Why it matters that families are fleeing San Francisco

We are deeply troubled that a fundamental transformation of San Francisco is in progress and the future of children and working families is in jeopardy. As thousands of luxury condominiums are being built, public schools are being closed.

As homeowners, landlords and developers seek the highest possible profit out of their property, the cost of providing shelter for our families is skyrocketing. To survive, thousands of San Francisco families are living doubled and tripled up, in illegal and unsafe units, and cannot meet their basic needs despite two or more incomes.

But thousands simply don’t make it. Families who invested in their children, their schools, churches and neighborhoods are priced out, pushed out and literally evicted. Working class neighborhoods that once had vibrant, diverse, family-based communities are being gentrified.

The African American community has been devastated, losing over 25,000 residents since 1980. Given the thousands of market rate units in development between Mission Bay and Visitacion Valley, there is widespread concern that the completion of the Third Street Light Rail will mark the end of the Black community in Bayview Hunters Point.

The dramatic disinvestment in state and federal affordable housing funding has left cities like San Francisco completely at the mercy of the profit-driven market.

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