Plans to build tiny housing for the homeless in a San Francisco parking lot are being derailed over excessive costs and resident complaints.
The city planned to build 70 cabins at approximately $100,000 each in the Mission District as a way to put a dent in the homelessness crisis. Supervisor Hillary Ronen thought the area was perfect because the parking lot was blighted and now it could be put to good use.
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But Ronen found that other projects have been built at a fraction of the cost in San Francisco and elsewhere. And neighbors voiced their frustration over the project in a town hall meeting, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“My question is whether or not this is really a good location for it, being that it’s so close to the school,” said Todd Eng, one of the 100 attendees at the meeting. “I’m not convinced there is no other space that could have been used.”
Eng said his fourth-grade daughter already encounters homeless encampments and drug users on the street as she walks to school and doesn’t need additional problems.
The city spends more than $600 million a year on the homeless and would have to add another $1.4 billion to make an impact, according to a report cited by the San Francisco Chronicle. This would pay for 3,810 housing units and 2,250 additional shelter beds.
So far, San Francisco has constructed a tiny home project in a neighborhood setting at $15,000 per home. In Santa Barbara, tiny homes were built for $51,400 each, and Oakland now has a similar community built for $10,000 each.
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Ronen said the project is on hold. She recently toured the area around the parking lot and didn’t like seeing rundown conditions with crime, trash, and drug use.
“I’m not going to continue to fight for these services in the Mission, unless the city really throws down to care about our neighborhood,” she told the San Francisco Chronicle. “These street conditions would not be allowed in the Marina or Pacific Heights, and I’m tired of being the city’s sacrificial lamb.”