Tenderloin SRO being revamped as boutique hotel

[KamaAina]

http://www.thebolditalic.com/articles/6853-tenderloin-sro-being-revamped-as-boutique-hotel

San Francisco’s housing crisis is a hot topic for many current and former residents, but while for some it’s an inconvenience, for others the situation is far more dire. Residents of SRO hotels, in particular, run the risk of having nowhere to go if they lose their homes. This population had been fighting a hard battle long before the current tech boom hit, and with limited agency or protection of their rights, the challenges they face have the potential to get much greater as the market continues to heat up.

So it’s particularly disturbing when we hear about new projects like Hotel EPIK on Polk Street, which claims to be converting the New Pacific Hotel, a former SRO, into a luxury hotel. According to SocketSite, construction is underway for what the owners promise will be “San Francisco’s newest boutique hotel.” There are a strict set of laws protecting SRO hotels and their residents, including an ordinance passed in 1980 that prohibits SRO landlords from renting SRO rooms out to tourists in the short term. If an SRO is being used for tourist purposes, the owner either needs to pay a fine to the city or replace the room with another SRO room. The developer of the hotel told SocketSite that 55 of the 66 rooms are already approved for tourist usage. The remaining 11 rooms will be longer-term housing for professionals.

Ostensibly, these 11 rooms won’t be in the price range of the population they were initially designated to serve. The availability of SRO rooms is essential to protect, as SRO hotels are often the last barrier between SF’s poorest population and the streets. SRO residents are often “disempowered” and afraid to complain, explains Jerry Threet, deputy city attorney at the Office of the City Attorney. As a result, some landlords are doing the bare minimum to maintain their buildings, and over the years, laws have been put in place to ensure that buildings are safe and habitable.

“It’s a tenuous existence,” says Threet of the typical SRO resident in San Francisco. “If they get displaced, it’s hard to get into another hotel.” This population is defended by groups like the Tenderloin Housing Clinic or the City Attorney’s office, which sues landlords like Bill Thakor for renting rooms reserved for low-income residents to tourists and for other violations, such as not complying with safety codes or failing to maintain habitable conditions in rooms for low-income residents.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

1. We need more public housing

Expecting the private sector to house the poor is not a workable solution, imo.

[mackerel]

2. I read somewhere that Hastings was also going to either build an addition or revamp their school

which I think is right in the beginning part of the tenderloin or kinda in that cross over section between City Hall and the Tenderloin.

[daredtowork]

3. Aw. nt