What It Takes To Stay: local residents striving to endure the Bay Area housing crisis
In the San Francisco Bay Area, the yawning gap between those with means and those without grows wider every year. San Francisco specifically is seeing a large-scale migration of its working-class and low-income communities of color to suburban cities like Antioch. What It Takes To Stay puts faces to statistics, offering intimate visual vignettes of the lives of four residents affected by and striving to endure the Bay Area housing crisis. The project is a partnership between life-long Bay Area resident and Catchlight Local Fellow Felix Uribe, Bay City News Foundation’s LocalNewsMatters.org site, and CatchLight.
What It Takes To Stay: San Francisco | The stories of Paul and Tracy
Those with less are typically pushed to the fringes of a city. In San Francisco, you see those who have the least living in the heart of the city. Because of skyrocketing rents, redevelopment and gentrification, however, many people who once called San Francisco home are fleeing the city completely and migrating to the Bay Area’s suburban outskirts. But what about the working-class and low-income people who remain? What does it take to stay in a place where a family of four that earns $100,000 a year is considered low-income?
We take a look at the very heart of San Francisco, the Tenderloin District, which has the highest number of homeless residents at 3,659 and where the median income is $31,000. The neighborhood is walking distance from tourist hot spots like Union Square and some of the biggest, wealthiest technology companies in the world. It’s a harsh contrast between extreme wealth and poverty. How does this community survive? In this project, we will be focusing on what it takes for natives to stay in the midst of rapid change and growing hardship.
What It Takes To Stay: ANTIOCH | The stories of Tamisha and Donesha
The East Bay city of Antioch, once a small suburban town of 25,000 people, has a history of boom and bust with the housing cycles of the region. With its relatively affordable homes, Antioch has seen its population explode in recent years and is now home to more than 111,000 people. Once a predominantly white city, it has absorbed waves of diverse newcomers. These new communities are challenging the status quo in their search for housing, opportunities, and space. Between 2000 and 2015, the population of white residents decreased from 58 percent to 32 percent, reflecting changing demographics. On one side of Antioch, you can find thriving businesses, new developments, and school construction projects; other parts seem to be neglected. How do old-timers and newcomers adjust to a rapidly changing city to make growth and prosperity equitable? What rifts develop in communities and can they be repaired? How can new residents make their adopted city become home?
What It Takes To Stay Part II
San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood is in the heart of the city and serves as its most visible intersection of those with means and those without.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, its residents struggled with many issues and complained that despite their on-going efforts, the neighborhood remained a low priority for policymakers. Activists and community organizations were pushing hard for safer and cleaner streets, healthier food options at local corner stores and more affordable housing options. When the pandemic reached the city, the Tenderloin’s struggles intensified almost immediately.
With support from Facebook Journalism Project and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism CatchLight Local Fellow Felix Uribe continued to document this neighborhood through the impact of the pandemic.
See the Impact
Community Dinner & Conversation at City Hope
On November 17, 2019, CatchLight hosted a neighborhood dinner and dialogue featuring a presentation of CatchLight Local Fellow Felix Uribe’s work in progress documenting housing in the Tenderloin. The event was held in collaboration with City Hope — a community-based organization and social services provider that is also “the living room for those without enough living space in the Tenderloin.” In addition to providing a welcoming and trusted gathering space, City Hope provides community programming and services including a local food bank, grocery deliveries, and movie and game nights. The free community dinner and dialogue was attended by 20 local residents directly impacted by the city’s housing crisis as well as City Hope, and CatchLight staff. It was the first event held in City Hope’s newly renovated community space, and in addition to a home-style dinner cooked by local Tenderloin restaurant Rusty’s Southern and a presentation of Felix’s work, residents participated in an open discussion about media narratives and representations of the neighborhood offering their own experiences and insights. It provided a safe space for people to get to enjoy a meal together, better understand each others’ perspectives, and respond to Felix’s work prior to its publication. Many of attendees had been previously photographed by Felix for the project, and their resulting portraits were available for them to take home with them. Additionally, a selection of Felix’s portraits of community members remain on display at City Hope.
It really doesn’t matter what you did before you were homeless. The fact that you’re homeless becomes everything. I was homeless for 4 years. All the 36 years before that didn’t matter.
— Tenderloin Resident
Visual Storytelling Workshop at Bay City News
On February 6, 2020, CatchLight and Bay City News Foundation held a lunch-time training workshop for a dozen reporters at the Bay City News Oakland newsroom. The workshop was led by CatchLight Local Fellow Felix Uribe, who provided an in-depth overview of his approach to making photographs, including practical tips and technical tricks targeted for reporters shooting in the field with their camera phones. Additionally, CatchLight’s Director of Engagement and Programs Jenny Jacklin-Stratton conducted a short live photo editing session of one of Felix’s stories for reporters. The workshop concluded with an open question and answer session.
RELATED STORIES
Behind the Lens with Felix Uribe |CatchLight
Welcome to the Tenderloin
Bay City News Foundation | Bay Area Equity Ripples
Photo Story: Zone defense in the Tenderloin
Bay City News Foundation | Bay Area Equity Ripples
Photo Story: Gentrification and displacement of Bay Area communities of color
Bay City News Foundation | Bay Area Equity Ripples
Photo Story: On the frontlines in bringing healthy food options to Tenderloin
Bay City News Foundation | Bay Area Equity Ripples
Photo Story: Living, aging — and staying — in San Francisco
Bay City News Foundation | Bay Area Equity Ripples
Community Resources
City Hope: a trusted gathering place and creatively offer as many elements of home as possible for our neighbors on the margins.
The Tenderloin People’s Congress: an alliance of resident-based organizations dedicated to developing and sustaining the leadership of “traditional” Tenderloin residents.
Policy Link | Bay Area Equity Atlas: a comprehensive data resource to track the state of equity across the region and inform solutions for inclusive prosperity.
Safe Return Project: an organization is to empower and increase the visibility of all those that have been impacted by the criminal justice system as a whole.
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