Gentrification in San Francisco

The following story map will highlight the ongoing issue of gentrification in the city of San Francisco. Throughout decades, there have been signs of renter displacement risks for household families suffering gentrification as the city keeps getting popular. A major increase in gentrification in San Francisco has been attributed to the Dot-Com Boom in the 1990s. Since then, the displacement of long-term residents, cherished landmarks, and long-standing businesses are less able to meet the needs to survive residency. This story map will highlight cases of gentrification as well as how racial undertones played a key role in driving out minority communities.

"Gentrification is not a fluke or an accident. Gentrification is a system that puts the need of capital (both in terms of city budget and in terms of real estate profits) above the needs of the people." - Peter Moskowitz, How to Kill a City

Gentrification is a process in which a poor city experiences an influx of middle-class or wealthy people who renovate and rebuild homes and businesses, which often results in an increase in property values and the displacement of earlier, usually poorer residents. While it may provide economic benefits by improving infrastructure, cleaning up areas, and making cities more presentable, most locals protest the process because it unfairly targets poor/minority communities who find it difficult to stay in the area due to the subsequent increase in the cost of living. As a result, many view it as an extension of systemic racism, which has contributed to past housing crises such as redlining.

In 2019, California passed the Tenant Protection Act, which stated that the maximum landlords could raise rent was 5% every year. This was a huge change for renters across the state, as they were protected from profit-hungry landlords who wanted to kick out long-term tenants for some extra cash. However, during the ’80-the ’90s in San Francisco (a city built-upon young entrepreneurial endeavors), tenant protection was not prioritized. Passed by the real estate lobby in 1986, The Ellis Act allowed California landlords to remove rent-controlled units from the rental market, and then turn them into condominiums for sale. This caused housing prices everywhere to skyrocket, especially in San Francisco where many entrepreneurs relocated to take advantage of the real estate market. This was just the beginning of gentrification in the bay.

In addition to the budding real estate market, tech giants also started to move into San Francisco throughout the ‘90s and early 2000s. Companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, Adobe, eBay, and much more were expanding into an area of San Francisco commonly referred to as Silicon Valley. On the cusp of a technology boom, these companies were generating billions of dollars worth of revenue and the San Francisco region was experiencing a significant increase in gentrification. The area saw a spurt in property value and a displacement of lower-class families. After all, if you didn’t work for a flourishing tech company, there was a good chance you couldn’t afford the rising costs of rent.  

Building off of the economic rush of the ’90s, gentrification in San Francisco ceased to slow down. According to research conducted between 2015-2018 by the Urban Displacement Project, San Francisco is cited as one of the most gentrified areas in the United States. Statistics presented by these researchers explain that 30% of tracts in the San Francisco region are at risk for ‘advanced gentrification’ (UDP, 2018). Furthermore, many of these areas share similarities that researchers believe increase gentrification at exponential rates. For instance, a lot of these areas have been heavily affected by the pressures of the housing market, experiencing limited amounts of low-income housing. According to an article written by Maria Poblet, a San Francisco native, it is stated that a two-bedroom apartment in the area can be as expensive as $11,500 per month! For families who have lived in the region for generations, these prices can cause drastic financial strain. 

This image of the map interface taken from the Urban Displacement Project (2018) corroborates the issues of gentrification. Some keys fact being found are over 10% or 161,343 low-income households (households making below 80% of AMI) lived in areas at risk of or currently experiencing gentrification (Urban Displacement Project, 2018). This is determined via markers of percent change in income and the percent population of ethnic and racial minorities in a neighborhood.

Gentrification plays a major role in San Francisco as the city has been struggling with a history of race and structural racism that rises a concern of neoliberalism to the vulnerabilities of residents in poor urban areas of gentrifying neighborhoods. Tech companies being more successful in cities like San Francisco dramatically affects the housing price of all homes that are near these businesses as real estate is increased. Overall, Amanda Boston's analysis of gentrification highlights the consequences of gentrification as residents in poor urban areas are having a struggle over racial control and self-determination, especially towards ethnic group communities living in the San Francisco area.  

According to Amanda Boston, cities like San Francisco are rapidly growing their economies by attracting investors. This development exacerbates racial inequities targeting minorities in the city and makes it more difficult to obtain through urban transformations such as real estate destruction and development, thereby creating exclusivity to drive out the poor and people of color to make the city gentrified. Gentrification has changed what San Fransisco once was. San Francisco was stripped from its culture and the communities that worked so hard to build. The rich have taken advantage of minorities to capitalize and profit from their communities. Massive infusions of private finance from investors and developers, which are increasingly coming from throughout the world, have supported these transformations. Municipal governments have changed their function from market regulator to market facilitator and encouraged them. From Boston’s article, the cost of living has increased dramatically in the San Francisco bay area as a result of this environment, escalating long-standing racial and economic segregation concerns. Additionally, it has worsened many already marginalized individuals' precarious conditions, such as housing instability, economic issues, and homelessness.

As a result, gentrification is a complex issue that San Francisco suffers from factors such as housing crisis, displacement, and regional sustainability. The narratives surrounding gentrification reflect the sheer complexity and controversy behind implementing equitable and tangible solutions. As the city grows, more conflict will appear and it will take more than the local communities to help people stay strong during these troubled times. So far, San Francisco is showing some signs by creating opportunities for work and diversity to take back their homes and issues that they have been plagued with. 

There are endless possibilities for mitigation as it is clear, yet difficult to attain. Expanding their resources and possibly preventing property tax from increasing for the long-term residents could prevent the issues of gentrification. As well, policymakers can adapt new legislation that gives the local governments some authority to bring transit-oriented development to their regions and ensure the creation of affordable housing with access to transit throughout the city. Therefore, there are ways to fix the ongoing issue of gentrification, but it will take time and effort for communities to resolve this issue. 

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