Public Housing Residents Cry Foul Over Temporary Relocation

Public Housing Residents Cry Foul Over Temporary Relocation

The April 14th protest (Photo: Lisa Tina Gray-Garcia/Facebook)

David-Elijah Nahmod
Published on April 17, 2015

Residents of public housing in the Duboce Triangle/Lower Haight neighborhoods, and public housing residents from other City districts, gathered in front of City Hall at 9am on April 14th to protest a plan to sell public housing property to the RAD program. RAD is a rental assistance program run by The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The Board of Supervisors was set to vote on the plan that afternoon.

The plan, according to HUD, is to temporarily relocate tenants so that the buildings in question can be subjected to much needed repairs and upgrades. The tenants have been promised that they can return home once the repairs are completed, though it's unclear how long that might take and where they will be housed in the interim.

Affected buildings include 25 Sanchez St., 255 Sanchez St., and 462 Duboce Ave., among others. 

462 Duboce Ave. (Photo: Rose Garrett/Hoodline)

The tenants aren't buying it. They say that if they leave they'll never be allowed back in. Some believe that the proposed temporary relocation is part of the Mayor's plan to gentrify the city for high-end tech workers. The City, they feel, is deliberately pushing poor people and people of color out of their communities. 

"Ever since they got rid of Marcus Books I knew I would be next," said Queenandi Shabazz, a tenant facing relocation. "We are treated as vagrants, we are looked at like we don't belong here. Where is the equity, where is the justice, where is the love?"

Shabazz was one of about a dozen protesters who converged upon City Hall to protest the sale to RAD and the relocation. The protest was organized by Tony Robles and Lisa Gray-Garcia, the husband-and-wife housing activists who publish Poor Magazine

"One we are out we are all the way out," Gray-Garcia said, as she addressed the crowd. "We will never get back in."

Gray-Garcia said that public housing residents would like to have more of a voice in determining their own future. "Give us the buildings and we will rehabilitate them," she said, as her fellow protesters cheered. 

25 Sanchez St. (Photo: Rose Garrett/Hoodline)

"San Francisco is increasingly hostile to elders and to low-income workers," said Tony Robles. "We see this in the predatory evictions of poor families and people of color. These housing policies have no regard for our future or our past legacies."

The protesters said that after the demonstration they would be visiting the offices of each member of the Board of Supervisors in order to ask them to vote against allowing the sale of the buildings. 

Hoodline sent emails to supervisors Scott Wiener, David Campos, Jane Kim and London Breed to request comment regarding the protester's accusations. Wiener, Campos and Kim did not respond, but we received a phone call from Breed aide Vallie Brown. Breed represents District 5, where a number of the buildings in question are located.

"The tenants have the wrong information," said Brown. She assured Hoodline that the plan was to allow the tenants to move back in after building repairs are made. Certain criteria needed to be met, she said, such as certification of every tenant's income—some tenants had moved relatives or spouses into their units without getting proper certification of each tenant's income, a requirement for remaining in public housing.

"We are attempting to educate the tenants," said Brown, who pointed out that many of the buildings are in a serious state of disrepair. She reiterated the commitment of her office to get all tenants properly certified so they could return to their homes.

Brown also said that any tenant who was behind in their rent would be offered an affordable payment plan—as little as $10 a month in back rent payments would be considered acceptable. 

Lisa Gray-Garcia isn't buying it.

"There is nowhere for all these tenants to go," Gray-Garcia told Hoodline. "They are selling all the public housing buildings to private developers and non-profits—a lot of the buildings are slated for demolition." 

Gray-Garcia said that it's unclear who will be allowed back into their homes once the renovations are completed. "In previous buildings, so many of our folks don't get back in because they can't pass the credit check requirements," she said. 

On April 16th, Gray-Garcia informed Hoodline that the Board had postponed their vote on this issue.