Housing Crisis Report: San Francisco Children,
Families at Risk

 

 From Coleman Advocates for Children & Youth

October 23, 2008

Proposition B, the SF Housing Fund, on November Ballot Will be a Policy Solution to Secure A Future for SF Kids

San Francisco, CA— The crisis of affordability for families and the crisis facing the future of children in San Francisco is overwhelmingly impacting poor and working class communities of color, according to a new study from Coleman Advocates for Children & Youth, a member driven community organization, that has worked to improve the lives of San Francisco’s children for over 30 years.

“Is There a Future for Children in San Francisco? An Analysis of Family Income, Race & Opportunity,” a report issued today analyzes new data and proposes a new framework to discuss the needs of San Francisco’s families.

The report presents eye-opening data on the status of the 100,000 kids in San Francisco. For example:

· While media attention has focused on ‘middle class’ family exodus, both low-income and middle-income families with children are priced out of the city’s housing market and don’t have a secure future in the city. Two-thirds of all families in San Francisco are extremely poor families, low-wage working families or middle-income families, earning less than 120% of the city’s median income or $99,500 for a family of four.

· More families in San Francisco are low-income (43%) than middle-income (23%), and face economic hardships even when working full-time jobs.

· More than 60% of the families who left San Francisco in the 1990s were families of color, while the perception among many has been that mostly white families are leaving the city.

· Extreme racial disparities in family income and access to opportunity means that the majority of children who do not have a secure future in SF are children of color, and the majority of children who do have a secure future are white.

“There are 45,000 children in San Francisco who we have the capacity to move out of poverty. Passing Proposition B this November will be a step in the right direction for our children,” said NTanya Lee, Executive Director of Coleman Advocates for Children & Youth, “Through Prop B we can prioritize housing opportunities to support the families who really need it—the poor and low wage working families who face the most hardships in trying to stay in the city — while also helping middle-income families with homeownership assistance.”

NTanya Lee

Prop B, the San Francisco Housing Fund, will set aside approximately $33 million in funding to assure construction of desperately needed affordable housing and it will establish an open, more democratic budgeting process for the City to decide how this money is going to be spent. Neither of these functions exists today.

“Looking at the 2000 Census’ Public Use Microdata Sample on San Francisco’s families with children, we were able to determine the truth behind which families are really struggling and which families are leaving San Francisco,” explained Chelsea Boilard, Coleman Advocates’ Family Policy & Communications Associate, “Proposition B is finally a real policy solution, without raising taxes, to help secure a future for all children and all families in San Francisco.”

The report “Is There a Future for Children in San Francisco?” is available online at www.colemanadvocates.org.

FCJ Editor

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