Housing

State’s Rent-Relief Program Neglects Vulnerable Communities, Groups Say

04.13.2021
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California’s program to alleviate rent debts — and prevent a wave of evictions in July — makes it tough for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents to request financial aid, community groups in San Francisco say. The way the system is designed prevents many people from applying, including those who live in informal housing arrangements, those who do not speak English and those who lack digital proficiency, according to staff at local organizations helping tenants and landlords file applications.

Photo courtesy of Ali Alkhatib.

Social Media Content Moderation Is Not Neutral, USF Researcher Says

01.14.2021
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“Unless you are building this specifically with the marginalized and vulnerable groups, it’s hard to build any system like this that does anything but further oppress people who are already under the thumb of various other structures and various other bureaucracies and powers,” said research fellow Ali Alkhatib.

Law & Justice
Some Mission District residents have been encouraged to put post-it notes in their windows to signify their interest in joining neighborhood meetings with police.

Police Pushing Amazon Surveillance Cameras for Mission District Residents

12.04.2020
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A new collaboration between residents and the San Francisco Police Department to address crime and homelessness may result in an increase in surveillance cameras — specifically, Amazon’s controversial Ring products.

The collaborations have emerged after residents reached out to Mission Station for assistance in managing tents, drug use and trash on their streets.

Homelessness
TechCrunch rented this event space on Market Street to stage its annual Disrupt conference.

TechCrunch Breaks With Event Company Over Homeless Sweep

09.17.2020
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An unsanctioned sweep of a homeless encampment in central San Francisco has cost the event company Non Plus Ultra a big customer. The company rousted eight people in the middle of the night on Sept. 10, and – while city officials have largely remained silent – the action didn’t sit well with TechCrunch, which is renting Non Plus Ultra’s SVN West event space at Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue.

Data Privacy
security-camera

S.F. Police Accessed Private Cameras to Surveil Protesters, Digital Privacy Group Reveals

07.28.2020
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When a tech executive helped bankroll a private network of security cameras in San Francisco, it was touted as crime-fighting technology that would not be directly in the control of law enforcement. But a report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital privacy advocacy group, shows that the San Francisco Police Department gained remote access to this private camera network for days at a time during protests in late May and early June. The privacy group says that access was a violation of San Francisco law. The camera network in question is managed by the Union Square Business Improvement District. Emails obtained by the foundation show that the group received, and approved, a request from SFPD to obtain remote access to the cameras for 48 hours on May 31.

coronavirus
pa_microbiologist_kerry_pollard.jpg

Bay Area Startups Accelerate California’s COVID-19 Testing Efforts

04.07.2020
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At least two Bay Area startups are scrambling to address California’s testing shortage for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that has unleashed a global pandemic and triggered economic freefall.

Oakland-based Renegade.bio, created just four weeks ago, has raced to obtain federal authorization and develop tests, while also formulating a plan to make it easier for people to access the tests. San Francisco-based Carbon Health, founded in 2015, started gearing up to offer COVID-19 testing in February, and created a free online symptom tracker to help more easily and quickly identify those infected with the virus.