2595 people apply for 18 affordable housing units in SF

[daredtowork]

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nevius/article/Microcosm-of-S-F-housing-plight-6-800-5879302.php

This is what's placing the pressure on Berkeley - and we have no way of coping with it since Mayor Bates was dismantling the affordable housing infrastructure in order to change the "profile" of Berkeley. We're at the mercy of greedy landlords eager to accommodate this SF spillover.


I was about to post this in GD, but Liberal in LA had already posted it yesterday. Go comment on that post for visibility.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025788875

[KamaAina]

1. As is Oakland.

Hopefully Richmond, which just elected a progressive mayor and council, can hold the line.

[daredtowork]

2. I'm frankly terrified

of losing my housing. I've lived here for 20 years, but I have nightmares about my landlord deciding to sell.

I often hand out in the Center for Independent Living reception area and listen to the stream of panicked phone calls. Yet all Berkeley is doing is hiring consultants to do YEAR LONG reports!

[AndyTiedye]

3. Why is the Ellis Act Still On the Books?

There hasn't even been a serious effort to repeal or amend the Ellis Act. WTF!
It may be more satisfying to throw things at the Google buses, but "techies"
are not the problem. The Ellis Act makes it very easy to circumvent rent control.
That is the problem.

[daredtowork]

5. I don't know about SF

But Developer/Landlord forces still hold the upper hand in Berkeley, and a lot of the language in our local media looks creepily Third Way. There is something called The Berkeley Democratic Club here. I don't belong to it because there's a membership fee, but it seems to be overly influential in who gets elected. That might have shifted Third Way, given that our mayor is a f-you-poor-people "Democrat", and he's been in office longer than FDR. There was also gerrymandering to get one of their board members in at the attempted expense of one of the progressive members of the Council.

So if I'm not viewing that correctly, I'm looking forward to the comments that Landlord 'Splain things to me.

[Cleita]

4. Shows how how much affordable housing is needed. eom