Those in attendance at last Wednesday’s (5/8/24) night’s community meeting in South San Francisco witnessed a powerful display of unity as residents from across the city came together to voice their support for much-needed affordable housing and anti-displacement strategies. With growing frustration over the misrepresentation of community needs by anti-housing groups, residents are demanding real solutions to the pressing issues of displacement and housing unaffordability.

Since our organizing efforts in South San Francisco began, we’ve learned that habitability, home affordability, and displacement are top priorities for South San Francisco residents. People love South City and want to remain here, but unfortunately, many are being forced out, sometimes to neighboring cities or even as far as the Central Valley.

Displacement is not just about being unable to afford rent; it runs much deeper.  Aside from being formally evicted, many tenants are forced out due to landlord harassment, which includes living in substandard housing conditions because landlords refuse to maintain habitable homes. 

The consequences of displacement are dire. Displacement leads to homelessness, substandard housing, overcrowding, and pushes families to move far from their communities. Displacement causes trauma, particularly for children. It’s time to put an end to this cycle and ensure that everyone has the right to stable, affordable housing. It is time for strong anti-displacement measures, and it’s South San Francisco’s turn to implement them.

On Wednesday the South San Francisco City Council voted 4-1 to approve the charter for the Community Advisory Committee for the Residential and Commercial Anti-Displacement Roadmap. It’s important to note that an advisory committee whose purpose is to study and make recommendations is an easy starting point for a city wide conversation but tiptoes around immediate policy action that the city could champion at any time. While this decision is not the bold anti-displacement plan that residents urgently need now, it is the pathway to create such a plan. We are looking forward to amplifying and supporting the residents who are harnessing their collective power to unshakably support strong anti-displacement policies and new deeply affordable housing which is needed to curb the ongoing citywide displacement. 

A recent UC Berkeley Research Brief sheds light on the severity of displacement in San Mateo County. “Between 2000 and 2015, the county lost 44 percent of its naturally occurring affordable housing for low-income households. In 2015 alone, there was a shortfall of 25,882 affordable rental homes. Shockingly, between 2012 and 2015, evictions for non-payment of rent increased by 59 percent, and “no-cause” evictions skyrocketed by 300 percent. These evictions disproportionately affected Latinx and African-American households and were enabled by the lack of significant rent control or just-cause eviction protections in most cities in San Mateo County, apart from East Palo Alto.” 

To learn more about the displacement crisis in San Mateo County, we recommend reading the full UC Berkeley Research Brief. Together, we can make a difference and ensure that South City remains a place where everyone can thrive.