City-Funded Program Moves Families From SRO’s to Apts

by Paul Hogarth, 2007-12-03

Mei-Qing Liu, who moved here from China three years ago, lived in an 8x10 Chinatown hotel room with her 12-year-old son; they shared a bathroom and common kitchen with 18 other families. Anthony Washington, a native San Franciscan, couldn’t have his nine-year-old son live with him – since the only place he had was a tiny SRO on Sixth Street. Today, both families each have their own one-bedroom place – thanks to a program by the Tenderloin Housing Clinic that places SRO families into apartments. It’s not a small task with the City’s insane rental market, but in the past five months 29 families have been taken out of overcrowded conditions – and gotten a new lease on life. Funded by the Human Services Agency, the program subsidizes up to $500 of their monthly rent – with the goal of becoming self-sufficient after two years.

In Chinatown alone, there are about 370 families living in SRO’s – ranging from a single parent and child to families as large as nine people. Not having the dignity of your own apartment means that kids don’t have space to run around, and have trouble doing well in school. Parents get stressed out by the cramped environment, have trouble motivating themselves to get a better job and have difficulty sleeping at night. In Mei-Ching’s case, there was a loud bar directly underneath her room – further adding to the stress.

But that’s the economic reality for a City where a one-bedroom apartment can easily cost $1600-a-month. Mei-Ching worked as cashier and waitress in a Chinatown restaurant, and Anthony worked as a machinist in Sunnyvale (commuting every day on Cal-Train.) Their paychecks couldn’t even get them a studio apartment – let alone one where they can sleep in separate quarters from their children. They both worked long hours at their jobs to support a family, but a residential hotel room was the only thing they could get.

This year, the Newsom Adminstration authorized the Human Services Agency to fund three non-profits to help families who are either homeless or in cramped quarters get a better place to live. Hamilton Family Center and Compass focus mainly on getting families out of the homeless shelters, and the Tenderloin Housing Clinic (which publishes Beyond Chron) can help up to 75 working families who live in SRO’s get an apartment with kitchen and bathroom. The T.H.C. program didn’t get fully staffed until June, but they have thus far placed 29 families. So far, none of them have ever been late paying their rent.

Here’s how it works. A family gets referred to the program, and the staff does an initial intake. They screen for overcrowded conditions, whether the family has a job, and what their capacity is for increasing income – after the City’s $500-a-month subsidy expires in two years. “We look at income,” said Program Director Michael Gause. “To get them an apartment with the subsidy, they have to pay over 30% of their income in rent – but no more than 50%. And they have to be motivated to work with our case managers over the next two years to develop a long-term plan.”

But in the last few months, San Francisco rents have exploded, making the challenge of finding a place even more of a daunting task. The typical monthly income for SRO families is roughly between $1200 and $2000. So if a family makes $1500-a-month, under the program they cannot pay more than $750 in rent out of pocket – which means that with the additional $500 subsidy from the City, the most expensive apartment they can get is about $1250. That’s hard to find today.

According to Gause, the one-bedrooms where they place people rent between $1100-$1400, and two-bedrooms are between $1400-$1700. They have placed people in the Tenderloin, Chinatown, Nob Hill and Russian Hill. But a rent level like that is still hard to find in San Francisco. They’ve placed one family in the East Bay – but the main point of the program is to keep them housed in the City, where the kids can be close to their school and the parents close to their jobs and community. Not to mention the daunting gas prices and monthly BART fare that can easily exceed $100.

So the families must agree to work with a case manager, who meet with them about once a week to map out a plan to grow their income over the next two years. With most of the families being immigrants from China or Mexico, two case managers – Sherry Zhu and Edith Chan – speak Chinese, and one case manager – Lourdes Figueroa – speaks Spanish. “We help them find cheaper services,” said Zhu, “and help them prepare their resumes so they can get a better job.” With English the #1 obstacle towards getting employment, some take ESL classes at City College while also working full-time.

“Moving out of an SRO environment helps motivate them to get a better future,” said Zhu, “for themselves and their kids. After getting the apartment, they work on getting a more formal job and develop back-up plans.” Some, like Anthony Washington, have put themselves on the Section 8 waiting list. He moved into his new apartment in Lower Nob Hill this weekend, and has been reunited with his nine-year-old son. “It’s one step at a time,” he told me. “I’ve got two years now to work things out and move on up.”

For Mei-Qing, she now has an apartment at Union and Taylor – with a nice view of Coit Tower. She has a big private kitchen area, and has started bringing friends over. Her 12-year-old son is also able to bring friends over. Having completed job training courses at City College, Mei-Qing will get a raise in April at her new job – working as an attendant in a Downtown Hotel, which is a more pleasant job than what she did at the restaurant.

“A lot of parents tell us about their kids now being able to run around the apartment,” said Gause. “They don’t have to stagger time for when they eat dinner, or stand in line to use the bathroom. Some of them have said this year was the first Thanksgiving where they’ve been able to have people over.” Or as Anthony proudly announced as he worked out the logistics with the case managers to move into his apartment this weekend, “we're going to have a jolly old Christmas.”

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