Madison Alvarado, Author at San Francisco Public Press

A man in a white shirt holding a skateboard speaks to another man on the sidewalk. In front of a colorful building nearby, a grey office chair rests next to a black trash bag and suitcase.

Resource Guide: How You Can Access Shelter in San Francisco

by Madison Alvarado September 8, 2023September 13, 2023

Accessing a shelter bed in San Francisco can be difficult. Check out our resource guide that shows pathways to shelter based on age, gender, family status and more.

In this split image, on the left is a black and white photo of a row of urban, Victorian Era homes with adjoining walls, and on the right it a color photo depicting two-story contemporary town homes with yellow and gray stucco walls, white trim and wooden doors.

City Hall, Housing, Land use, Public Housing in Private Hands

Emergency Repairs in Public Housing Complex Are Behind Schedule as Owner Advances Redevelopment Plans

by Madison Alvarado June 8, 2023June 9, 2023

One year after emergency repairs were supposed to be completed at Plaza East, 39 units are still waiting on fixes. Meanwhile, in late May, the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development gave the complex a failing score of 40 out of 100 following physical inspection.

A woman with a long black ponytail reaches up to straighten the frame of one of many black and white photographs displayed in a closely spaced array on a wall in an art gallery.

“Civic” Podcast, City Hall, Community, History, Land use, Neighborhoods, Reparations, Social Justice

SF Reparations Plan Nears Submission, but Funding Not Yet Secure

by Madison Alvarado May 26, 2023June 23, 2023

After 2½ years of meetings, community discussions, historical deep dives and policy generation, a panel tasked with proposing how San Francisco might atone for decades of discrimination against Black residents is ready to ask the city to step up and support equity rhetoric with action.

San Francisco’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee is aiming to submit its final recommendations to the city by June 30, according to Brittni Chicuata, director of economic rights at the city’s Human Rights Commission. In the meantime, the city’s annual budget process is in full swing, which may affect funding and the timeline for whatever reparations policies the board decides to pursue.

In this split image, the left side shows a black and white photo of Victorian Era buildings with neon signs installed in the mid-20th century advertising a jazz club, restaurant and other businesses. On the right side is a color photo showing a modern beige bank building with a flat facade and a blue awning.

City Hall, Community, History, Housing, Land use, Reparations, Social Justice

Housing Program to Redress Urban Renewal Could Get Boost From SF Reparations Plan

by Madison Alvarado February 28, 2023June 23, 2023

Urban renewal was a publicly and privately funded effort across the U.S. wherein local governments acquired land in areas deemed “blighted” — often using a racially biased lens — through eminent domain, forcibly displacing residents and demolishing existing buildings with promises to rebuild. In San Francisco, urban renewal targeted Black cultural centers and neighborhoods, uprooting thousands of families and destroying lively, well-established communities.

Now, San Francisco is giving renewed attention to a program that aims to bring displaced residents and their descendants back to the city as the Board of Supervisors prepares to review a draft Reparations Plan to address historic harms against Black San Franciscans at a meeting March 14.

Dozens of buildings on Russian Hill are clustered together under a pink and orange sky.

California, City Hall, Housing

Plan for 82,000 Homes in San Francisco Moves Forward, Under Pressure From State

by Madison Alvarado January 31, 2023April 10, 2023

The Board of Supervisors passed a plan to build 82,000 housing units over the next eight years, maintaining city control over the permitting and building processes. Some critics said the plan does not do enough to prevent low-income residents from displacement as more market-rate apartments are built.