Housing Activists Take Over SF City Hall

The Mission District neighborhood is ground zero for the gentrification that is occurring in San Francisco. It is now common knowledge that the tech industry was responsible for landlords jacking up rents for the poor and the middle class in an already unaffordable City. The tech industry is also being blamed for the increase in evictions because developers see this City as a gold mine when it comes to housing because tech workers have more money to spend. It is also common knowledge that San Francisco has working class poor and middle class people, some with families, who are homeless. Homeless in a City that criminalizes the poor via Sit and Lie Tickets, camping tickets, or tickets for sleeping in cars. The coalition on homelessness released a report created from a survey that stated “Many poor people in the Mission feel vulnerable to police harassment and displacement. Some members of our community, including youth, elderly and disabled people, homeless and marginally housed people, people of color and transgender residents, have been subjected to more intense policing as the neighborhood gentrifies.”

The anti-eviction mapping project indicates there has been a 54.7% increase in evictions this year. There have been over 2,000 units evicted in 2015 alone. Common types of evictions are breach of lease, nuisance, owner move-in, Ellis Act and illegal use. Many victims of the evictions claim the local government is not doing enough to stop the evictions, so the community has organized and is now taking their message to the Mayor’s front door.

Groups who participated in the protest are ACCE • Calle 24 Latino Cultural District • Eviction Free SF • Our Mission No Eviction • Plaza 16 Coalition • Poor Magazine

Messages and demands issued by the protesters.

STOP THE EVICTIONS
NO MONSTER IN THE MISSION
TRULY AFFORDABLE HOUSING NOW
NO MORE LUXURY-PRICED DEVELOPMENT
MAYOR LEE; DECLARE A STATE OF EMERGENCY (OVER THE LOSS OF HOUSING)

Their demands are; Declare a State of emergency to address affordable housing crisis, take action to protect the community, fund and build affordable housing, and institute community oversight.





Links

http://www.antievictionmappingproject.net/EvictionSurge.pdf

http://www.cohsf.org/
https://evictionfreesf.org/
http://plaza16.org/
http://calle24sf.org/en/

Twitter handle and tags @PlazaSixteen #MissionTakesCityHall #NoEvictionsSF #HousingIsAHumanRight