SOME FACTS ABOUT HOUSING IN THE BAY AREA Residents and Renting
65% of the inhabitants of San Francisco rent their housing. In the Mission, 80% of the inhabitants rent their housing. The housing vacancy rate in 1999 was less then 1%. (Source: San Francisco Tenants Union , 1999) Only 11% of people living in San Francisco could afford the average priced San Francisco house. (Source: National Residential Builders Association , 2001) There are a total of 6,829 units in residential hotels. The vacancy rate for these rooms is 1%. (Source: Housing Inspection Services, 2000)
Renting and Evictions
From 1996 to 1999, the number of reported evictions in the Bay Area tripled: 664 evictions of units using Ellis acts. 2730 legal eviction notices (1198 of them alleging that the owner wanted to occupy the unit.) (Source: City and County of San Francisco Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board, 2000)
949 reports of wrongful evictions.
Evictions and Homelessness
25% of homeless people are families; 30% are single woman; 20% are seniors. 25% of homeless people have a job, but do not earn enough to pay for housing. 169 homeless people died living on the streets of San Francisco in 1999. (Source: Coalition on Homelessness, 1999)
Homelessness and Profit
Residential Landlords Residential landlords made $1.3 BILLION in increased rents between 1995 and 2000 (that is, $1.3 billion in rent income over and above the baseline 1995 rents).
The median rent on a two-bedroom apartment increased from $1,275 in 1995 to $2,514 in 2001. Evictions tripled from 1995-2001. (Source: San Francisco Bay Guardian)
The Impact on Our Community
Commercial Landlords Office rental rates tripled from 1995 to 2000: $2.10 per square foot to $6.75. A recent Mayors Office of Community Development study predicts that 50 percent of the non-profits surveyed would lose their lease by the end of the year and that 70 percent of the remaining non-profits would lose their lease by the end of three years.
(Source: San Francisco Bay Guardian)
The Impact on Industrial San Francisco
The Northeast Mission Industrial Zone (NEMIZ) employed 1,500 Mission residents in 1991. Nearly one-fifth of the building lot square footage in the NEMIZ (over 937,000 square feet of terrain) is now devoted to live/work or office use -- an increase of 330% since 1991. Since 1991, over 1.7 million square feet of building space devoted to production, distribution, and repair activities has been eliminated -- a decline of 57%. More than 540 live/work units have been constructed in the NEMIZ No affordable housing has been constructed as part of those projects.
Office and live/work development in the NEMIZ has cost the city more than $22.6 million in lost housing and childcare fees. The city has 57 fewer affordable housing units due to demolitions and failure to apply city housing policies. 8,000 additional people now work in the NEMIZ area, which is poorly served by public transit. 68% of these people drive to work, with serious impacts on air quality and pedestrian safety. (Source: The Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition 2000)
The End of the Safety Net?
California's poverty rate is unchanged since 1989, while the national poverty rate has dropped 1.5%. 26% of California’s workers earned poverty wages in 2000. In 1989, that number was 24%. Meanwhile, national poverty level wages (wages which place a family of four below the poverty line) fell nationwide by 3.4% in the same period.
Californians are now much less likely to receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefits. Between 1989 and 2000, the population drawing benefits dropped by over 25%. Since “welfare reform” was passed in 1996, the population drawing has dropped by nearly half. (Source: California Census report)