Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi Supes to Hold Hearing on Public Housing “Emergency Transfers”

by Sara Shortt‚ Beyond Chron (reposted)

Tue, May 22, 2007 8:00AM

Imagine if you and your family were victims of a violent crime but had no way to escape it. Imagine lying awake at night worried about your young children’s safety while they slept. Imagine being scared to continue living in your apartment, but still paying rent for fear of losing the only chance of a roof over your head. Imagine forcing your children to play indoors on the sunniest of days, so that they won’t be dodging bullets in the yard. If your home were this unsafe, would you choose homelessness over risking your life?

Residents in San Francisco’s public housing don’t have to imagine these scenarios. Violence is a harsh reality in the city’s only housing where families can afford to live on incomes of $12,000 per year. While a general climate of violence plagues many buildings in the Western Addition, Bayview-Hunters Point and Sunnydale, not everyone has been personally victimized by violent crime. Those residents who are, however, are faced with the kind of choices that no one should be forced to make.

In a city that holds such wealth and is so rich in resources, our lowest income residents must choose between the safety of their family and joining the exodus out of the city that they call home. Those that find the idea of tearing their children from their schools and leaving the neighborhood where they grew up too painful decide instead that for their own safety, they will move their family to a relative’s couch.

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http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=4533#more

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