San Francisco has approved temporary encampments to slow the spread of COVID-19. But in Seattle, a half-decade experiment with regulated sites has proved so much more successful at getting people off the streets than other solutions that officials recently voted to expand it fourfold.
Category: Housing
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Economy & Business, Housing, Labor, Renters at Risk
Renters Face Growing Debt Burden
The coronavirus pandemic has cost millions their jobs, and that means many tenants haven’t been able to pay rent, landlords have had trouble making mortgage payments and other bills are also stacking up. Debts can be sold to collections agencies, and even keep renters from accessing affordable housing.
Posted inHousing, Social Services
Requests for Housing Aid Overwhelm S.F. Fund
Residents struggling to pay for housing due to the coronavirus pandemic have requested more assistance than what is available through City Hall.
Posted inCity Hall, Coronavirus, Homelessness, Housing
Homeless Activists’ Latest Tactic: Occupying Hotel Rooms
Seven protesters from Poor Magazine, a publication and activist organization, attempted to occupy the Marriott Marquis hotel in downtown San Francisco on Monday morning to demand that the city house more homeless residents in the thousands of hotel rooms left vacant during the coronavirus pandemic.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Community, Coronavirus, Health, Housing, Neighborhoods, Social Justice
Testing in Mission Shows Virus Hits Workers, Latinos at High Levels
A Mission District coronavirus testing initiative has shown stark disparities in who has been getting sick — 95% of those who tested positive in this initiative identified as Hispanic or Latinx. Most earned less than $50,000 a year. But evidence of this disparity had been mounting even prior to the testing, when doctors in San Francisco hospitals saw that the majority of the coronavirus patients who needed to be hospitalized were also Latino.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Homelessness, Housing
Homeless Activists Occupied S.F. Home to Protest Real Estate Speculation
The same day tenant advocates in San Francisco organized a car caravan demonstration calling for the cancellation of rent, two homeless women, Couper Orona and Jess Gonzalez, briefly occupied a long-vacant home in the Castro before police removed them.
Posted inEconomy & Business, Housing, Labor
Rental Relief Programs See Requests Surge From Newly Jobless
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Nonprofits that serve people who need emergency help with their rent are seeing requests surge from a new class of clients — those who were previously financially secure but have lost their jobs due to COVID-19. But red tape is complicating their efforts to help the newly jobless, the groups say.
Posted inHomelessness, Housing
Two Squatters Occupy Vacant S.F. Home to Protest Housing Policies for Homeless
Two homeless women staged an occupation of a vacant single-family home Friday in the Castro in a move aimed at drawing more attention to their demand that the city move more quickly to shelter homeless people during the COVID-19 pandemic. They hung banners outside with messages such as “End homelessness, reclaim San Francisco” and “Housing is a human right” and attracted protesters and neighbors supporting the action before leaving several hours later after negotiations with police.
Posted inCoronavirus, Homelessness, Housing
City Kills Plan for Mass Coronavirus Testing in S.F. Homeless Shelters
San Francisco turned down a research startup’s offer to test all of the city’s homeless shelter residents for COVID-19, urging the firm to divert its resources to other populations, according to emails. Shelter leaders and organizers had lined up doctors and volunteers to perform the testing, and the startup had drafted a letter of understanding, when the city pulled the plug on the plan.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Coronavirus, Government & Politics, Housing
Tenants and Landlords Alike Begin April Fearful of Coronavirus Fallout
Advocates for both groups say landlords and tenants should start open communication to negotiate an approach that works for both sides to keep everyone in place.