development and gentrification. Photo Mabel Jiménez
As the new year sets in, most people are rejoicing for a better year to come and swearing by firm resolutions
in the hope of improving their lives. For the residents of San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point district, 2014 will be a time of uncertainty.
These residents, many of whom have lived in the district for generations, are now watching the sand fall in the hypothetical hour glass. Many in the community who have made the Bayview their home are now seeing a change in their neighborhood.
Gentrification has uprooted entire families in Chinatown, the Mission District and now the residents of Bayview-Hunters Point could be under fire.
Due to an influx of blue-collar jobs during World War II and rampant evictions caused by the urban renewal of the traditionally African-American dominated neighborhoods such as the Fillmore District and the Western Addition, the Bayview is home to a predominantly African American community that dates back to the 1940s.
“Urban Renewal forever changed the character of the Fillmore District. The redevelopment that took place lasted over
40 years—destroying communities, businesses, and affordable housing,” said San Francisco State University Associate Professor Nancy Mirabal.
The Fillmore was a vibrant, bustling jazz community that saw many greats like Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday perform — yet urban renewal destroyed the neighborhoods rich history as rents skyrocketed and the standard of living became unaffordable to many of its original residents.
“Gentrification” comes to a city in many ways as private investors purchase homes and buildings, and multi-million dollar corporations take over large properties.
In 1996, Mayor Willie Brown introduced AIMCO (The Apartment Investment and Management Corporation) which took over more than 600 units of public housing. Although AIMCO built new apartments, there was a stricter acceptance process that displaced many families. Most would say this was the start of gentrification in the Bayview.
Aside from AIMCO coming into the Bayview, the community is currently facing a much bigger threat: The Hunters Point Redevelopment project, which will transform more than 700 acres of waterfront property near Candlestick Park. This project is set to make room for 12,000 housing units comprised of new condos, waterfront apartments and affordable housing.
In 2007, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) selected HOPE SF, a Mayor’s Office on Housing
program that seeks to revitalize public housing sites without displacing residents by investing in schools and services, to transform the Alice Griffith Public Housing Development and transform the surrounding area.
By employing this federal grant, HOPE SF should help to redevelop this dilapidated area. This project is set to bring 1,200 new units of affordable housing to the Bayview.
Activist groups in the Bayview such as POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights) have worked hard to inform the community about gentrification and what actions residents can take to help their community. In 2005, POWER
successfully led a protest against Lennar Corporation to stop the development of luxury condos in the Bayview.
Despite their efforts, this was only a minor victory in the battle for affordable housing in San Francisco.
“San Francisco has the highest displacement of African Americans, higher than New York and New Orleans,” said organizer Beatriz Herrera.
Residents of the Bayview say that they are starting to feel the pressure of gentrification.
“You think I want to live anywhere else? No, I wanted to come here and raise my family here. It’s society that puts a bad connotation to these housing projects. All these people that live here are my family and I want my kids to be born and raised with their family,” said Damin Rochell, who has been a resident of the neighborhood for two decades.