The SF Housing Crisis: Beyond the Ballots

Nobody Can Figure Out How to Fix San Francisco's Housing Crisis

By: George McIntire
July 1, 2015

http://www.vice.com/read/nobody-can-figure-out-how-to-fix-san-franciscos-housing-crisis-111

photo courtesy of techtakeover.tumblr.com

          The tech industry is bustling in San Francisco. This kind of boom hasn't happened since the dotcom boom of the late '90s and early aughts. The current boom has brought gentrification upon the city and pushed a housing crisis to the forefront of a long list of city issues.           Renters are being evicted at crazy rates. Earlier this year, McIntire investigated the issue. He delved into the Mission housing moratorium that was proposed and then failed.  McIntire spoke with SFBARF, an organization that pushes for the building of more affordable housing. The moratorium acted as a solution at a time when the news covered few, instead choosing to focus only on the crisis.  

          Some argued that putting a pause on luxury housing would also pause all affordable housing as well. The moratorium came to be Prop I on the November ballots, and was defeated.  

         Searching for possible solutions at the time of his writing, McIntire looked to the as-yet-unnamed Prop I, and Prop A (which passed last month) and will devote 300 million to building housing units for low and middle class families.  The city may be irrevocably changed, due to the influx of wealthy techies, looking for luxury housing.

Luxury development doesn’t solve the city’s housing crisis

By: J. Scott WeaverJune 16, 2015

http://eltecolote.org/content/en/commentary/luxury-development-doesnt-solve-the-citys-housing-crisis/

photo courtesy of sanfrancisco-cbslocal.com

          El Tecolote is a local San Francisco civic media newspaper.  Weaver wrote a piece on the Mission District, where El Tecolote is located, and the moratorium placed on the housing there.
          Weaver reported on the fears the Mission residents expressed over gentrification in the area.  In 2014, Prop K was passed to ensure that some 50 percent of housing went to lower and middle income families.  At the time the piece was published, only 7 percent of housing units fell under these guidelines.
          The article states that the production of luxury housing has doubled. Solutions presented in the article focused on activists and future voter ballots.

After failed propositions, San Francisco housing crisis still festering

By: Naureen Khan
November 4, 2015

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/11/4/san-francisco-housing-crisis-vote.html

photo courtesy of sftomorrow.org

          In the aftermath of the voter polls last month, Khan examines the ever-present crisis in an article for Al Jazeera America.
          Voters rejected Prop I (Mission moratorium) and Prop F (against Airbnb taking potential long-term rentals off the market). Both of these measures would have hindered the continuous influx of the wealthy and exodus of the middle to low income citizens in SF.  Mayor Lee who supports the tech industry was reelected as well.
          According to advocacy groups, SF supports the wealthy. The propositions had two sides each, with average class supporters and wealthy corporate opponents.
         A labor economist noted that the moratorium would have damaged the economy, as Vice also reported, because rental supply would have necessarily dropped. The economist stated that location and space is the number one issue in terms of housing.

Now let's talk about the people in the houses . . .

By: Alexandra Minnick

December 11, 2015

A moment from the Occupy protests in SF, 2012. 

          San Francisco is currently in the midst of a massive housing crisis. Gentrification is the number one topic in the city. While most news outlets tend to focus on the propositions and voter opinions on the politics of the City, the deeper social context is often missed. The stories above were curated specifically because they all discussed propositions that SF residents had the chance to vote on.

In general, most of the media coverage has focused on the politics behind the madness. Leading up to the November vote, virtually all conversation centered on the propositions.

If a story is to be fair and balanced, it makes sense that I should attempt to contact as many different voices as possible. While the upper echelon of society--the politicians, techies, yuppies, etc--are much harder for me to contact, the lower echelon of society is much more accessible. Most people, when asked to comment, open up right away. They brought up power, race, ethnicity, and unsurprisingly--inequality. The same issues that people fought for during the Occupy protests are repeating themselves.

As USF is located in the Richmond District, I decided to speak with Supervisor Eric Mar. I reached out to Nick Pagoulatos, one of Mar's legislative aides. Pagoulatos, who focuses on economic development, has yet to respond. Mar's other aide, Victor Lim, recently spoke to me during a press conference for a USF journalism class in October. He said, “Obviously we recognize that gentrification is an issue.” Beyond that brief comment, Lim, who focuses on community relations, was unable to provide any concrete plans to address the housing crisis. 

 He later said,“90% of people don’t understand 90% of what happens in city hall.  But they vote for the elected Supervisors, and they expect that all the things they care deeply about and affect their lives” will be taken care of by the officials. It would seem that most people care about the gentrification happening in the city.

The housing crunch has spread to the Outer Richmond and according to reports by the SF Examiner, “City data also shows evictions for all causes have increased by 137 percent in the Outer Richmond from 2010-2014.” This includes Ellis Act evictions. A greedy capitalist mentality has seized many landlords in the city and through Ellis Act evictions, they are able to kick all of the tenants out of their buildings. Anti Eviction Project Mapping states, "Most often it is used to convert to condos or group-owned tenancy-in-common flats." The resulting new luxury homes are extremely lucrative in the skyrocketing housing market of SF.

       

Protesters gather to fight evictions in SF. (photo courtesy of the Huffington Post) 

          This is why the tenants in the Mission district backed Prop I. By stopping the rentals from being placed on the market, they hoped to save what was left of their home.  

          The average rental price, in the city is hovering just under $4,500.  The cost of living in SF is now astronomically high.

According to SF Public Press, Prop A “would create a fund with up to $310 million for helping people remain in, and move to, San Francisco if they otherwise could not afford to do so.” All of these propositions, which have been gratuitously covered by the media seem to aim to help the people of the lower to middle class. These are the people who can no longer afford to live in their city anymore.

The deeper issue--the issue no one seems to address--is that the housing crisis is a symptom of the larger issues that plague society today. The gentrification  of the city due to the influx of wealthy young adults in the tech industry is changing the culture of the city.The politics of the city support this. The authentic San Francisco is years past is apparently gone. Families that have been in the area for years can no longer afford to stay in SF.  The cost of living is simply too high.  Many parents struggle to pay their bills--making a choice to either feed their children and pay bills or pay rent.  Educators cannot pay for housing accommodations in San Francisco and now seek employment elsewhere.  The City has a homeless epidemic and racial tensions are running high.
Perhaps these issues entail more space than the typical new story allows. It might make more sense to revert back to long form journalism when addressing these issues. I think the media could do with more human interest pieces regardless. It is not as simple as blaming the techies for the problem. Landlords and even politicians like Mayor Ed Lee enable the inequality to happen. Many articles are biased against the techies, but it is a comprehensive problem. Very rarely does the news coverage on the issue offer a solution, and I don't have one either. For now, we have to rely on the goodwill of government agencies like this and non-profits stepping in to help.

With all of these propositions and laws, the Board of Supervisors is attempting put a small Band-Aid on a much larger issue.  At the press conference Lim said, “We’re doing preventative medicine.  It sets an example and you can’t put a price tag on social justice and the rule of law." It seems that SF has set a price, and people can't seem to cough up the money to pay it.