Author: veritasinv
S.F. Apartment Association Honors Veritas’ Ebe Kiis As Customer Service Pro of the Year
Other Veritas Nominees for SFAA Service Awards Included Danilo Arevalo, Brandon Delgado, Patric Dunbar, Lisa Flores and Tess Holestein-Hall
Revitalizing San Francisco Housing Stock Back to Habitability
Veritas Helps Fund New Mobile Health Clinic
An innovative mobile health clinic designed to serve at-risk San Franciscans made its debut December 3, funded in part by grants from several San Francisco organizations including Veritas Investments.
The community celebration included officials from the Mayor’s Office, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Veritas’ CEO Yat-Pang Au and COO Jeff Jerden, plus a cadre of Veritas team members. Building from iconic roots as the “Haight Ashbury Free Clinic”, HealthRight 360 unveiled a new mobile medical van that extends the non-profit’s innovative, community-based healthcare that integrates medical, mental health, and substance use treatment for at-risk San Franciscans.
With a distinctive tie-dye exterior paint scheme created in part by Veritas’ graphic design team, the mobile clinic has two complete exam rooms, a waiting area, a bathroom, refrigerator, and an elevator wheelchair lift. Already operating in the Tenderloin neighborhood, the van will expand its schedule over time to include the Haight Ashbury and other areas of great need across San Francisco.
“As a San Francisco company, it’s a privilege to give back to our community and support HealthRight 360’s innovative new mobile healthcare clinic on wheels,” said Yat-Pang Au, CEO of Veritas, San Francisco’s premier provider of rental housing. “This clinic is providing essential services to more vulnerable San Franciscans experiencing homelessness and addiction.”
Giving Tuesday was an auspicious day to unveil the van, Au noted.
Other sponsors of the mobile clinic include Sutter Health’s California Pacific Medical Center and Wells Fargo Bank.
“These are challenging times in healthcare, especially for the vulnerable populations we serve. Being able to provide Mobile Healthcare Services is a huge step forward,” said Vitka Eisen, HealthRight 360’s CEO. “Over the years, our clients have gotten sicker, they have many more complex health challenges, more co-occurring mental health conditions and fewer resources.”
Eisen knows the importance of community access from first-hand experience: She is a recovering heroin addict who was successfully treated at Walden House, which, along with the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, merged to form the nonprofit HealthRight 360 in 2011. After treatment, she received her undergraduate degree at New College and then attended San Francisco State University, where she earned her master’s degree in social work. From there, she received a doctorate in education from Harvard.
Since the merger, HealthRight 360 has expanded its depth and range of services for underserved people, taking other health organizations throughout California under its wing. The group offers primary care, mental health and substance abuse services using programs sensitive to its patients’ languages, ethnicities, genders, sexual identities and cultures.
“This mobile clinic is all about meeting people where they are and bringing quality medical care directly to the people who need it most,” said San Francisco Mayor London Breed in a statement. “It’s another great example of HealthRight 360’s commitment to responding directly to the most pressing needs of San Franciscans, and demonstrates the importance of nonprofit organizations, the private sector, and government working together.”
Several speakers gave nods to the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic’s origins in the 1960s.
“This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘magic bus,’” said California Pacific CEO Warren Browner.
Mobile Health Care on Way to the City’s Most Vulnerable
Veritas Supports HealthRIGHT 360’s Innovative New Mobile Healthcare Clinic on Wheels
Transforming Neglected Housing To Address San Francisco’s Housing Crisis
Veritas Investments has led the way on improving San Francisco’s rent-controlled housing stock through series of interior, exterior, life safety and system upgrades. Buildings which commonly come into the Veritas portfolio often do so following years of disinvestment and significant deferred maintenance. One 26-year resident said things are now the best they’ve ever been!
Emerging Geary ‘Restaurant Row’ Anchors Veritas’ Curation of Thriving Retail Neighborhood
A short walk west of Union Square along Geary Street, an enclave of restaurants and retailers is creating a destination for locals and visitors alike. This emerging “restaurant row” demonstrates how the combined efforts of property owners, retailers, city officials and real estate professionals can work together to curate thriving shopping-dining-nightlife experiences that build on what San Francisco is known for — some of the greatest walking-street neighborhoods to be found anywhere.
An open letter from Yat-Pang Au, CEO & Founder of Veritas Investments
Dear San Franciscans,
When I moved to San Francisco from the South Bay, I loved the unique mix of people, cultures, tastes, and backgrounds in the city. I took a particular interest in the neighborhoods and buildings that brought everyone together, which prompted me to launch Veritas with the purchase of a six-unit apartment building in the Mission District. I lived in that building and the diversity among my neighbors was what first drew me to the city.
Veritas was founded on the philosophy that we would always put our residents first, and today that’s more important than ever. That’s why along the way we launched our Residents First initiative, or as we call it, R1. To meet our residents’ needs we hold ourselves to the highest standard of customer service and are committed to building trust, respect, and transparency. It’s what sets us apart from other apartment operators and it permeates every aspect of our business – from how we interact with people on a day-to-day basis to the way in which we support our communities.
Now entering our twelfth year, Veritas is committed to providing great places to live for San Franciscans, with apartment buildings in neighborhoods across the city. We are proud of our track record in providing the utmost care to our valued residents, to the homes in which they live, and to the buildings themselves. These buildings, which reflect the great diversity and character of the city we all love, range in size from four units to over 100, and we’ve restored many that are over a century old.
This is how we’re working to put residents first:
1.
Our First-In-Nation Ombudsperson:
We want our residents to know they have deeply knowledgeable resources beyond just our management team available to help navigate challenges. That’s why we engaged Debra Walker, a long-time San Francisco tenant advocate, to be the apartment industry’s first resident ombudsperson. Her sole focus is to identify, raise and resolve resident issues and we’re pleased to offer this service as we further strengthen our commitment to putting residents first.
2.
We Preserve Affordability:
Veritas residents benefit from deep affordability, with an average rent that is close to 40 percent below market. We also recognize the burden that operating and maintenance passthrough costs can impose on our residents in an incredibly competitive housing market. Unlike other operators, we are the only one to publicly commit to no longer pursue these.
3.
Keeping Residents in Their Homes:
We are proud to support long-term housing with our resident base having an average tenure of 10 years. To further this, we focus on resolving resident challenges early-on, resulting in one of the lowest eviction rates in San Francisco at less than one quarter of one percent, well below the city’s average.
4.
We Give Back:
We’re honored to lead among real estate operators in joining the Pledge 1% campaign, and are committed to giving back our time and resources to the San Francisco Bay Area. As part of our Pledge 1% investment, Veritas’ employees will volunteer over 3,000 hours in the coming year to support causes and non-profits in the Bay Area and beyond. Recently, we officially launched our social impact initiative, Veritas Spark. As part of the launch, Veritas’ employees volunteered over 500 employee hours and collected more than 3,500 gallons of trash while working to clean up the Mission District.
5.
Helping Our Most Vulnerable:
Through our recently launched voluntary hardship waiver program, we have immediately waived charges resulting from capital improvements for Veritas residents with a particular hardship or situation that makes such increases difficult or impossible to absorb. These improvements keep our buildings safe and up to code, and include seismic retrofitting and the installation of updated fire safety systems. We will continue to partner with the city and our community to advance innovative programs that work to better house San Franciscans.
We stand by our Veritas values, and are proud to provide high-quality, rent-controlled homes for thousands of residents in this great city. And in turn, we want to thank the thousands of Veritas residents who have expressed their appreciation for the care we provide every day.
Sincerely,
Yat-Pang Au
CEO
Sparking Positive Change in Our Communities, Veritas Joins Pledge 1% Philanthropy Effort
Veritas has always called the San Francisco Bay Area home even as we’ve grown into new markets. We put down roots here in 2007 and have been fortunate to live and work in this colorful, vibrant, and diverse community. Living in such an inspiring place fuels our desire to be a great neighbor – and affirms our long-standing commitment to making the areas we live, work, and play better and stronger.
