I thought I
17:48
Speaker 2: was in housing and realize there was a policy for
17:51
Speaker 2: a banker when it comes to it, and there's the
17:54
Speaker 2: constant tension between compliance and compassion. How you want to
17:59
Speaker 2: provide pro Is there a particular leadership mantra that you
18:05
Speaker 2: resort to to keep all of those buckets in check
18:09
Speaker 2: but still pay attention to the human impact. Is there
18:13
Speaker 2: some guidelines that you operate by that helps you do
18:16
Speaker 2: all that.
18:18
Speaker 3: That's a great question, and I have to admit probably not.
18:22
Speaker 3: I think for me, I tend to really understand that
18:28
Speaker 3: we need to be working collectively and so the more
18:31
Speaker 3: that I understand what my staff and team are working on,
18:34
Speaker 3: and the more that they understand the vision and why
18:36
Speaker 3: we're doing something we're doing, I think the more connected
18:39
Speaker 3: we really feel and we're cohesive, we are together working.
18:44
Speaker 3: So I do everything in my power to really empower
18:47
Speaker 3: the team and let them ask questions and have ideas.
18:53
Speaker 3: I believe that no idea is a bad idea, and
18:56
Speaker 3: we should try why not. Why not let's try something flexible,
19:00
Speaker 3: let's figure out a new resource. And I love when
19:04
Speaker 3: people have ideas and come to me with, Hey, I
19:06
Speaker 3: have this great idea, or I have this idea I'm
19:08
Speaker 3: not so sure about, and i'd love your feedback. I
19:11
Speaker 3: want to see that I want to receive those ideas
19:14
Speaker 3: and give some faith to someone else to be able
19:18
Speaker 3: to actually move forward with it. I think that's the
19:20
Speaker 3: most important part of being a good leader for me.
19:24
Speaker 2: It's interesting when you talk to a lot of people
19:26
Speaker 2: who are in this industry, we all would agree that
19:30
Speaker 2: there's something about housers that go, let's figure it out.
19:34
Speaker 2: Everything's figure out a mole, or you know, like this
19:38
Speaker 2: eternal optimism that makes absolutely no sense. Or we also
19:44
Speaker 2: have this like I know this still's crazy, but let's
19:47
Speaker 2: do it. And you know, like we're like the oddest
19:49
Speaker 2: group of professionals any anything that you actually are like,
19:54
Speaker 2: oh yeah, we kind of do that to any of
19:56
Speaker 2: that resonating.
19:58
Speaker 3: One hundred percent. I am definitely that person that is like,
20:02
Speaker 3: this is a crazy idea, but we're going to figure
20:04
Speaker 3: out how to do it. And you know, it might
20:06
Speaker 3: take me a little bit of time, but I like this,
20:08
Speaker 3: Let's go for it. We've been talking to our regional
20:12
Speaker 3: partners and state partners and about one thing in particular
20:16
Speaker 3: that I think would be a really really important and
20:19
Speaker 3: valuable thing if we could make it happen. And it's
20:21
Speaker 3: been in my brain for about a year now a
20:24
Speaker 3: little over, and so we're starting that process of how
20:27
Speaker 3: can we actually make this work? And it would really
20:29
Speaker 3: be this database that is a living, breathing database that
20:33
Speaker 3: not only shows all of the available units, but also
20:38
Speaker 3: has one stop shop. So someone who's looking for housing,
20:42
Speaker 3: or maybe it's somebody who works for a service provider
20:47
Speaker 3: who's working in that space that's looking for housing for
20:49
Speaker 3: their folks and they want to be able to get
20:53
Speaker 3: to it easy, one place where application can go to
20:56
Speaker 3: multiple places where people can pick and choose their area.
21:00
Speaker 3: That is my ultimate dream, and we've been working on
21:02
Speaker 3: that with the cities municipalities. It's a little tricky because
21:06
Speaker 3: a lot of developers have you know, they don't necessarily
21:09
Speaker 3: want to share all that stuff outworthly, and so really
21:13
Speaker 3: getting people to buy it into the conversation is part
21:16
Speaker 3: of what we're still working on right now. But we
21:18
Speaker 3: do have a lot of great groups that are already
21:21
Speaker 3: saying yes to this. I'm very, very excited about what
21:25
Speaker 3: could be and so again I'm always on board for
21:28
Speaker 3: that's a crazy idea. Let's see if we can do it.
21:31
Speaker 2: I love that. So how does this idea that you
21:34
Speaker 2: are birthing and testing them where you want to get to?
21:38
Speaker 2: How is technology playing a piece of How do you
21:40
Speaker 2: think maybe that'll happen?
21:43
Speaker 3: Great question. So our partners at two one one have
21:46
Speaker 3: the infrastructure already, it's part of their system of care already,
21:52
Speaker 3: and they have offered to be the place where everything
21:55
Speaker 3: lives as a database. They already have all this systematic
21:58
Speaker 3: stuff put in place for the last twenty years and
22:02
Speaker 3: really just to build upon it, they along with the municipalities,
22:06
Speaker 3: have agreed that there would be some resource sharing and
22:09
Speaker 3: a lot of content sharing. But we're still working on
22:11
Speaker 3: getting property management organizations and developers on board for it.
22:14
Speaker 3: But really that infrastructure, not only the phone called database,
22:18
Speaker 3: but as well as the actual operations database and the
22:22
Speaker 3: CIE that they have to actually help people get through
22:24
Speaker 3: the system. It's all already created and all we would
22:27
Speaker 3: have to do is have this additional layer.
22:29
Speaker 2: Okay, well, I've been asking a lot of questions of you,
22:34
Speaker 2: so hippery you with questions. I think we could out
22:38
Speaker 2: for five hours over coffee here. When you love housing,
22:41
Speaker 2: you just you want to learn more, you want to
22:44
Speaker 2: do better, and I appreciate that about our industry. Is
22:47
Speaker 2: there something specific that you would like to highlight maybe
22:50
Speaker 2: that we haven't covered though, for.
22:52
Speaker 3: Me, one of the most important parts of this sector
22:55
Speaker 3: is really how we show up for one another and
22:57
Speaker 3: how we ask questions, and we all kind of to
23:00
Speaker 3: your point, all want to learn more and grow. I
23:03
Speaker 3: don't see anyone in the sector who feels like they're resting.
23:07
Speaker 3: I don't see anybody who's just there doing the day
23:11
Speaker 3: to day job, just getting through it. Everybody has a
23:14
Speaker 3: passion and that is what drives me. The passion of
23:17
Speaker 3: the community, the people that really want to do good
23:21
Speaker 3: for each other and for the full community as a whole.
23:25
Speaker 3: That is something that is a personal passion of mine.
23:27
Speaker 3: I like to develop that as well in people. So
23:31
Speaker 3: I really really love that about our sector. As well
23:34
Speaker 3: as the continued education. There's always an opportunity to learn
23:37
Speaker 3: and grow and find somebody who's a mentor or be
23:40
Speaker 3: a mentor for someone.
23:43
Speaker 4: You know.
23:43
Speaker 2: I've been posting lately on LinkedIn and using the phrase
23:46
Speaker 2: keep going, because sometimes you just have to have somebody
23:50
Speaker 2: tell you.
23:52
Speaker 4: Just keep going, like it's too early, don't give up,
23:56
Speaker 4: just keep doing the work we're doing, because we also
23:59
Speaker 4: need to be reminded that this is hard, and we
24:02
Speaker 4: have to be encouraged to just you know, make sure
24:06
Speaker 4: that we are digging into the passion. But we're also
24:10
Speaker 4: preserving ourselves in a way that we are able to
24:13
Speaker 4: show up and continue this work. So it's perfect timing
24:18
Speaker 4: for so many of us. You've been doing this for
24:20
Speaker 4: a while, So great words of advice that you just
24:25
Speaker 4: mentioned there.
24:26
Speaker 3: Thank you. I think when to your point too, we
24:29
Speaker 3: need to take care of ourselves, and so not only
24:32
Speaker 3: you know, we talk a lot about self care here
24:35
Speaker 3: in San Diego, but a lot of that really is
24:38
Speaker 3: the understanding of where you are, fully understanding that self
24:43
Speaker 3: awareness of how do I feel in this moment, how
24:45
Speaker 3: does my body feel in this moment? Do I feel safe?
24:49
Speaker 3: Do I feel empowered? Or is there something that's pushing
24:52
Speaker 3: me away? So we check in a lot and a
24:55
Speaker 3: lot of the programs that we do have people with
24:58
Speaker 3: lived experience in them, so there's secondary trauma that could happen,
25:02
Speaker 3: or the additional trauma, or so we have to be
25:05
Speaker 3: really thoughtful about how we interact and what things we
25:08
Speaker 3: say and what we bring up and the way we
25:11
Speaker 3: bring things up, and really understanding that we could have
25:14
Speaker 3: compassion fatigue as people who are doing this work, and
25:17
Speaker 3: so to take care of yourselves as the person doing
25:21
Speaker 3: the work, give yourself those strong boundaries of I need
25:24
Speaker 3: to be off work by six pm so I can
25:27
Speaker 3: have a life where I need to have a separate
25:31
Speaker 3: cell phone for work or whatever those things are that
25:33
Speaker 3: really offer you that balance. You know, we say work
25:36
Speaker 3: life balance, but really it's hard sometimes because this is
25:39
Speaker 3: part of your life. You're trying to be passionate about it.
25:43
Speaker 3: Maybe not trying, but you are passionate about this work.
25:45
Speaker 3: And so sometimes it doesn't turn off, but we want
25:49
Speaker 3: people to let those things leave their bodies for a
25:52
Speaker 3: little while so they can actually replenish themselves.
25:56
Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's a great reminder, and I think it's you know,
26:00
Speaker 2: when you're in an industry that you're so missioned, reven
26:04
Speaker 2: they do talk about that compassion fatigue. So thank you
26:08
Speaker 2: for reminding us to take a pause and pay attention
26:11
Speaker 2: to our own energy preservation for the long term. So, Sarah,
26:16
Speaker 2: it has been an absolute honor to have you on
26:18
Speaker 2: the podcast. You've given us lots of things to jut
26:22
Speaker 2: down and remember, and you've shared what you're doing as
26:26
Speaker 2: the executive vice president of the San Diego Housing Federation.
26:30
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Sarah.
26:31
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me today. It's been
26:33
Speaker 3: such a pleasure. I look forward to seeing you again.
26:36
Speaker 1: Sue, thanks for listening to Change Makers with Katie Gore.
26:40
Speaker 1: To find out more about Katie, go to quad L
26:43
Speaker 1: dot com. That's Quad e L dot com. This has
26:48
Speaker 1: been a production of Forbes Books Radio