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"content": "\u003cp>As the cost of living continues to pinch Californians, state lawmakers have a new focus: bringing down the cost of housing construction to get more homes built quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their solution, so far, is to industrialize the building process by facilitating prefab, modular and manufactured housing. Earlier this year, a group of California lawmakers \u003ca href=\"https://committees.assembly.ca.gov/selectcommitteeonhousingconstructioninnovation/hearings/all-hearings\">held a series of hearings\u003c/a> as part of the Select Committee on Housing Construction Innovation to understand what barriers stand in the way of scaling up factory-built construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It comes after lawmakers last year passed a series of bills that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046558/california-lawmakers-approve-major-overhaul-of-landmark-environmental-law\">streamlined environmental reviews\u003c/a> for housing developments and transformed the way \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042670/controversial-housing-near-transit-bill-advances-to-next-stop-in-legislature\">housing is built near transit\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A key piece of making housing more affordable is bringing down the cost of construction,” Committee Chair and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Berkeley, said in a statement to KQED. “Factory-built housing is not a silver bullet, but it can be part of the solution to our housing crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/PathwaystoScaleInnovativeConstruction2026.pdf\">report, published Monday\u003c/a>, from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, found factory-built housing, also known as prefab and manufactured housing, could cut costs by up to 20% and slash building timelines in half — a key innovation needed to ramp up construction and meet the state’s goal of building \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/05/14/governor-newsom-unveils-proposal-to-cut-red-tape-and-fast-track-housing-and-development/\">2.5 million homes by 2030\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075106\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075106\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Factory OS employee works on the assembly process of modular homes at the Vallejo warehouse on Aug. 6, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, these projects face big hurdles in securing financing and overcoming a patchwork of regulatory approvals that can vary by jurisdiction. Following the committee’s Construction Innovation hearings, state lawmakers now plan to introduce their own package of bills aiming to streamline the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those efforts will dovetail with legislation at the federal level, where lawmakers are also trying to solve the nation’s growing housing affordability crisis, caused in part by a construction slump. Federal legislators are currently working on \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48732\">two \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48849\">separate\u003c/a> bill packages taking aim at red tape and outdated safety standards, which lawmakers on both sides of the aisle argue have prevented factories from churning out housing for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while there has historically been resistance from unions to factory-built housing, there is a growing recognition of the benefits to workers. Jeremy Smith, deputy legislative director for the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, said during a committee hearing that while the trades \u003ca href=\"https://committees.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/transcipt-select-committee-on-housing-construction-innovation-hearing-2-january-14-2026.pdf\">prefer on-site construction methods\u003c/a>, modular-built housing “provides a solution to building — to actually building — more housing for people of all income levels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He pointed to Fullstack Modular, a construction company with a factory in Carson, California, which employs about 200 unionized workers to construct modular homes. He said working in a factory, as opposed to commuting long hours to job sites, benefits employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because of the consistent work hours and the factory location within the community, trades workers and more craftspeople are able to consider the trades and still accommodate childcare and other life needs,” he said. “Workers who have not secured reliable transportation, for example, can more easily get to the stationary location of the Carson factory, making their transition into the building trades easier.”[aside postID=news_12068746 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg']Factory-built housing is not necessarily new in California. For years, a number of construction firms have offered modular housing or prefabricated units, which can be manufactured miles away and assembled on site. But many of those firms have \u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/27/prefab-home-builder-veev-reportedly-shutting-down-after-reaching-unicorn-status-last-year/\">failed to scale up\u003c/a> and have \u003ca href=\"https://www.vallejosun.com/vallejo-modular-home-manufacturer-to-close-laying-off-all-employees/\">shuttered\u003c/a> their factories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michelle Boyd, chief strategy officer for Terner Labs, a nonprofit incubator program connected to the Terner Center, said the construction industry hasn’t changed in decades and neither have the laws or financing systems surrounding it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The construction industry has worked the way it’s worked for 100 years,” she said. “And there are many different silos. Every player has their own little piece of the puzzle on how you put a house together or an apartment together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But industrialized construction consolidates that system into one factory, and that, in turn, runs up against regulatory and financing norms, which makes it difficult for new types of construction to successfully enter — and stay — in the market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it comes to regulations, the Terner Center’s report details inconsistencies between local governments’ building codes as one barrier to be removed. Although the state has adopted a set of standards for housing built in factories, local governments still require certain plan reviews and inspections, which can change a standardized product into a bespoke project for each city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the finance side, banks and insurance agencies have funded traditional site-built housing for decades, so they understand the risks involved. But factory-built construction has yet to meet mainstream adoption, which means financial institutions have less data and experience to gauge risk. That makes it harder to access capital needed to get projects off the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075099\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075099\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Factory OS employees work on different parts of the assembly process of modular homes at the Vallejo warehouse on Aug. 6, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Boyd said that because developers sometimes have trouble finding financing, it means deals can fall through, resulting in holes in the factories’ production pipeline. When that happens, she said, “They can’t sustain that because they have to pay the wages, and so they close.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she argues that the state could work to assume some of the risk of the transaction and stabilize the pipeline so those holes don’t exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the main policy areas that we uncovered is a role potentially for the state in helping hold some of that risk, so we’re not really asking these developers to risk losing a lot of money or having the deal go upside down halfway through,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taken together, Boyd said, these proposed reforms, if implemented, could have the potential to jumpstart the industry, bringing down the cost of construction for builders, and hopefully, for homeowners too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A key piece of making housing more affordable is bringing down the cost of construction,” Committee Chair and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Berkeley, said in a statement to KQED. “Factory-built housing is not a silver bullet, but it can be part of the solution to our housing crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/PathwaystoScaleInnovativeConstruction2026.pdf\">report, published Monday\u003c/a>, from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, found factory-built housing, also known as prefab and manufactured housing, could cut costs by up to 20% and slash building timelines in half — a key innovation needed to ramp up construction and meet the state’s goal of building \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/05/14/governor-newsom-unveils-proposal-to-cut-red-tape-and-fast-track-housing-and-development/\">2.5 million homes by 2030\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075106\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075106\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/030_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Factory OS employee works on the assembly process of modular homes at the Vallejo warehouse on Aug. 6, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, these projects face big hurdles in securing financing and overcoming a patchwork of regulatory approvals that can vary by jurisdiction. Following the committee’s Construction Innovation hearings, state lawmakers now plan to introduce their own package of bills aiming to streamline the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those efforts will dovetail with legislation at the federal level, where lawmakers are also trying to solve the nation’s growing housing affordability crisis, caused in part by a construction slump. Federal legislators are currently working on \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48732\">two \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48849\">separate\u003c/a> bill packages taking aim at red tape and outdated safety standards, which lawmakers on both sides of the aisle argue have prevented factories from churning out housing for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while there has historically been resistance from unions to factory-built housing, there is a growing recognition of the benefits to workers. Jeremy Smith, deputy legislative director for the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, said during a committee hearing that while the trades \u003ca href=\"https://committees.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/transcipt-select-committee-on-housing-construction-innovation-hearing-2-january-14-2026.pdf\">prefer on-site construction methods\u003c/a>, modular-built housing “provides a solution to building — to actually building — more housing for people of all income levels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He pointed to Fullstack Modular, a construction company with a factory in Carson, California, which employs about 200 unionized workers to construct modular homes. He said working in a factory, as opposed to commuting long hours to job sites, benefits employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because of the consistent work hours and the factory location within the community, trades workers and more craftspeople are able to consider the trades and still accommodate childcare and other life needs,” he said. “Workers who have not secured reliable transportation, for example, can more easily get to the stationary location of the Carson factory, making their transition into the building trades easier.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Factory-built housing is not necessarily new in California. For years, a number of construction firms have offered modular housing or prefabricated units, which can be manufactured miles away and assembled on site. But many of those firms have \u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/27/prefab-home-builder-veev-reportedly-shutting-down-after-reaching-unicorn-status-last-year/\">failed to scale up\u003c/a> and have \u003ca href=\"https://www.vallejosun.com/vallejo-modular-home-manufacturer-to-close-laying-off-all-employees/\">shuttered\u003c/a> their factories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michelle Boyd, chief strategy officer for Terner Labs, a nonprofit incubator program connected to the Terner Center, said the construction industry hasn’t changed in decades and neither have the laws or financing systems surrounding it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The construction industry has worked the way it’s worked for 100 years,” she said. “And there are many different silos. Every player has their own little piece of the puzzle on how you put a house together or an apartment together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But industrialized construction consolidates that system into one factory, and that, in turn, runs up against regulatory and financing norms, which makes it difficult for new types of construction to successfully enter — and stay — in the market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it comes to regulations, the Terner Center’s report details inconsistencies between local governments’ building codes as one barrier to be removed. Although the state has adopted a set of standards for housing built in factories, local governments still require certain plan reviews and inspections, which can change a standardized product into a bespoke project for each city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the finance side, banks and insurance agencies have funded traditional site-built housing for decades, so they understand the risks involved. But factory-built construction has yet to meet mainstream adoption, which means financial institutions have less data and experience to gauge risk. That makes it harder to access capital needed to get projects off the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075099\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075099\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/026_KQED_Vallejo_FactoryOS_08062020_qed-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Factory OS employees work on different parts of the assembly process of modular homes at the Vallejo warehouse on Aug. 6, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Boyd said that because developers sometimes have trouble finding financing, it means deals can fall through, resulting in holes in the factories’ production pipeline. When that happens, she said, “They can’t sustain that because they have to pay the wages, and so they close.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she argues that the state could work to assume some of the risk of the transaction and stabilize the pipeline so those holes don’t exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the main policy areas that we uncovered is a role potentially for the state in helping hold some of that risk, so we’re not really asking these developers to risk losing a lot of money or having the deal go upside down halfway through,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taken together, Boyd said, these proposed reforms, if implemented, could have the potential to jumpstart the industry, bringing down the cost of construction for builders, and hopefully, for homeowners too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "the-eccentric-personalities-behind-sunnyside-conservatory-a-120-year-old-garden-in-san-francisco",
"title": "The Eccentric Personalities Behind Sunnyside Conservatory, a 120-Year-Old Garden in San Francisco",
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"headTitle": "The Eccentric Personalities Behind Sunnyside Conservatory, a 120-Year-Old Garden in San Francisco | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco’s \u003c/a>Sunnyside neighborhood, just west of Glen Park, isn’t actually very sunny. In fact, it’s one of the foggier places in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of its main thoroughfares, Monterey Boulevard, carries drivers west towards tonier places like St. Francis Wood, passing many houses and apartment buildings along the way. But slow down a little, and you might catch a glimpse of a building that feels out of the ordinary in this residential place — Sunnyside Conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Set back from the street and tucked behind a wrought iron gate, the octagonal redwood building has two stories of windows surrounded by a lush garden of towering palms, ferns and flowering bushes. It’s beautiful and old-world feeling, a unique Victorian gem on an otherwise busy street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious listener Mary Balmana often uses Monterey Boulevard to get to her home in Mission Terrace. She’s seen the conservatory hundreds of times, but hasn’t noticed anyone going inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know anything about it, but I’ve passed it my whole life,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074410\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074410\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunnyside resident and historian Amy O’Hair poses for a portrait at Sunnyside Conservatory in San Francisco on February 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, she wants answers. What is the conservatory doing here in Sunnyside, who owns it and could she rent it out?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>An inventor’s oasis\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Sunnyside Conservatory was built by William Augustus Merralls, a British inventor and eccentric. He bought a house along what is now Monterey Boulevard in 1897, when the area was mostly rural. Land was cheap, so he also bought up seven lots around his house and then set about making the grounds his own private oasis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He collected exotic plants, and he liked to have a place for them,” said Amy O’Hair, Sunnyside resident,\u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/\"> local historian\u003c/a> and author of the forthcoming book, \u003cem>History Walks in Sunnyside\u003c/em>. She’s currently writing a book about the conservatory’s history.[aside postID=news_12074121 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260123-ITALIANNORTHBEACH-06-BL-KQED.jpg']Merralls made his money designing and patenting mining equipment. He had more than 20 different patents, mostly for machines that helped extract ever smaller amounts of gold from rock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He did well, but whatever he got he spent on his projects,” O’Hair said. “He had a restless mind, always wanting to invent new things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of his inventions were practical, others less so. He invented an automobile starter, a refrigerator and a “deep breathing developer,” a contraption for his wife, Temperance Laura, who was fascinated by alternative medicine. The details of how it actually worked have been lost to time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1902, he built the conservatory, a building beautifully crafted out of redwood in Victorian style. In addition to collecting exotic plants, Merralls also loved astronomy. He built himself an observatory on the back of his house. And he loved luxury items; his house had two grand pianos and a private bowling alley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He apparently didn’t need to live amongst his peers,” O’Hair said. “He was a very independent-minded man, and he was happy out here in his own enclave with all of his toys in the house and all of those plants out here in the conservatory and a wife he loved.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and his wife, Temperance Laura, lived in Sunnyside, enjoying their house and its grounds until 1914, when Merralls tragically died in a train accident while visiting a friend in Alameda. By that point, he had sunk all his money into various pursuits that hadn’t paid off, and when he died, Temperance Laura couldn’t afford to keep living on their estate in Sunnyside. The bank repossessed the house.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Second act as swindler’s hideout\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The property sat empty and neglected for three years before another odd couple, Ernest and Angele Van Beckh, came along and \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2023/07/18/the-king-of-the-clairvoyants-the-man-who-bought-the-sunnyside-conservatory/\">bought it in 1919\u003c/a>. Ernest Van Beckh was a con man, a member of the \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2023/07/18/the-king-of-the-clairvoyants-the-man-who-bought-the-sunnyside-conservatory/\">“Big Five” \u003c/a>whose exploits selling worthless mining shares to unsuspecting people and stealing their money were splashed across the newspapers in 1916.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the district attorney brought charges against Van Beckh, he got off when witnesses the prosecution had lined up to testify “just kind of went away,” as Amy put it. One went back to Montana. Another decided not to press charges. And Ernest avoided jail time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074414\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074414\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1341\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED-1536x1030.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunnyside Conservatory circa 1975, when it had fallen into disrepair. Here, the east wing still stands, but it was later knocked down. \u003ccite>(Greg Gaar/San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They made millions of dollars in the 1910s,” O’Hair said. “And some of that money went towards buying this property. This was their hideout.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Van Beckhs would live here for decades. Ernest died in 1951, but Angele stayed on through the early ‘60s, although she too started to have money problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She slowly sold off all the property to a neighbor,” O’Hair said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighbors were friends who built their own house on the other side of the conservatory — what is now 234 Monterey Boulevard. While Angele was living there, the two families enjoyed the conservatory and its grounds as one shared yard. But when they moved away, the property lines became a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Saving the conservatory again and again\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 1974, Angele’s friends sold their house at 234 Monterey Boulevard and the property with the conservatory on it to a man named Robert Anderson. He started delineating the different lots with an eye to \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2025/04/18/saving-sunnyside-conservatory/\">developing the property\u003c/a> further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, neighbors started getting interested in preserving the conservatory as a historic landmark. The \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysideassociation.org/\">Sunnyside Neighborhood Association\u003c/a> had just formed, and its members started researching the conservatory’s history with a goal to get it landmarked by the city.[aside postID=news_11958380 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/BlueHouse_Flickr.png']“They wanted to save it from demolition,” O’Hair said. After World War II, \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2025/12/07/sunnyside-upzoned/\">Sunnyside was rezoned \u003c/a>to allow for more apartment buildings, which started popping up along Monterey Boulevard throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s. “And they didn’t want to see this property go for apartment buildings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neighbors were successful in getting the \u003ca href=\"https://default.sfplanning.org/Preservation/bulletins/HistPres_Bulletin_09.PDF\">conservatory landmarked in 1975\u003c/a>, which theoretically should have preserved it. However, the owner, Robert Anderson, still managed to get a permit to demolish it. Neighbors had no idea about his plan until they spotted construction equipment at work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was riding my bicycle along Monterey Boulevard,” neighbor \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v70K3B-inOg\">Greg Garr said in an interview with Amy O’Hair\u003c/a>. “I think I was going to City College at that time. And I passed by the Sunnyside Conservatory, and I saw heavy equipment in there. And part of the building had been removed. And I said, ‘What the heck? I mean, are they demolishing it?’ I knew it was a registered historic landmark.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called his representative and City Hall, clamoring to stop the demolition. Those efforts were successful, but the damage had been done. The structure was damaged, and almost all the windows had been knocked out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was an emergency now,” O’Hair said. “The city needed to buy the property. What good is a landmark if you don’t own the property under it?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074238\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074238\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stock certificate of William Merralls, who built Sunnyside Conservatory, is shown by Amy O’Hair at Sunnyside Conservatory in San Francisco on February 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 1980, the city bought the land from Robert Anderson using the \u003ca href=\"https://generalplan.sfplanning.org/I3_Recreation_and_Open_Space.htm#:~:text=San%20Francisco%20values%20its%20recreation,the%20combination%20of%20the%20two.\">Open Space Fund\u003c/a>. And for many years after, the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association did its best to look after the building, but it fell into disrepair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All those years in the 90s when it had no glass, and you could climb right over [the fence], there was always graffiti and beer bottles,” O’Hair remembered. “And Rec and Park didn’t really take care of the grounds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, it was another neighbor, \u003ca href=\"https://calhortsociety.org/2020/01/29/ted-kipping/\">Ted Kipping\u003c/a>, who tended the beautiful trees and plants William Merralls had planted all those years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One time, when I was talking to him, he said, ‘I spent $1,000 a month on water,’” O’Hair said. “I don’t know if it’s true. But he was very important to preserving some of the specialness of the grounds, for which I’m thankful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Renovating the conservatory\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 1999, another neighborhood group formed — \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunnysideconservatory.org/about\">Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory\u003c/a>. They set ambitious fundraising goals and worked with San Francisco Rec and Park to execute a multimillion-dollar renovation of the building that would restore it to its original glory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the building was under renovation, yet another neighbor came forward with a piece of history to share. When the building and grounds were sold in 1974, and it looked like the old place might be demolished by Robert Anderson, this neighbor had saved the wooden spire from the top of the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074241\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074241\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunnyside Conservatory contains a sign indicating that it is a city landmark in San Francisco on February 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He kept it in his garage for 30 years, bringing it out and offering it to the builders as they renovated. Unfortunately, by then it was rotting, but the builders made an exact replica and covered it in copper. That spire sits on top of the building to this day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a community-led effort, top to bottom,” O’Hair said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The conservatory has since become a symbol for Sunnyside residents. It was the first campaign that brought neighbors together, fighting for something that makes their corner of San Francisco special and unique.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Rec and Park now maintains the building and grounds, but \u003ca href=\"https://sfrecpark.org/665/Sunnyside-Conservatory\">they do rent it out\u003c/a>. Sunnyside neighborhood groups get a bit of a deal, but there have been plenty of weddings, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> If you’ve been listening to the show for a while you may have intuited by now, but San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park is one of my absolute favorite places. I love all its nooks and crannies, the unique playgrounds, those long undulating pathways. But I’d argue the crown jewel of the park is the Conservatory of Flowers, partly because of the incredible and rare plants housed inside…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>News Clip: \u003c/strong>The rare corpse flower at the Conservatory of flowers is now open to view and smell.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Like the corpse flower, which only blooms for 48 hours every 3-5 years! And stands more than 6 feet tall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Conservatory of Flowers is also renowned for its architecture. A Victorian glass building – delicate, intricate – topped with a stately domed roof. It’s like nothing else in the city! Or so I thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turns out San Francisco has \u003cem>another\u003c/em> conservatory across town near Glen Park. It’s much smaller, only a quarter the size, but still lovely. I’m talking about Sunnyside Conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Balmana: \u003c/strong>My name is Mary Balmana. I live in the Mission Terrace area of San Francisco, and I don’t know anything about it, but I’ve passed it my whole life, basically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Mary drives by Sunnyside Conservatory on Monterey Boulevard often, but never sees anyone going in or out. She wants to know its history – and how such a curious building ended up in what is otherwise a very residential area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious editor and producer Katrina Schwartz is here to tell us all about it. Hi, Katrina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Hi Olivia\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Maybe you could start by just painting a picture of the conservatory as it looks now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The Sunnyside Conservatory is set back from the street a little ways and is surrounded by a lush garden with huge palm trees, ferns and beautiful flowering bushes. It kind of feels like a cloud forest right in the middle of a residential neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> What about the building itself?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The building is made of redwood and features a two story octagonal center that dominates the senses. Two levels of windows that let in beautiful amounts of light…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> What kind of fabulous plants are inside? Anything to rival the corpse flower?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Sadly, this conservatory no longer has plants inside at all. It’s now used as an events space. But when it was first built in 1902, it was the pride of its owner – who was just the first of a line of quirky residents the property has had over its 100 or so years. Let’s meet some of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>It was built by an eccentric and unique man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Amy O’Hair runs the Sunnyside History Project and lives nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>He was an inventor, William Augustus Merralls, he moved here to Sunnyside when there was very little on Monterey Boulevard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Even though Sunnyside is part of San Francisco now, back then the area was rural. Picture a smattering of houses and dairy farms. Merralls bought a big house here in 1897 and then several adjoining plots of land over the next few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>He accumulated seven lots, and then built his conservatory in 1902. He collected exotic plants and he liked to have a place for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Merralls made his money engineering mining equipment — but his true heart’s desire was invention. Over the years he invented dozens of things, some useful stuff, and some less so. Amy actually met his great grandson, who had some of Merralls’ old papers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>I thought I’d show you some stuff. Things that belonged to William Merrill’s like his patents. So I have all the patents for things that he made. This is a stamp mill. That’s a thing that crushes rock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz in scene: \u003c/strong>Look at those seals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Yes, they’re very fancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>This is a letter he wrote while he was in New York City raising money for the automobile starters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz in scene: \u003c/strong>Will you read a little bit of it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Darling, you should see the Merralls starter at work on that big engine. You would be tickled to pieces. It is a dandy. And when you come on for Thanksgiving, you shall be the first lady to ride in an automobile that has the only commercial, perfect self-starter in the world, and that one is a Merralls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz in scene: \u003c/strong>He’s like promoting himself to his wife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>To his wife, for God’s sake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The thing is, Merralls probably had his hand in one too many projects. He had a tendency to move on before things were finished and he was sued a number of times. By the time of his death in 1914, he was having money problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Mmm. Unfortunately, you can’t just create the thing, but you have to sell it too…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Yes, and unfortunately that meant that when he died, the bank repossessed the whole property, including the conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> What happened to it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The house and its grounds sat empty for three years and then another couple bought it. The next in the line of curious owners…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>The name of this couple was Ernest and Angel Van Beck. They were very strange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Ernest Van Bech was essentially a scam artist. He made a boatload of money selling worthless mining bonds to people…basically swindling them out of their money. The district attorney even brought charges, but when the witnesses didn’t show up to testify, they had to let Ernest go. And he lived out his life on the property with the conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Ernest would not show his face. There were a lot of rumors about him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Kind of the Boo Radley of Sunnyside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> He really was. The neighborhood kids were all afraid of him. But after decades living in the house next to the conservatory he died in 1951. His wife, Angele, kept living there, but she needed money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>She slowly sold off all the property to a neighbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The neighbors were friends of hers. They built a house on the other side of the conservatory — the east wing of the building was actually in their backyard. At the time, that wasn’t a big deal because Angele and her friends basically shared the conservatory and its grounds like one big yard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>But eventually Angele moved away and her friends sold their home – and they leave behind the conservatory, which now straddles two properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Is this foreshadowing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>This is foreshadowing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>We’ll find out what happened after this quick break.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sponsor message\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Alright, Katrina, you were telling us what happened to the conservatory after Angele Van Beck and her friends next door moved away and sold the property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The bulk of the conservatory and its grounds ended up in the hands of a man named Robert Anderson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>It’s 1975 by now, and there’s a lot of local interest in the conservatory as a historic structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>People who live nearby had grown attached to the conservatory. They view it as a symbol of the neighborhood. A group called the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association forms and they start researching the history of the conservatory in order to get it landmarked as a historic building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>They wanted to save it from demolition because in the 50s and 60s and 70s, along Monterey Boulevard, we’d had so many empty lots, and it was rezoned after the war, that apartment buildings were growing up all the way along it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The neighbors succeeded in getting the building landmarked, but that didn’t keep it safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>But then Robert Anderson decided he actually would build some apartment buildings and he got a permit to demolish the conservatory, which he attempted to do at the end of 1978. And it was only saved because of two people who had their eye on the conservatory. Greg Gaar is one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Greg Garr: \u003c/strong>Well, I was riding my bicycle along Monterey Boulevard. I think I was going to City College at that time. And I passed by the Sunnyside Conservatory and I saw heavy equipment in there. And part of the building had been removed. And I said, what the heck? I mean, are they demolishing it? I knew it was a registered historic landmark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Greg Garr and other neighbors started frantically calling city hall and they got the demolition halted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>When they were done, the glass was knocked out of most of the windows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> This seems like an impasse. Robert Anderson can’t knock the conservatory down and build anything new – but he owns it. So what happens?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Well, the city buys the land from him. But there wasn’t any money to renovate the building then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Sunnyside Neighborhood Association tried to get it renovated and they looked after it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>They scraped graffiti off the building and boarded up all the broken windows to keep rain out. But unfortunately the whole thing was falling into disrepair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At some point in the 1980s, the east wing of the conservatory – the part that crossed over onto another property – it gets knocked down, leaving the building looking kind of lopsided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>And it is a loss, because it’s no longer, it’s whole, whole self.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Wait, after saving it from being knocked down by the developer…part of it was still demolished?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Yes, sadly. Amy says the circumstances are a bit mysterious, but that eastern wing is in photos of the conservatory through early 1980 and then it’s just gone. If you go there now, there’s a fence right up against the main part of the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Sounds like these neighbors really had to be vigilant to keep this thing from being torn down completely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> You know, they did their best. And there was a man who lived behind the conservatory…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Whose name was Ted Kipping. And he was a professional botanist, arborist, and plant collector, and photographer, speaker. Very ambitious, very dedicated. He took care of the grounds in the 90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The conservatory becomes something of a pet project for him. A very expensive one…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>One time, when I was talking to him, he said, I spent $1,000 a month on water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> How does it turn into the beautiful building it is today?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>A group called the Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory forms in 1999 and spend about 10 years raising money and getting San Francisco Rec and Park on board. They did a big multimillion dollar renovation in the 2000s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reopening video clip: \u003c/strong>We’re here at the Sunnyside’s Conservatory that’s re-opening and this has been a long fought community effort to make this happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>There was a big party at the conservatory to celebrate its reopening in 2009. Then mayor Gavin Newsom was there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>In a hundred years they’ll be talking about, in 2009…\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Everyone was so excited that this neighborhood gem had been restored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reopening video clip: \u003c/strong>Here’s the original spire. It was somewhere up there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>The conservatory has a spire?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Yes — the original 1902 building that William Merralls built had a redwood spire on top. And a neighbor kept that spire in his garage for 30 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>This man volunteered this finial, redwood finial from the original building and said, well, here it is. You know, you can put it back on the new building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> And did they?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Well, by then it was fairly rotten. So, instead they made an exact replica, covered it in copper and that’s what’s now on top of the current building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> A bit of a cherry on top, if you will. So now the neighborhood has this pretty special place for everyone to enjoy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Not only that, but working to preserve the conservatory brought the community together\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Thanks for sharing this history with us, Katrina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> My pleasure. And if you haven’t been to the Sunnyside Conservatory, you should really check it out!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> One thing I love about the Bay Area is that most neighborhoods have little gems like this one. They’re usually not things people would go out of their way to visit…but they do make each little corner of this area special. If you’ve got a spot near you that you’ve always wondered about, head on over to bay curious dot org and submit a question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re interested to know more about Sunnyside, Amy O’Hair has a book called \u003cem>History Walks of Sunnyside\u003c/em> coming out very soon. So keep your eyes peeled for that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve been enjoying the double dose of Bay Curious we’ve been putting out this month, consider making a donation to KQED to support our work. Every little bit helps, just head over to KQED dot or slash donate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our show is produced by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and me, Olivia Allen Price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With extra support from Maha Sanad, Katie Sprenger, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on team KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a great week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco’s \u003c/a>Sunnyside neighborhood, just west of Glen Park, isn’t actually very sunny. In fact, it’s one of the foggier places in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of its main thoroughfares, Monterey Boulevard, carries drivers west towards tonier places like St. Francis Wood, passing many houses and apartment buildings along the way. But slow down a little, and you might catch a glimpse of a building that feels out of the ordinary in this residential place — Sunnyside Conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Set back from the street and tucked behind a wrought iron gate, the octagonal redwood building has two stories of windows surrounded by a lush garden of towering palms, ferns and flowering bushes. It’s beautiful and old-world feeling, a unique Victorian gem on an otherwise busy street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious listener Mary Balmana often uses Monterey Boulevard to get to her home in Mission Terrace. She’s seen the conservatory hundreds of times, but hasn’t noticed anyone going inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know anything about it, but I’ve passed it my whole life,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074410\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074410\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-sunnysideconservatory00188_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunnyside resident and historian Amy O’Hair poses for a portrait at Sunnyside Conservatory in San Francisco on February 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, she wants answers. What is the conservatory doing here in Sunnyside, who owns it and could she rent it out?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>An inventor’s oasis\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Sunnyside Conservatory was built by William Augustus Merralls, a British inventor and eccentric. He bought a house along what is now Monterey Boulevard in 1897, when the area was mostly rural. Land was cheap, so he also bought up seven lots around his house and then set about making the grounds his own private oasis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He collected exotic plants, and he liked to have a place for them,” said Amy O’Hair, Sunnyside resident,\u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/\"> local historian\u003c/a> and author of the forthcoming book, \u003cem>History Walks in Sunnyside\u003c/em>. She’s currently writing a book about the conservatory’s history.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Merralls made his money designing and patenting mining equipment. He had more than 20 different patents, mostly for machines that helped extract ever smaller amounts of gold from rock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He did well, but whatever he got he spent on his projects,” O’Hair said. “He had a restless mind, always wanting to invent new things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of his inventions were practical, others less so. He invented an automobile starter, a refrigerator and a “deep breathing developer,” a contraption for his wife, Temperance Laura, who was fascinated by alternative medicine. The details of how it actually worked have been lost to time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1902, he built the conservatory, a building beautifully crafted out of redwood in Victorian style. In addition to collecting exotic plants, Merralls also loved astronomy. He built himself an observatory on the back of his house. And he loved luxury items; his house had two grand pianos and a private bowling alley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He apparently didn’t need to live amongst his peers,” O’Hair said. “He was a very independent-minded man, and he was happy out here in his own enclave with all of his toys in the house and all of those plants out here in the conservatory and a wife he loved.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and his wife, Temperance Laura, lived in Sunnyside, enjoying their house and its grounds until 1914, when Merralls tragically died in a train accident while visiting a friend in Alameda. By that point, he had sunk all his money into various pursuits that hadn’t paid off, and when he died, Temperance Laura couldn’t afford to keep living on their estate in Sunnyside. The bank repossessed the house.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Second act as swindler’s hideout\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The property sat empty and neglected for three years before another odd couple, Ernest and Angele Van Beckh, came along and \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2023/07/18/the-king-of-the-clairvoyants-the-man-who-bought-the-sunnyside-conservatory/\">bought it in 1919\u003c/a>. Ernest Van Beckh was a con man, a member of the \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2023/07/18/the-king-of-the-clairvoyants-the-man-who-bought-the-sunnyside-conservatory/\">“Big Five” \u003c/a>whose exploits selling worthless mining shares to unsuspecting people and stealing their money were splashed across the newspapers in 1916.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the district attorney brought charges against Van Beckh, he got off when witnesses the prosecution had lined up to testify “just kind of went away,” as Amy put it. One went back to Montana. Another decided not to press charges. And Ernest avoided jail time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074414\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074414\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1341\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260224-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY-CIRCA-1975-KQED-1536x1030.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunnyside Conservatory circa 1975, when it had fallen into disrepair. Here, the east wing still stands, but it was later knocked down. \u003ccite>(Greg Gaar/San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They made millions of dollars in the 1910s,” O’Hair said. “And some of that money went towards buying this property. This was their hideout.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Van Beckhs would live here for decades. Ernest died in 1951, but Angele stayed on through the early ‘60s, although she too started to have money problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She slowly sold off all the property to a neighbor,” O’Hair said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighbors were friends who built their own house on the other side of the conservatory — what is now 234 Monterey Boulevard. While Angele was living there, the two families enjoyed the conservatory and its grounds as one shared yard. But when they moved away, the property lines became a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Saving the conservatory again and again\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 1974, Angele’s friends sold their house at 234 Monterey Boulevard and the property with the conservatory on it to a man named Robert Anderson. He started delineating the different lots with an eye to \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2025/04/18/saving-sunnyside-conservatory/\">developing the property\u003c/a> further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, neighbors started getting interested in preserving the conservatory as a historic landmark. The \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysideassociation.org/\">Sunnyside Neighborhood Association\u003c/a> had just formed, and its members started researching the conservatory’s history with a goal to get it landmarked by the city.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“They wanted to save it from demolition,” O’Hair said. After World War II, \u003ca href=\"https://sunnysidehistory.org/2025/12/07/sunnyside-upzoned/\">Sunnyside was rezoned \u003c/a>to allow for more apartment buildings, which started popping up along Monterey Boulevard throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s. “And they didn’t want to see this property go for apartment buildings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neighbors were successful in getting the \u003ca href=\"https://default.sfplanning.org/Preservation/bulletins/HistPres_Bulletin_09.PDF\">conservatory landmarked in 1975\u003c/a>, which theoretically should have preserved it. However, the owner, Robert Anderson, still managed to get a permit to demolish it. Neighbors had no idea about his plan until they spotted construction equipment at work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was riding my bicycle along Monterey Boulevard,” neighbor \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v70K3B-inOg\">Greg Garr said in an interview with Amy O’Hair\u003c/a>. “I think I was going to City College at that time. And I passed by the Sunnyside Conservatory, and I saw heavy equipment in there. And part of the building had been removed. And I said, ‘What the heck? I mean, are they demolishing it?’ I knew it was a registered historic landmark.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called his representative and City Hall, clamoring to stop the demolition. Those efforts were successful, but the damage had been done. The structure was damaged, and almost all the windows had been knocked out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was an emergency now,” O’Hair said. “The city needed to buy the property. What good is a landmark if you don’t own the property under it?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074238\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074238\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00222_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stock certificate of William Merralls, who built Sunnyside Conservatory, is shown by Amy O’Hair at Sunnyside Conservatory in San Francisco on February 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 1980, the city bought the land from Robert Anderson using the \u003ca href=\"https://generalplan.sfplanning.org/I3_Recreation_and_Open_Space.htm#:~:text=San%20Francisco%20values%20its%20recreation,the%20combination%20of%20the%20two.\">Open Space Fund\u003c/a>. And for many years after, the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association did its best to look after the building, but it fell into disrepair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All those years in the 90s when it had no glass, and you could climb right over [the fence], there was always graffiti and beer bottles,” O’Hair remembered. “And Rec and Park didn’t really take care of the grounds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, it was another neighbor, \u003ca href=\"https://calhortsociety.org/2020/01/29/ted-kipping/\">Ted Kipping\u003c/a>, who tended the beautiful trees and plants William Merralls had planted all those years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One time, when I was talking to him, he said, ‘I spent $1,000 a month on water,’” O’Hair said. “I don’t know if it’s true. But he was very important to preserving some of the specialness of the grounds, for which I’m thankful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Renovating the conservatory\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 1999, another neighborhood group formed — \u003ca href=\"https://www.sunnysideconservatory.org/about\">Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory\u003c/a>. They set ambitious fundraising goals and worked with San Francisco Rec and Park to execute a multimillion-dollar renovation of the building that would restore it to its original glory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the building was under renovation, yet another neighbor came forward with a piece of history to share. When the building and grounds were sold in 1974, and it looked like the old place might be demolished by Robert Anderson, this neighbor had saved the wooden spire from the top of the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074241\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074241\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260221-SUNNYSIDECONSERVATORY00362_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunnyside Conservatory contains a sign indicating that it is a city landmark in San Francisco on February 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He kept it in his garage for 30 years, bringing it out and offering it to the builders as they renovated. Unfortunately, by then it was rotting, but the builders made an exact replica and covered it in copper. That spire sits on top of the building to this day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a community-led effort, top to bottom,” O’Hair said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The conservatory has since become a symbol for Sunnyside residents. It was the first campaign that brought neighbors together, fighting for something that makes their corner of San Francisco special and unique.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Rec and Park now maintains the building and grounds, but \u003ca href=\"https://sfrecpark.org/665/Sunnyside-Conservatory\">they do rent it out\u003c/a>. Sunnyside neighborhood groups get a bit of a deal, but there have been plenty of weddings, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> If you’ve been listening to the show for a while you may have intuited by now, but San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park is one of my absolute favorite places. I love all its nooks and crannies, the unique playgrounds, those long undulating pathways. But I’d argue the crown jewel of the park is the Conservatory of Flowers, partly because of the incredible and rare plants housed inside…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>News Clip: \u003c/strong>The rare corpse flower at the Conservatory of flowers is now open to view and smell.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Like the corpse flower, which only blooms for 48 hours every 3-5 years! And stands more than 6 feet tall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Conservatory of Flowers is also renowned for its architecture. A Victorian glass building – delicate, intricate – topped with a stately domed roof. It’s like nothing else in the city! Or so I thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turns out San Francisco has \u003cem>another\u003c/em> conservatory across town near Glen Park. It’s much smaller, only a quarter the size, but still lovely. I’m talking about Sunnyside Conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Balmana: \u003c/strong>My name is Mary Balmana. I live in the Mission Terrace area of San Francisco, and I don’t know anything about it, but I’ve passed it my whole life, basically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Mary drives by Sunnyside Conservatory on Monterey Boulevard often, but never sees anyone going in or out. She wants to know its history – and how such a curious building ended up in what is otherwise a very residential area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious editor and producer Katrina Schwartz is here to tell us all about it. Hi, Katrina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Hi Olivia\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Maybe you could start by just painting a picture of the conservatory as it looks now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The Sunnyside Conservatory is set back from the street a little ways and is surrounded by a lush garden with huge palm trees, ferns and beautiful flowering bushes. It kind of feels like a cloud forest right in the middle of a residential neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> What about the building itself?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The building is made of redwood and features a two story octagonal center that dominates the senses. Two levels of windows that let in beautiful amounts of light…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> What kind of fabulous plants are inside? Anything to rival the corpse flower?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Sadly, this conservatory no longer has plants inside at all. It’s now used as an events space. But when it was first built in 1902, it was the pride of its owner – who was just the first of a line of quirky residents the property has had over its 100 or so years. Let’s meet some of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>It was built by an eccentric and unique man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Amy O’Hair runs the Sunnyside History Project and lives nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>He was an inventor, William Augustus Merralls, he moved here to Sunnyside when there was very little on Monterey Boulevard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Even though Sunnyside is part of San Francisco now, back then the area was rural. Picture a smattering of houses and dairy farms. Merralls bought a big house here in 1897 and then several adjoining plots of land over the next few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>He accumulated seven lots, and then built his conservatory in 1902. He collected exotic plants and he liked to have a place for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Merralls made his money engineering mining equipment — but his true heart’s desire was invention. Over the years he invented dozens of things, some useful stuff, and some less so. Amy actually met his great grandson, who had some of Merralls’ old papers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>I thought I’d show you some stuff. Things that belonged to William Merrill’s like his patents. So I have all the patents for things that he made. This is a stamp mill. That’s a thing that crushes rock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz in scene: \u003c/strong>Look at those seals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Yes, they’re very fancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>This is a letter he wrote while he was in New York City raising money for the automobile starters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz in scene: \u003c/strong>Will you read a little bit of it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Darling, you should see the Merralls starter at work on that big engine. You would be tickled to pieces. It is a dandy. And when you come on for Thanksgiving, you shall be the first lady to ride in an automobile that has the only commercial, perfect self-starter in the world, and that one is a Merralls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz in scene: \u003c/strong>He’s like promoting himself to his wife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>To his wife, for God’s sake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The thing is, Merralls probably had his hand in one too many projects. He had a tendency to move on before things were finished and he was sued a number of times. By the time of his death in 1914, he was having money problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Mmm. Unfortunately, you can’t just create the thing, but you have to sell it too…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Yes, and unfortunately that meant that when he died, the bank repossessed the whole property, including the conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> What happened to it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The house and its grounds sat empty for three years and then another couple bought it. The next in the line of curious owners…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>The name of this couple was Ernest and Angel Van Beck. They were very strange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Ernest Van Bech was essentially a scam artist. He made a boatload of money selling worthless mining bonds to people…basically swindling them out of their money. The district attorney even brought charges, but when the witnesses didn’t show up to testify, they had to let Ernest go. And he lived out his life on the property with the conservatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Ernest would not show his face. There were a lot of rumors about him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Kind of the Boo Radley of Sunnyside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> He really was. The neighborhood kids were all afraid of him. But after decades living in the house next to the conservatory he died in 1951. His wife, Angele, kept living there, but she needed money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>She slowly sold off all the property to a neighbor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The neighbors were friends of hers. They built a house on the other side of the conservatory — the east wing of the building was actually in their backyard. At the time, that wasn’t a big deal because Angele and her friends basically shared the conservatory and its grounds like one big yard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>But eventually Angele moved away and her friends sold their home – and they leave behind the conservatory, which now straddles two properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Is this foreshadowing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>This is foreshadowing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>We’ll find out what happened after this quick break.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sponsor message\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Alright, Katrina, you were telling us what happened to the conservatory after Angele Van Beck and her friends next door moved away and sold the property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The bulk of the conservatory and its grounds ended up in the hands of a man named Robert Anderson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>It’s 1975 by now, and there’s a lot of local interest in the conservatory as a historic structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>People who live nearby had grown attached to the conservatory. They view it as a symbol of the neighborhood. A group called the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association forms and they start researching the history of the conservatory in order to get it landmarked as a historic building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>They wanted to save it from demolition because in the 50s and 60s and 70s, along Monterey Boulevard, we’d had so many empty lots, and it was rezoned after the war, that apartment buildings were growing up all the way along it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>The neighbors succeeded in getting the building landmarked, but that didn’t keep it safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>But then Robert Anderson decided he actually would build some apartment buildings and he got a permit to demolish the conservatory, which he attempted to do at the end of 1978. And it was only saved because of two people who had their eye on the conservatory. Greg Gaar is one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Greg Garr: \u003c/strong>Well, I was riding my bicycle along Monterey Boulevard. I think I was going to City College at that time. And I passed by the Sunnyside Conservatory and I saw heavy equipment in there. And part of the building had been removed. And I said, what the heck? I mean, are they demolishing it? I knew it was a registered historic landmark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Greg Garr and other neighbors started frantically calling city hall and they got the demolition halted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>When they were done, the glass was knocked out of most of the windows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> This seems like an impasse. Robert Anderson can’t knock the conservatory down and build anything new – but he owns it. So what happens?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Well, the city buys the land from him. But there wasn’t any money to renovate the building then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Sunnyside Neighborhood Association tried to get it renovated and they looked after it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>They scraped graffiti off the building and boarded up all the broken windows to keep rain out. But unfortunately the whole thing was falling into disrepair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At some point in the 1980s, the east wing of the conservatory – the part that crossed over onto another property – it gets knocked down, leaving the building looking kind of lopsided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>And it is a loss, because it’s no longer, it’s whole, whole self.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Wait, after saving it from being knocked down by the developer…part of it was still demolished?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Yes, sadly. Amy says the circumstances are a bit mysterious, but that eastern wing is in photos of the conservatory through early 1980 and then it’s just gone. If you go there now, there’s a fence right up against the main part of the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Sounds like these neighbors really had to be vigilant to keep this thing from being torn down completely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> You know, they did their best. And there was a man who lived behind the conservatory…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>Whose name was Ted Kipping. And he was a professional botanist, arborist, and plant collector, and photographer, speaker. Very ambitious, very dedicated. He took care of the grounds in the 90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> The conservatory becomes something of a pet project for him. A very expensive one…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>One time, when I was talking to him, he said, I spent $1,000 a month on water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> How does it turn into the beautiful building it is today?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>A group called the Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory forms in 1999 and spend about 10 years raising money and getting San Francisco Rec and Park on board. They did a big multimillion dollar renovation in the 2000s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reopening video clip: \u003c/strong>We’re here at the Sunnyside’s Conservatory that’s re-opening and this has been a long fought community effort to make this happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>There was a big party at the conservatory to celebrate its reopening in 2009. Then mayor Gavin Newsom was there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>In a hundred years they’ll be talking about, in 2009…\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Everyone was so excited that this neighborhood gem had been restored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reopening video clip: \u003c/strong>Here’s the original spire. It was somewhere up there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>The conservatory has a spire?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Yes — the original 1902 building that William Merralls built had a redwood spire on top. And a neighbor kept that spire in his garage for 30 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Amy O’Hair: \u003c/strong>This man volunteered this finial, redwood finial from the original building and said, well, here it is. You know, you can put it back on the new building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> And did they?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/strong>Well, by then it was fairly rotten. So, instead they made an exact replica, covered it in copper and that’s what’s now on top of the current building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> A bit of a cherry on top, if you will. So now the neighborhood has this pretty special place for everyone to enjoy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> Not only that, but working to preserve the conservatory brought the community together\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Thanks for sharing this history with us, Katrina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/strong> My pleasure. And if you haven’t been to the Sunnyside Conservatory, you should really check it out!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> One thing I love about the Bay Area is that most neighborhoods have little gems like this one. They’re usually not things people would go out of their way to visit…but they do make each little corner of this area special. If you’ve got a spot near you that you’ve always wondered about, head on over to bay curious dot org and submit a question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re interested to know more about Sunnyside, Amy O’Hair has a book called \u003cem>History Walks of Sunnyside\u003c/em> coming out very soon. So keep your eyes peeled for that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve been enjoying the double dose of Bay Curious we’ve been putting out this month, consider making a donation to KQED to support our work. Every little bit helps, just head over to KQED dot or slash donate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our show is produced by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and me, Olivia Allen Price.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With extra support from Maha Sanad, Katie Sprenger, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on team KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a great week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>"
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"content": "\u003cp>Whether the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a>’s biggest city can meet its lofty housing goals to help cool a red-hot affordability crisis in the coming years could hinge on the fate of a former golf course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Housing advocates say the 113-acre former Pleasant Hills Golf Course in East San José, a huge plot of open land that shuttered in 2004, has the potential to become a thriving new neighborhood with several thousand homes or more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But neighbors and some city officials are not as keen to stack the site so densely over concerns about worsening traffic congestion and maintaining the area’s character.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San José is still way behind. It’s way behind on its housing, and it’s way behind on its thinking about what development should look like,” said Alex Shoor, the executive director of Catalyze SV, a pro-housing group in Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We either build a lot of housing on this site, and we’re actually serious about solving the housing crisis, or we have elected officials and civic leaders who continue to pay lip service to housing while doing nowhere near enough to solve the real issues,” Shoor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José could make a big dent in its state-mandated housing target to create 62,200 homes between 2023 and 2031 — a goal it is presently not on pace to meet — if it takes a full swing on the former course and pushes for roughly 6,000 homes, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074334\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pedestrian walks by a sign reading “Notice of Development Proposal” covered in graffiti at the site of the former Pleasant Hills Golf Course in San José on Feb. 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Like much of the Bay Area, San José doesn’t have many large tracts of developable land left in its urban areas, making the golf course all the more appealing to housing advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This development should be a walkable, dense, vibrant neighborhood where shops, workplaces and housing and recreation space should all be next to each other. That is how centuries of housing and communities have been built. And it is how you create the most safe, sustainable and dynamic neighborhoods,” Shoor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The course opened in 1960 and closed in 2004, according to the city. The family that owns the land said it shut down due to rising costs and changing interests, \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-officials-want-denser-housing-on-former-golf-course/\">San José Spotlight\u003c/a> reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A proposal from Mark Lazzarini and Tony Arreola, two prominent South Bay real estate investors, initially contemplated about 1,700 homes, largely plotted out as single-family homes or townhomes, but was reworked to propose 2,000 homes in recent months, after city planning staff urged the pair to boost the density as high as 2,850 homes.[aside postID=news_12069836 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/251208-DOWNTOWN-WEST-MD-08-KQED.jpg']City planners have also said the project should include a significant number of affordable homes, commercial space and park or open space, and provide easier connections to the nearby Eastridge Transit Center and Lake Cunningham.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some neighbors worry the city is being too prescriptive about what the developer should build.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Reese, a leader of the District Eight Community Roundtable, which represents several neighborhood associations in the area, said the project needs to be consistent with the existing single-family home communities in the area. He pointed to city studies that show denser mid-rise projects often don’t pencil out for developers under current market conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reese said Shoor and a group of like-minded community organizations calling for very dense housing on the land are oversimplifying a complex situation. A more realistic project, in his view, should be in the realm of 1,300 or 1,700 homes, on the high end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s one thing to have capacity, but we need to have something actually get built,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the [San José City] Council is going to have to be focused on whether they want a chicken in the pot or turkey in the bush,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The site, while fully bounded by the city of San José, is currently an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County, and the county’s housing goals imagine the potential for up to 2,850 homes on the site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074333\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An open grassy area at the former Pleasant Hills Golf Course in San José on Feb. 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If it were to be developed, City Planning Director Chris Burton said the property would need to be annexed into the city, and it’s not yet clear how the city and the county would divvy up the housing totals toward their respective targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not very often we get 110 acres,” Burton said. “Obviously, the market wants to drive to feasibility, which at this moment in time tends to be at lower densities. Certainly, the neighborhood is concerned about the impacts of more units in the area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he also noted that market conditions that determine financing for housing projects can shift, and any large project on the site would take many years to build, in phases.[aside postID=news_12069608 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/019_KQED_RichmondHousing_08162022_qed.jpg']“From a city perspective, we really don’t see the future of building out the city around single-family homes and lower densities. We’ve got to continue to maximize opportunity to add,” he said. “But in a process like this, we have to balance all of those interests.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Converting golf courses and sprawling private recreational spaces into havens of housing and retail is not a new idea, particularly in places where development tends to happen as infill in small pockets. But like in San José, some communities oppose the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just over the border from San José in Santa Clara, developers are planning \u003ca href=\"https://www.santaclaraca.gov/Home/Components/BusinessDirectory/BusinessDirectory/531/2495?npage=4\">316 apartments\u003c/a> on a portion of the popular nine-hole Pruneridge Golf Course, which already has older housing stock woven into it. That project doesn’t plan to replace the course, but will require a reconfiguration of three holes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Brentwood in the East Bay, voters overwhelmingly chose in a 2022 ballot measure to restrict potential developments across several golf course properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in San Diego, a developer is working to replace the Riverwalk Golf Club with 4,300 residential units, more than 150,000 square feet of retail space and 1 million square feet of office space, plus nearly 100 acres of green space, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/10/28/riverwalk-developer-secures-380m-resumes-construction-on-mission-valley-project/\">The San Diego Union-Tribune\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San José, the Pleasant Hills Golf Course proposal is still undergoing environmental review. A formal vote to greenlight a final version of the project isn’t likely to happen this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074330\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12074330 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An open grassy area at the former Pleasant Hills Golf Course in San José on Feb. 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>District 8 City Councilmember Domingo Candelas, who represents the area where the land sits, said there are still many questions to be answered, and declined to say how big or dense the project should be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I firmly believe we’re not going to solve our housing crisis with this single project,” Candelas said. “I remain fully committed to finding a thoughtful, responsible solution that addresses this crisis while protecting the quality of life of our neighborhoods and of our neighbors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shoor said the housing crisis in Silicon Valley — with average homes in San José valued at roughly $1.4 million — and the Bay Area needs to be treated with more urgency by officials around the region, and compared the situation to California’s drought cycles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we don’t build enough housing on Pleasant Hills, it’s like we’re in a drought, and we say, ‘One day of rain will be OK. If we just get a day of rainfall, we’ll get back to where we need to go,’” Shoor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we need is a rainstorm of housing,” he said. “We need a deluge of new housing to provide for the people who are already here, the people growing up here, the people who are trying to move back here, and the new immigrants who deserve to be here, as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San José is still way behind. It’s way behind on its housing, and it’s way behind on its thinking about what development should look like,” said Alex Shoor, the executive director of Catalyze SV, a pro-housing group in Silicon Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We either build a lot of housing on this site, and we’re actually serious about solving the housing crisis, or we have elected officials and civic leaders who continue to pay lip service to housing while doing nowhere near enough to solve the real issues,” Shoor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José could make a big dent in its state-mandated housing target to create 62,200 homes between 2023 and 2031 — a goal it is presently not on pace to meet — if it takes a full swing on the former course and pushes for roughly 6,000 homes, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074334\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-22-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pedestrian walks by a sign reading “Notice of Development Proposal” covered in graffiti at the site of the former Pleasant Hills Golf Course in San José on Feb. 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Like much of the Bay Area, San José doesn’t have many large tracts of developable land left in its urban areas, making the golf course all the more appealing to housing advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This development should be a walkable, dense, vibrant neighborhood where shops, workplaces and housing and recreation space should all be next to each other. That is how centuries of housing and communities have been built. And it is how you create the most safe, sustainable and dynamic neighborhoods,” Shoor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The course opened in 1960 and closed in 2004, according to the city. The family that owns the land said it shut down due to rising costs and changing interests, \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-officials-want-denser-housing-on-former-golf-course/\">San José Spotlight\u003c/a> reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A proposal from Mark Lazzarini and Tony Arreola, two prominent South Bay real estate investors, initially contemplated about 1,700 homes, largely plotted out as single-family homes or townhomes, but was reworked to propose 2,000 homes in recent months, after city planning staff urged the pair to boost the density as high as 2,850 homes.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>City planners have also said the project should include a significant number of affordable homes, commercial space and park or open space, and provide easier connections to the nearby Eastridge Transit Center and Lake Cunningham.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some neighbors worry the city is being too prescriptive about what the developer should build.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Reese, a leader of the District Eight Community Roundtable, which represents several neighborhood associations in the area, said the project needs to be consistent with the existing single-family home communities in the area. He pointed to city studies that show denser mid-rise projects often don’t pencil out for developers under current market conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reese said Shoor and a group of like-minded community organizations calling for very dense housing on the land are oversimplifying a complex situation. A more realistic project, in his view, should be in the realm of 1,300 or 1,700 homes, on the high end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s one thing to have capacity, but we need to have something actually get built,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the [San José City] Council is going to have to be focused on whether they want a chicken in the pot or turkey in the bush,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The site, while fully bounded by the city of San José, is currently an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County, and the county’s housing goals imagine the potential for up to 2,850 homes on the site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074333\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-18-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An open grassy area at the former Pleasant Hills Golf Course in San José on Feb. 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If it were to be developed, City Planning Director Chris Burton said the property would need to be annexed into the city, and it’s not yet clear how the city and the county would divvy up the housing totals toward their respective targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not very often we get 110 acres,” Burton said. “Obviously, the market wants to drive to feasibility, which at this moment in time tends to be at lower densities. Certainly, the neighborhood is concerned about the impacts of more units in the area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he also noted that market conditions that determine financing for housing projects can shift, and any large project on the site would take many years to build, in phases.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“From a city perspective, we really don’t see the future of building out the city around single-family homes and lower densities. We’ve got to continue to maximize opportunity to add,” he said. “But in a process like this, we have to balance all of those interests.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Converting golf courses and sprawling private recreational spaces into havens of housing and retail is not a new idea, particularly in places where development tends to happen as infill in small pockets. But like in San José, some communities oppose the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just over the border from San José in Santa Clara, developers are planning \u003ca href=\"https://www.santaclaraca.gov/Home/Components/BusinessDirectory/BusinessDirectory/531/2495?npage=4\">316 apartments\u003c/a> on a portion of the popular nine-hole Pruneridge Golf Course, which already has older housing stock woven into it. That project doesn’t plan to replace the course, but will require a reconfiguration of three holes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Brentwood in the East Bay, voters overwhelmingly chose in a 2022 ballot measure to restrict potential developments across several golf course properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in San Diego, a developer is working to replace the Riverwalk Golf Club with 4,300 residential units, more than 150,000 square feet of retail space and 1 million square feet of office space, plus nearly 100 acres of green space, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/10/28/riverwalk-developer-secures-380m-resumes-construction-on-mission-valley-project/\">The San Diego Union-Tribune\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San José, the Pleasant Hills Golf Course proposal is still undergoing environmental review. A formal vote to greenlight a final version of the project isn’t likely to happen this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074330\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12074330 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260223-PLEASANTHILLSDEV-09-BL-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An open grassy area at the former Pleasant Hills Golf Course in San José on Feb. 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>District 8 City Councilmember Domingo Candelas, who represents the area where the land sits, said there are still many questions to be answered, and declined to say how big or dense the project should be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I firmly believe we’re not going to solve our housing crisis with this single project,” Candelas said. “I remain fully committed to finding a thoughtful, responsible solution that addresses this crisis while protecting the quality of life of our neighborhoods and of our neighbors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shoor said the housing crisis in Silicon Valley — with average homes in San José valued at roughly $1.4 million — and the Bay Area needs to be treated with more urgency by officials around the region, and compared the situation to California’s drought cycles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we don’t build enough housing on Pleasant Hills, it’s like we’re in a drought, and we say, ‘One day of rain will be OK. If we just get a day of rainfall, we’ll get back to where we need to go,’” Shoor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we need is a rainstorm of housing,” he said. “We need a deluge of new housing to provide for the people who are already here, the people growing up here, the people who are trying to move back here, and the new immigrants who deserve to be here, as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "tiny-homes-big-ambitions-matt-mahans-run-for-governor-spotlights-his-shelter-strategy",
"title": "Tiny Homes, Big Ambitions: Matt Mahan’s Run for Governor Spotlights His Shelter Strategy",
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"headTitle": "Tiny Homes, Big Ambitions: Matt Mahan’s Run for Governor Spotlights His Shelter Strategy | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Some mayors have airports as legacy projects. Others have downtown arenas. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/matt-mahan\">Matt Mahan\u003c/a> has tiny homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Mahan, the mayor of San José and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071306/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-announces-run-for-california-governor\">Democratic candidate\u003c/a> for California governor, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072666/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-wants-to-be-governor-heres-a-look-into-his-signature-homelessness-program\">celebrated the opening\u003c/a> of a tiny home project in North San José. A six-acre patch of dirt next to the Valley Transportation Authority’s Cerone Yard was transformed into a hub of 162 private rooms for people experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cerone ribbon-cutting marked the end of an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064380/new-san-jose-tiny-homes-for-unhoused-open-next-to-former-encampment\">ambitious expansion\u003c/a> of shelter in the state’s third-largest city — the last project the city had budgeted in a construction sprint. In the last year, 11 temporary housing sites opened their doors and an existing site more than doubled in size, adding a total of 1,319 beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This phase of shelter expansion may be over for now,” Mahan said at the site’s opening. “But our fight to end unsheltered homelessness continues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shelter building boom is sunsetting just as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071841/can-a-centrist-democrat-win-the-governors-race\">new chapter\u003c/a> in Mahan’s political career begins. At the Cerone opening, the mayor’s usual cadre of city staff were joined by new faces: members of a campaign team guiding Mahan’s run for governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that campaign, Mahan will \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070167/governors-race-takes-shape-as-bonta-opts-out-mahan-weighs-run\">likely tout his ability\u003c/a> to take on the state’s most vexing problems by pointing to his experience as mayor. The tiny homes, converted motels and RV parking lots that together make up San José’s Emergency Interim Housing system stand as the visual embodiment of Mahan’s tenure — the fruit of multiple \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042688/mahan-unveils-final-san-jose-budget-plan\">budget fights\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949797/in-controversial-plan-san-jose-mayor-seeks-to-use-homelessness-dollars-to-build-more-temporary-shelters-instead-of-permanent-housing\">political clashes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Mahan and his supporters, the interim housing network is pragmatism in practice — an example of the type of “bias for action” prized in Silicon Valley that has delivered quick results on voters’ top issue. For critics, the tiny homes are monuments to political expediency, with a growing price tag that could weigh on the city’s books long after Mahan leaves office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072537\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072537\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan addresses reporters and city leaders at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“San José set a goal to create a lot more shelter units, and they’ve done it,” said Jennifer Loving, CEO of Destination: Home, a housing nonprofit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the city’s new shelter focus has only solved “part of the problem,” Loving said. “Because obviously people can’t live in those places forever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The interim housing sites have filled up just as quickly as they have opened, offering residents a more comfortable alternative to traditional congregate shelters. And on Mahan’s most prized metric, reducing unsheltered homelessness, the tiny homes appear to be delivering: last year’s point-in-time count found the number of people sleeping outdoors had \u003ca href=\"https://osh.santaclaracounty.gov/data-and-reports/point-time-count\">dropped by 10%\u003c/a> since January 2023, when Mahan took office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as this phase of the tiny home buildout winds down, nearly 4,000 people are still without shelter in San José — and the system’s future is uncertain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072536\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072536\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">HomeFirst CEO Rene Ramirez speaks during a news conference at the grand opening of the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mahan and the council have committed to operate the shelter system in perpetuity, with no guarantee of ongoing funding help from the county, state or federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interim housing costs are outstripping the city’s dedicated homeless fund, and by 2029, the shelters could require an infusion of nearly $60 million from the city’s general fund, which pays for basic services like police and fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have leaned out in a big way in — some would say — taking a risk on going it alone and building out a system that is very expensive,” Mahan said. “The fact that we did that, though, and have shown that it’s working, I think has shown that we are committed to ending this crisis and has actually built the social and political capital to get others to the table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A funding reversal\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2023, the South Bay ranked last among large California Continuums of Care (HUD-designated regional homeless planning bodies) in shelter capacity, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/taking-stock-of-californias-capacity-to-house-its-homeless-population/\">an analysis\u003c/a> by the Public Policy Institute of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San José, Santa Clara City and County Continuum of Care had 29 shelter beds per 100 people experiencing homelessness — well behind San Diego (61.1 beds per 100 homeless individuals), San Francisco (50.9), Riverside (40) and Los Angeles (34.9).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahan won \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11932432/cindy-chavez-concedes-race-for-san-jose-mayor-to-matt-mahan\">an upset victory\u003c/a> in the 2022 mayoral election on a vow to reduce unsheltered homelessness. But city funding was largely dedicated to building affordable apartments that offer a permanent path off the streets — though they typically take longer to build.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072533\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072533\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Outdoor common areas and walkways are shown at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. The site will include shared seating, shaded areas and support facilities for future residents. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To engineer San José’s shift toward a shelter-focused strategy, Mahan eyed a pot of money created by voters in a 2020 ballot initiative, Measure E. The tax on high-value real estate sales raises around $50 million to $60 million a year — roughly 75% of which is dedicated to building permanent affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his first year as mayor, a council majority \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11952913/san-jose-council-approves-modest-shift-toward-temporary-homeless-housing\">rejected Mahan’s proposal\u003c/a> to redirect a larger share of the Measure E revenue toward interim housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But over the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989926/san-jose-council-approves-budget-with-historic-shift-in-unhoused-spending\">next two years\u003c/a>, Mahan evinced a political savvy in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026437/san-jose-mayor-proposes-permanent-shift-homeless-funding-from-housing-shelter\">spearheading the reversal\u003c/a> in city homeless funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lacking the executive power of other big-city mayors, he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11979482/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-calls-for-urgent-action-on-homelessness-in-city-budget-plan\">trumpeted warnings\u003c/a> that the city could face fines for its lack of shelter; urged his colleagues to continue approving new shelter construction (adding pressure to find revenue to support the costs); and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12024327/san-jose-council-taps-engineering-executive-carl-salas-vacant-seat\">built a roster of allies\u003c/a> on the council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the council \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043418/san-jose-council-approves-mahans-shelter-enforcement-plan\">voted to permanently dedicate\u003c/a> 90% of the homeless fund toward shelter, with the remaining 10% earmarked for homeless prevention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The funding reversal was complete, and construction of tiny home villages continued apace — in Downtown, Berryessa and South San José. Neighborhood opposition, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11942734/emergency-calls-complaints-are-down-near-san-joses-temporary-housing-sites-so-why-are-they-still-so-politically-risky\">once threatened to derail\u003c/a> the program, began to soften.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the beginning of Mahan’s tenure, the city was operating seven interim housing facilities. Now there are 23 — a mix of individual room projects such as Cerone, modular studio apartments, converted motel rooms and parking lots for lived-in vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Investments ‘started to bear fruit’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>By the beginning of 2025, the South Bay had already caught up to the shelter capacity of other large California jurisdictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD has not yet released point-in-time counts of people experiencing homelessness in 2025 or the annual Housing Inventory Count of shelter. But seven of the state’s largest Continuums of Care provided the data they reported to HUD, either publicly or in response to a request from KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In two years, the South Bay’s ratio of beds per 100 people experiencing homelessness had jumped from 29.0 to 40.6.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Local Shelter Capacity in California\" aria-label=\"Dot Plot\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-dmxrZ\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/dmxrZ/3/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"333\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout 2025, San José opened a dozen more interim projects, adding more than 1,000 additional beds that were not reflected in the count, which typically takes place at the beginning of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vacancy rates for the new tiny homes have remained low — in part because San José’s shelter expansion looks very different from the large congregate shelters that offer a cot or bunk-bed in a large room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congregate shelters can leave residents without privacy and dignity — and open to crime and abuse, said Benjamin Henwood, director of the Homelessness Policy Research Institute at USC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People sort of voted with their feet, meaning they opted out of these shelters,” Henwood said. “They preferred living unsheltered without all of those risks that came with a congregate shelter.”[aside postID=news_11988728 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/IMG_7876_qut-1020x765.jpg']While the designs of San José’s tiny home shelters vary from site to site, nearly all offer a private room with a locked door — and access to case managers who can help coordinate medical needs and search for permanent housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tiny homes have consistently been more than 95% full. The utilization rate across 13 locations tracked on an ongoing basis \u003ca href=\"https://app.powerbigov.us/view?r=eyJrIjoiMjUxM2ZiMjAtNmE5Zi00ZTJlLWI4YjQtYTU3NjdiY2Q5OTBkIiwidCI6IjBmZTMzYmUwLTYxNDItNGY5Ni05YjhkLTc4MTdkNWMyNjEzOSJ9&pageName=fc2a0a27f1654d314199%22\">stands at 96%\u003c/a> over the last seven months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miguel Torres moved into the Rue Ferrari interim housing community in South San José last year. He had been living in his car for a year, by a train station on Monterey Road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Work was slow, and it was hard for me to find jobs and all that,” he said. “I didn’t have no resources in the car, and it’s hard to drive here and there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One day, Torres saw outreach workers knocking on nearby tents. They were offering spots at Rue Ferrari, which expanded this year from 124 to 268 beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He jumped at the opportunity but had concerns about what life would be like in short-term housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I heard a lot of stuff [about] shelters because, you know, you live with a lot of people in bunk beds,” Torres said. “But here it’s peaceful, you get your own room, they kind of show you how to be independent more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And for me, because I get a little anxiety, it’s perfect for me,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four months later, Torres has settled into his one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit. His bed is covered with a San Francisco 49ers blanket, and a TV and speakers sit at the foot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Earlier today I was shaving, cutting my hair, and I had the music bumping — not too loud, respect the neighbors — but, ah man, you can’t complain, dude,” Torres said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A growing price tag\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Thousands of new shelter beds, with high rates of usage, have contributed to a decline in the number of people sleeping outdoors in San José — from 4,411 in January 2023 to 3,959 in January 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A countywide financial assistance program also helped — \u003ca href=\"https://news.nd.edu/news/targeted-prevention-helps-stop-homelessness-before-it-starts/\">Notre Dame researchers\u003c/a> credited it with dramatically reducing the number of people becoming homeless in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The investments that the city has been making have really started to bear fruit,” said Anthony Tordillos, a city council member representing downtown. “By bringing that additional capacity online, the city’s been successful in actually being able to move people from the streets and get them into more secure housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072534\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072534\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rows of newly installed tiny homes line a pedestrian walkway at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. The city secured $12.7 million in state funding to purchase the homes. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But San José is still thousands of beds short of the 5,477 shelter beds the city estimated last year would be needed to achieve “functional zero” homelessness — meaning anyone who lost their housing would be able to access a bed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barring any influx of state or federal funding, the city’s shelter system won’t be greatly expanding anytime soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And just maintaining a system the size of San José’s could be difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In permanent supportive housing projects, tenants typically pay a small share of rent or are subsidized by a federal housing voucher. In interim housing, there is typically no rent to offset the mounting operating costs, which include staffing and utilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t appear that these are sustainable strategies because…you’re paying the operation cost on an ongoing basis,” said Henwood, the USC professor. “Those are sort of never-ending costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even the shift of Measure E funds from affordable housing to shelter will not be enough to completely pay for San José’s interim housing system in the years to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A preliminary \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15167200&GUID=86C22EAB-3F43-40BC-8A68-3C74BE78A74D\">budget forecast\u003c/a>, presented to the council last week, found the interim housing system would need an infusion of $17 million in the upcoming fiscal year from the general fund — increasing to $58 million in 2029-30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Required General Fund Contribution to Interim Housing ($ Millions)\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-t1P8M\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/t1P8M/2/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"450\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is already \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071569/matt-mahan-is-running-for-governor-what-does-that-mean-for-san-jose\">facing a budget shortfall\u003c/a> of roughly $55 million to $65 million in the coming year, so maintaining the interim housing system could force difficult spending trade-offs with other city services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The city obviously took kind of a big bet making these investments to so dramatically expand our shelter capacity, and knowing that those do come with longer-term operational costs,” Tordillos said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Tordillos said, the city will need to pivot into “optimization mode,” by finding ways to drive down the costs of on-site services — and finding financial help from other levels of government.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Not respecting the taxpayers’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Federal funding for the interim housing program has dried up, and support from the state (which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11975319/newsom-reneges-on-sending-san-jose-tiny-homes-for-the-unhoused\">chipped in millions\u003c/a> for projects including Cerone) has declined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state budget approved last year by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom appropriated no new flexible homeless dollars (known as the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2026/01/homelessness-funding-2026/\">Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention\u003c/a> — HHAP — program) for cities and counties in 2025-26 — a drop from the $1 billion approved in the previous budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make up those costs, Mahan has turned to Santa Clara County, arguing in part that the city’s reduction in unsheltered homelessness is saving the county money by reducing the number of visits unhoused people make to the emergency room and jail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072535\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The interior of a finished tiny home is seen through an open doorway at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. Each unit includes a bed, storage space and basic furnishings for residents transitioning out of homelessness. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But county leaders have been among the sharpest critics of Mahan’s shelter-focused approach. They already fund more than 2,000 shelter placements of their own and have long prioritized funding permanent housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know that as a policymaker, I’ve ever proposed a program, a service, that I expected another entity to support,” Supervisor Sylvia Arenas said. “Collaboration does actually make sense, but that means that you meet…and you talk about what you’re building together and have the same objective.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know that we have the same objective,” Arenas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A former San José council member, Arenas said she had longstanding concerns about continuing to expand the interim housing system without a stable funding source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think to build tiny homes, and then you forget, oh, we needed to also put in some money to operate all of these tiny homes, is not respecting the taxpayers,” she said. “And also not being true to what you’re actually providing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Accountability without resources\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042370/in-san-jose-a-controversial-choice-for-unhoused-shelter-or-arrest\">harsh rhetoric between\u003c/a> members of the council and board of supervisors last year — which nearly resulted in a rare joint meeting to hash out their differences in public — the city-county relationship over interim housing appears to be thawing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Mahan endorsed a county-led \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058418/santa-clara-county-sales-tax-measure-a-pitched-to-offset-deep-medicaid-cuts-measure-a\">ballot measure\u003c/a> to raise the sales tax, and county leaders committed to sending health workers to bring medical services directly to residents at tiny home sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahan insists that city general fund spending on temporary housing should be on the table, given the priority residents have placed on reducing street homelessness.[aside postID=news_12071306 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250312-MATT-MAHAN-ON-PB-MD-02-KQED-1.jpg']“That’s the nightmare scenario, but we have to plan for that,” he said. “So [if] federal, state and county all pull back and choose not to invest in things that are working, we can sustain the system we have, though that is far from ideal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As mayor, Mahan faces the same challenge as many big-city leaders across the state, said Darrell Steinberg, the former mayor of Sacramento and president pro tem of the state Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the number one thing for a big-city mayor in California is that, aside from the HHAP funding, you have all the accountability but not the bulk of the resources,” Steinberg said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Mahan, the mayor, can’t secure money for the tiny homes now, he may be betting that Mahan, the governor, will be the program’s chief benefactor in the future, able to direct state resources toward the system he helped build in San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miguel Torres has dreams of something more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sitting on a picnic table outside of his unit at Rue Ferrari, Torres said he feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ever since I got a spot, a roof over my head, I ain’t got to worry about being in the street or anything,” he said. “So I’m focusing on a career, on a job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s hoping his tiny home will be a launching pad for the future he is already starting to envision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just a regular little house, you know,” he said. “I got kids, so hopefully I could bring them in with me too — that’s pretty much my goal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Tiny Homes, Big Ambitions: Matt Mahan’s Run for Governor Spotlights His Shelter Strategy | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Some mayors have airports as legacy projects. Others have downtown arenas. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/matt-mahan\">Matt Mahan\u003c/a> has tiny homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Mahan, the mayor of San José and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071306/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-announces-run-for-california-governor\">Democratic candidate\u003c/a> for California governor, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072666/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-wants-to-be-governor-heres-a-look-into-his-signature-homelessness-program\">celebrated the opening\u003c/a> of a tiny home project in North San José. A six-acre patch of dirt next to the Valley Transportation Authority’s Cerone Yard was transformed into a hub of 162 private rooms for people experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cerone ribbon-cutting marked the end of an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064380/new-san-jose-tiny-homes-for-unhoused-open-next-to-former-encampment\">ambitious expansion\u003c/a> of shelter in the state’s third-largest city — the last project the city had budgeted in a construction sprint. In the last year, 11 temporary housing sites opened their doors and an existing site more than doubled in size, adding a total of 1,319 beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This phase of shelter expansion may be over for now,” Mahan said at the site’s opening. “But our fight to end unsheltered homelessness continues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shelter building boom is sunsetting just as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071841/can-a-centrist-democrat-win-the-governors-race\">new chapter\u003c/a> in Mahan’s political career begins. At the Cerone opening, the mayor’s usual cadre of city staff were joined by new faces: members of a campaign team guiding Mahan’s run for governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that campaign, Mahan will \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070167/governors-race-takes-shape-as-bonta-opts-out-mahan-weighs-run\">likely tout his ability\u003c/a> to take on the state’s most vexing problems by pointing to his experience as mayor. The tiny homes, converted motels and RV parking lots that together make up San José’s Emergency Interim Housing system stand as the visual embodiment of Mahan’s tenure — the fruit of multiple \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042688/mahan-unveils-final-san-jose-budget-plan\">budget fights\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11949797/in-controversial-plan-san-jose-mayor-seeks-to-use-homelessness-dollars-to-build-more-temporary-shelters-instead-of-permanent-housing\">political clashes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To Mahan and his supporters, the interim housing network is pragmatism in practice — an example of the type of “bias for action” prized in Silicon Valley that has delivered quick results on voters’ top issue. For critics, the tiny homes are monuments to political expediency, with a growing price tag that could weigh on the city’s books long after Mahan leaves office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072537\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072537\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_024-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San José Mayor Matt Mahan addresses reporters and city leaders at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“San José set a goal to create a lot more shelter units, and they’ve done it,” said Jennifer Loving, CEO of Destination: Home, a housing nonprofit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the city’s new shelter focus has only solved “part of the problem,” Loving said. “Because obviously people can’t live in those places forever.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The interim housing sites have filled up just as quickly as they have opened, offering residents a more comfortable alternative to traditional congregate shelters. And on Mahan’s most prized metric, reducing unsheltered homelessness, the tiny homes appear to be delivering: last year’s point-in-time count found the number of people sleeping outdoors had \u003ca href=\"https://osh.santaclaracounty.gov/data-and-reports/point-time-count\">dropped by 10%\u003c/a> since January 2023, when Mahan took office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as this phase of the tiny home buildout winds down, nearly 4,000 people are still without shelter in San José — and the system’s future is uncertain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072536\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072536\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_022-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">HomeFirst CEO Rene Ramirez speaks during a news conference at the grand opening of the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mahan and the council have committed to operate the shelter system in perpetuity, with no guarantee of ongoing funding help from the county, state or federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interim housing costs are outstripping the city’s dedicated homeless fund, and by 2029, the shelters could require an infusion of nearly $60 million from the city’s general fund, which pays for basic services like police and fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have leaned out in a big way in — some would say — taking a risk on going it alone and building out a system that is very expensive,” Mahan said. “The fact that we did that, though, and have shown that it’s working, I think has shown that we are committed to ending this crisis and has actually built the social and political capital to get others to the table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A funding reversal\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2023, the South Bay ranked last among large California Continuums of Care (HUD-designated regional homeless planning bodies) in shelter capacity, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/taking-stock-of-californias-capacity-to-house-its-homeless-population/\">an analysis\u003c/a> by the Public Policy Institute of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San José, Santa Clara City and County Continuum of Care had 29 shelter beds per 100 people experiencing homelessness — well behind San Diego (61.1 beds per 100 homeless individuals), San Francisco (50.9), Riverside (40) and Los Angeles (34.9).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahan won \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11932432/cindy-chavez-concedes-race-for-san-jose-mayor-to-matt-mahan\">an upset victory\u003c/a> in the 2022 mayoral election on a vow to reduce unsheltered homelessness. But city funding was largely dedicated to building affordable apartments that offer a permanent path off the streets — though they typically take longer to build.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072533\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072533\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Outdoor common areas and walkways are shown at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. The site will include shared seating, shaded areas and support facilities for future residents. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To engineer San José’s shift toward a shelter-focused strategy, Mahan eyed a pot of money created by voters in a 2020 ballot initiative, Measure E. The tax on high-value real estate sales raises around $50 million to $60 million a year — roughly 75% of which is dedicated to building permanent affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his first year as mayor, a council majority \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11952913/san-jose-council-approves-modest-shift-toward-temporary-homeless-housing\">rejected Mahan’s proposal\u003c/a> to redirect a larger share of the Measure E revenue toward interim housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But over the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11989926/san-jose-council-approves-budget-with-historic-shift-in-unhoused-spending\">next two years\u003c/a>, Mahan evinced a political savvy in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026437/san-jose-mayor-proposes-permanent-shift-homeless-funding-from-housing-shelter\">spearheading the reversal\u003c/a> in city homeless funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lacking the executive power of other big-city mayors, he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11979482/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-calls-for-urgent-action-on-homelessness-in-city-budget-plan\">trumpeted warnings\u003c/a> that the city could face fines for its lack of shelter; urged his colleagues to continue approving new shelter construction (adding pressure to find revenue to support the costs); and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12024327/san-jose-council-taps-engineering-executive-carl-salas-vacant-seat\">built a roster of allies\u003c/a> on the council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the council \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043418/san-jose-council-approves-mahans-shelter-enforcement-plan\">voted to permanently dedicate\u003c/a> 90% of the homeless fund toward shelter, with the remaining 10% earmarked for homeless prevention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The funding reversal was complete, and construction of tiny home villages continued apace — in Downtown, Berryessa and South San José. Neighborhood opposition, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11942734/emergency-calls-complaints-are-down-near-san-joses-temporary-housing-sites-so-why-are-they-still-so-politically-risky\">once threatened to derail\u003c/a> the program, began to soften.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the beginning of Mahan’s tenure, the city was operating seven interim housing facilities. Now there are 23 — a mix of individual room projects such as Cerone, modular studio apartments, converted motel rooms and parking lots for lived-in vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Investments ‘started to bear fruit’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>By the beginning of 2025, the South Bay had already caught up to the shelter capacity of other large California jurisdictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUD has not yet released point-in-time counts of people experiencing homelessness in 2025 or the annual Housing Inventory Count of shelter. But seven of the state’s largest Continuums of Care provided the data they reported to HUD, either publicly or in response to a request from KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In two years, the South Bay’s ratio of beds per 100 people experiencing homelessness had jumped from 29.0 to 40.6.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Local Shelter Capacity in California\" aria-label=\"Dot Plot\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-dmxrZ\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/dmxrZ/3/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"333\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout 2025, San José opened a dozen more interim projects, adding more than 1,000 additional beds that were not reflected in the count, which typically takes place at the beginning of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vacancy rates for the new tiny homes have remained low — in part because San José’s shelter expansion looks very different from the large congregate shelters that offer a cot or bunk-bed in a large room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congregate shelters can leave residents without privacy and dignity — and open to crime and abuse, said Benjamin Henwood, director of the Homelessness Policy Research Institute at USC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People sort of voted with their feet, meaning they opted out of these shelters,” Henwood said. “They preferred living unsheltered without all of those risks that came with a congregate shelter.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>While the designs of San José’s tiny home shelters vary from site to site, nearly all offer a private room with a locked door — and access to case managers who can help coordinate medical needs and search for permanent housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tiny homes have consistently been more than 95% full. The utilization rate across 13 locations tracked on an ongoing basis \u003ca href=\"https://app.powerbigov.us/view?r=eyJrIjoiMjUxM2ZiMjAtNmE5Zi00ZTJlLWI4YjQtYTU3NjdiY2Q5OTBkIiwidCI6IjBmZTMzYmUwLTYxNDItNGY5Ni05YjhkLTc4MTdkNWMyNjEzOSJ9&pageName=fc2a0a27f1654d314199%22\">stands at 96%\u003c/a> over the last seven months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miguel Torres moved into the Rue Ferrari interim housing community in South San José last year. He had been living in his car for a year, by a train station on Monterey Road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Work was slow, and it was hard for me to find jobs and all that,” he said. “I didn’t have no resources in the car, and it’s hard to drive here and there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One day, Torres saw outreach workers knocking on nearby tents. They were offering spots at Rue Ferrari, which expanded this year from 124 to 268 beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He jumped at the opportunity but had concerns about what life would be like in short-term housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I heard a lot of stuff [about] shelters because, you know, you live with a lot of people in bunk beds,” Torres said. “But here it’s peaceful, you get your own room, they kind of show you how to be independent more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And for me, because I get a little anxiety, it’s perfect for me,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four months later, Torres has settled into his one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit. His bed is covered with a San Francisco 49ers blanket, and a TV and speakers sit at the foot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Earlier today I was shaving, cutting my hair, and I had the music bumping — not too loud, respect the neighbors — but, ah man, you can’t complain, dude,” Torres said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A growing price tag\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Thousands of new shelter beds, with high rates of usage, have contributed to a decline in the number of people sleeping outdoors in San José — from 4,411 in January 2023 to 3,959 in January 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A countywide financial assistance program also helped — \u003ca href=\"https://news.nd.edu/news/targeted-prevention-helps-stop-homelessness-before-it-starts/\">Notre Dame researchers\u003c/a> credited it with dramatically reducing the number of people becoming homeless in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The investments that the city has been making have really started to bear fruit,” said Anthony Tordillos, a city council member representing downtown. “By bringing that additional capacity online, the city’s been successful in actually being able to move people from the streets and get them into more secure housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072534\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072534\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_013-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rows of newly installed tiny homes line a pedestrian walkway at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. The city secured $12.7 million in state funding to purchase the homes. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But San José is still thousands of beds short of the 5,477 shelter beds the city estimated last year would be needed to achieve “functional zero” homelessness — meaning anyone who lost their housing would be able to access a bed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barring any influx of state or federal funding, the city’s shelter system won’t be greatly expanding anytime soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And just maintaining a system the size of San José’s could be difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In permanent supportive housing projects, tenants typically pay a small share of rent or are subsidized by a federal housing voucher. In interim housing, there is typically no rent to offset the mounting operating costs, which include staffing and utilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t appear that these are sustainable strategies because…you’re paying the operation cost on an ongoing basis,” said Henwood, the USC professor. “Those are sort of never-ending costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even the shift of Measure E funds from affordable housing to shelter will not be enough to completely pay for San José’s interim housing system in the years to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A preliminary \u003ca href=\"https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15167200&GUID=86C22EAB-3F43-40BC-8A68-3C74BE78A74D\">budget forecast\u003c/a>, presented to the council last week, found the interim housing system would need an infusion of $17 million in the upcoming fiscal year from the general fund — increasing to $58 million in 2029-30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Required General Fund Contribution to Interim Housing ($ Millions)\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-t1P8M\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/t1P8M/2/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"450\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is already \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071569/matt-mahan-is-running-for-governor-what-does-that-mean-for-san-jose\">facing a budget shortfall\u003c/a> of roughly $55 million to $65 million in the coming year, so maintaining the interim housing system could force difficult spending trade-offs with other city services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The city obviously took kind of a big bet making these investments to so dramatically expand our shelter capacity, and knowing that those do come with longer-term operational costs,” Tordillos said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Tordillos said, the city will need to pivot into “optimization mode,” by finding ways to drive down the costs of on-site services — and finding financial help from other levels of government.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Not respecting the taxpayers’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Federal funding for the interim housing program has dried up, and support from the state (which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11975319/newsom-reneges-on-sending-san-jose-tiny-homes-for-the-unhoused\">chipped in millions\u003c/a> for projects including Cerone) has declined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state budget approved last year by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom appropriated no new flexible homeless dollars (known as the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2026/01/homelessness-funding-2026/\">Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention\u003c/a> — HHAP — program) for cities and counties in 2025-26 — a drop from the $1 billion approved in the previous budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make up those costs, Mahan has turned to Santa Clara County, arguing in part that the city’s reduction in unsheltered homelessness is saving the county money by reducing the number of visits unhoused people make to the emergency room and jail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072535\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_014-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The interior of a finished tiny home is seen through an open doorway at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. Each unit includes a bed, storage space and basic furnishings for residents transitioning out of homelessness. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But county leaders have been among the sharpest critics of Mahan’s shelter-focused approach. They already fund more than 2,000 shelter placements of their own and have long prioritized funding permanent housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know that as a policymaker, I’ve ever proposed a program, a service, that I expected another entity to support,” Supervisor Sylvia Arenas said. “Collaboration does actually make sense, but that means that you meet…and you talk about what you’re building together and have the same objective.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know that we have the same objective,” Arenas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A former San José council member, Arenas said she had longstanding concerns about continuing to expand the interim housing system without a stable funding source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think to build tiny homes, and then you forget, oh, we needed to also put in some money to operate all of these tiny homes, is not respecting the taxpayers,” she said. “And also not being true to what you’re actually providing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Accountability without resources\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042370/in-san-jose-a-controversial-choice-for-unhoused-shelter-or-arrest\">harsh rhetoric between\u003c/a> members of the council and board of supervisors last year — which nearly resulted in a rare joint meeting to hash out their differences in public — the city-county relationship over interim housing appears to be thawing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Mahan endorsed a county-led \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058418/santa-clara-county-sales-tax-measure-a-pitched-to-offset-deep-medicaid-cuts-measure-a\">ballot measure\u003c/a> to raise the sales tax, and county leaders committed to sending health workers to bring medical services directly to residents at tiny home sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahan insists that city general fund spending on temporary housing should be on the table, given the priority residents have placed on reducing street homelessness.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“That’s the nightmare scenario, but we have to plan for that,” he said. “So [if] federal, state and county all pull back and choose not to invest in things that are working, we can sustain the system we have, though that is far from ideal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As mayor, Mahan faces the same challenge as many big-city leaders across the state, said Darrell Steinberg, the former mayor of Sacramento and president pro tem of the state Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the number one thing for a big-city mayor in California is that, aside from the HHAP funding, you have all the accountability but not the bulk of the resources,” Steinberg said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Mahan, the mayor, can’t secure money for the tiny homes now, he may be betting that Mahan, the governor, will be the program’s chief benefactor in the future, able to direct state resources toward the system he helped build in San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miguel Torres has dreams of something more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sitting on a picnic table outside of his unit at Rue Ferrari, Torres said he feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ever since I got a spot, a roof over my head, I ain’t got to worry about being in the street or anything,” he said. “So I’m focusing on a career, on a job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s hoping his tiny home will be a launching pad for the future he is already starting to envision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just a regular little house, you know,” he said. “I got kids, so hopefully I could bring them in with me too — that’s pretty much my goal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "factory-built-housing-hasnt-taken-off-in-california-yet-but-this-year-might-be-different",
"title": "Factory-Built Housing Hasn’t Taken Off in California Yet, but This Year Might Be Different",
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"headTitle": "Factory-Built Housing Hasn’t Taken Off in California Yet, but This Year Might Be Different | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the first home rolled off the factory floor in Kalamazoo, Michigan — “like a boxcar with picture windows,” according to a journalist on the scene — the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development proclaimed it “the coming of a real revolution in housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades engineers, architects, futurists, industrialists, investors and politicians have been pining for a better, faster and cheaper way to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068746/2025-was-a-blockbuster-year-for-housing-laws-what-does-that-mean-for-2026\">build homes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, amid a national housing shortage, the question felt as pressing as ever: What if construction could harness the speed, efficiency, quality control and cost-savings of the assembly line?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if, rather than building homes on-site from the ground up, they were cranked out of factories, one unit after another, shipped to where they were needed and dropped into place? What if the United States could mass-produce its way out of a housing crisis?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/20/archives/first-unit-built-in-housing-plan-button-pushed-by-romney-at-factory.html\">In Kalamazoo\u003c/a>, that vision finally seemed a reality. The HUD chief predicted that within a decade two-thirds of all \u003ca href=\"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/HUD-Challenge-November-December-1969.pdf#page=6\">housing construction\u003c/a> across the United States “would be industrialized.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The year was 1971, the HUD Secretary was George Romney (father of future Utah senator, Mitt), and the prediction was wildly off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073550\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073550\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Factory-built housing Drake Avenue Apartments sits under construction at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jungho Kim for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Within five years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/Operation-Breakthrough.html\">Operation Breakthrough\u003c/a>, the ambitious, but ultimately costly, delay-ridden and politically unpopular federal initiative that had propped up the Kalamazoo factory and eight others like it across the country, ran out of money. The dream of the factory-built house was dead — not for the first time, nor the last.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By some definitions, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_prefabrication_of_houses_1951.pdf#page=35\">first prefabricated house\u003c/a> was built, shipped and re-assembled in the 1620s. Factory-built homes made of wood and iron were a mainstay of the \u003ca href=\"http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/search/nattrust_result_detail/66817\">colonial\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://archive.org/details/SkillingsFlintCCA196560/page/n9/mode/2up\">enterprises\u003c/a> of the 19th Century. Housing and construction-worker shortages during the Second World War prompted a wave of (ultimately unsuccessful) attempts to mass-produce starter homes in the United States. The modern era is full of those predicting that the industrialization of the housing industry is just a few years away, only to be proven wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, state legislators in California believe the turning-point might actually be here. With a little state assistance, they want to make 2026 the Year of the Housing Factory. At long last.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California gets ‘modular-curious’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat and one of the legislature’s most influential policy makers on housing issues, is leading the charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the beginning of the year, she has organized two select committee hearings under the general banner of “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/committees/1700\">housing construction innovation\u003c/a>.” The bulk of the committee’s attention has been on factory-based building — why it might be a fix worth promoting and what the state could do to actually make it work this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearings are ostensibly intended to gather information, all of which will be summarized in a white paper being written by researchers at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073370\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073370\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction is underway on an affordable housing apartment building at 2550 Irving Street in San Francisco’s Sunset District on May 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But they’re also meant to build political momentum and legislative buy-in for a coming package of bills. Both the paper and bills are due to be released in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wicks has “select committee’d” her way to major policy change before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2024, she cobbled together a series of state-spanning meetings on “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/03/california-construction-permitting-wicks/\">permitting reform\u003c/a>.” Those provided the fodder for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/03/ceqa-infill-housing-wicks/\">nearly two dozen bills\u003c/a> the following year, all written with the goal of making it easier to build things in California, especially homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most significant of the bunch: Legislation \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/ceqa-urban-development-infill-budget/\">exempting most urban apartment buildings\u003c/a> from environmental litigation. Gov. Gavin Newsom enthusiastically signed it into law last summer.[aside postID=news_12073193 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg']Now comes phase two. Last year’s blitz of bills, capping off years of gradual legislative efforts to remove regulatory barriers to building dense housing across California, has, in Wicks’ view, teed up this next big swing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the last eight to 10 years or so the Legislature and the governor have really taken a bulldozer to a lot of the bureaucratic hurdles when it comes to housing,” said Wicks. “But one of the issues that we haven’t fundamentally tackled is the cost of construction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Factory-built housing can arrive on a construction site in varying levels of completeness. There are prefabricated panels (imagine the baked slabs of a gingerbread house) and fully three-dimensional modules (think, Legos).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interest in the use of both for apartment buildings has been steadily growing in California over the last decade. Investors have poured billions of dollars into the nascent sector, albeit with \u003ca href=\"https://www.fastcompany.com/90643381/this-prefab-builder-raised-more-than-2-billion-why-did-it-crash\">famously mixed results\u003c/a>. In California’s major urban areas, but especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, cranes delicately assembling factory-built modules into apartment blocks has become a more familiar feature of the skyline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Randall Thompson, who runs the prefabrication division of Nibbi Brothers General Contractors, said he’s seen attitudes shift radically just in the last couple of years. Not long ago, pitching a developer on factory-built construction was a tough sell. But a few years ago he noted a growing number of “modular-curious” clients willing to run the numbers. Now many are coming to him committed to the idea from the get-go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12068866\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12068866\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers build at 750 Golden Gate Ave., in San Francisco, on June 18, 2025, during a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of two affordable housing projects. One will deliver 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and the other at 850 Turk will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Policymakers are interested too, debating whether public policy and taxpayer money should be used to propel off-site construction from niche application to a regular, if not dominant, feature of the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evidence from abroad is fueling that optimism: In Sweden, where Wicks and a gaggle of other lawmakers visited last fall, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/08/headway/how-an-american-dream-of-housing-became-a-reality-in-sweden.html\">nearly half of residential construction\u003c/a> takes place in a factory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The renewed national interest is part of a “back to the drawingboard” energy that has pervaded policy circles at every level of government in the face of a national affordability crisis, said Chad Maisel, a Center for American Progress fellow and a former Biden administration housing policy advisor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, the country has tried and failed at this before, most notably with Operation Breakthrough. Yes, individual companies have gone bust trying to make off-site happen at scale. “But we haven’t really given it our all,” Maisel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Henry Ford, but for housing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If the goal is to bring down building costs, rethinking the basics of the construction process is an obvious place to start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last century, economic sectors across the United States have seen explosions in labor productivity, with industries using technological innovation, fine-tuned production processes and globe-spanning supply chains to squeeze ever more stuff out of the same number of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction has been a stagnant outlier. Since the 1970s, labor productivity has actually declined sector-wide, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/economic_brief/2025/eb_25-31\">official government statistics\u003c/a>. In 2023 the average American construction worker added about as much value on a construction site as one in 1948.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you go to buy a car, you don’t get 6,000 parts shipped to your house and then someone comes and builds it for you,” said Ryan Cassidy, vice president of real estate development at Mutual Housing California, an affordable housing developer based in Sacramento that committed last year to build its next five projects with factory-built units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044255\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044255\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy.jpg 1800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A truck is piled with planks salvaged by Perks Deconstruction from an old farmhouse in Aurora. The wood will be transported to the company’s warehouse, where it will be sorted and priced for sale. \u003ccite>(Hart Van Denburg/CPR News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In theory, breaking down the building process into a series of discrete, repeatable tasks can mean fewer highly trained workers are needed per unit. Standardized panels and modules allow factories to buy materials in bulk at discount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The work can be done faster, because it’s centralized, tightly choreographed, closely monitored and possibly automated — but also because multiple things can happen at the same time. Framers don’t have to wait for a foundation to set before getting started on the bedrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Off-site construction reliably cuts construction timelines by \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Southern-California-Off-Site-Construction-February-2022.pdf\">10 to 30 percent\u003c/a>, according to an analysis by the Terner Center. Some even rosier \u003ca href=\"https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/modular-construction-from-projects-to-products\">estimates\u003c/a> have put the figure closer to 50%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That can translate into real savings. “Factory-built housing has the potential to reduce hard (labor, material and equipment) costs by 10 to 25% — at least under the right conditions,” Terner’s director, Ben Metcalf, said at the select committee’s first \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/hearings/278391?t=1525&f=f7440a2ebdd25e14a09f1f72e544107e\">hearing\u003c/a> in early January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But historically, it’s been very hard to get those conditions right.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The ghost of Katerra\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The main hitch is an obvious one: Factories are hugely expensive to set up and run. Off-site construction companies only stand to make up those costs if they can run continuously and at full capacity. Mass production only pencils out if it massively produces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means factory production isn’t especially well-suited to industries that boom and bust, in which surplus production can’t be stockpiled in a warehouse and everything is made to order and where local variations in climate, topography and regulation require bespoke products of varying materials, designs, configurations and sizes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of which describes the current real estate sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a world in which housing projects are approved one at a time under various local rules and designs and sometimes after years of piecing together financing sources, it’s hard to build out that pipeline for a factory,” said Metcalf at the early January hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A construction worker operates machinery to move dirt at the site of new middle housing units at 2824 D Street in Sacramento on October 7, 2025. Developers are reviving “middle housing” such as duplexes and cottage clusters, but say California’s rollout of the new rules has been anything but smooth. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The particular financial needs of a factory also upend business as usual for developers and real estate funders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Industrial construction “costs less overall but costs more in the short term. Everything is frontloaded,” said Jan Lindenthal-Cox, chief investment officer at the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund. All design, engineering and material decisions have to be finalized long before the factory gears start turning. Real estate investors and lenders tend to be wary of putting up quite so much money so early in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Accelerator Fund, a privately-backed non-profit, is hoping to ease some of those concerns by providing short-term, low-cost loans to developers in order to cover those higher-than-usual early costs. The hope is that traditional funders — namely, banks and investors — will eventually feel confident enough to take over that role “once this is a more proven approach,” said Lindenthal-Cox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such skittishness pervades every step of the off-site development process, said Apoorva Pasricha, chief operation officer at Cloud Apartments, a San Francisco-based start-up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073551\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073551\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scaffolding sits in front of a weather-resistant barrier on the exterior of Drake Avenue Apartments at the site of the factory housing complex at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Scaffolding sits in front of a weather-resistant barrier on the exterior of factory-built housing, Drake Avenue Apartments, at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. Photo by Jungho Kim for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A subcontractor unfamiliar with modular construction might bid a project higher than they otherwise would to compensate for the uncertainty. Building code officials might be extra cautious or extra slow in approving a project for the same reason.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the industry grows, “creating familiarity with the process helps drive that risk down,” said Pasricha. “The question is, who is going to be willing to pay the price to learn?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some would-be pioneers have paid it. In 2021, the Silicon Valley-based modular start up Katerra went \u003ca href=\"https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/katerras-2-billion-legacy_o\">spectacularly bankrupt\u003c/a> after spending $2 billion in a hyperambitious gambit to disrupt the building industry. Katerra still hangs over the industry like a specter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian Potter, a former Katerra engineer who now writes the widely-read \u003ca href=\"https://www.construction-physics.com/\">Construction Physics\u003c/a> newsletter, said he too was once wooed by the idea that “‘we’ll just move this into a factory and we will yield enormous improvements.’”[aside postID=news_12072999 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg']These days, he strenuously avoids terms like “impossible” and “doomed to fail” when asked about the potential of off-site construction. But he does stress that it’s a very hard nut to crack with limited upside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Beyond just the regulatory issues, which are real, there are just fundamental nature of the market, nature of the process, things that you have to cope with,” said Potter, whose recent book, \u003cem>The Origins of Efficiency\u003c/em>, digs into how and why modern society has succeeded at making certain things much faster and cheaper — and not others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Certain markets in California could be a good fit for factory-built construction, he added, but not for the reasons that off-site boosters typically lead with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction costs in the Bay Area, specifically, are notoriously expensive. Many of the region’s most productive housing factories are located in Idaho. That arrangement might make financial sense, said Potter, not because of anything inherently cost-saving in the industrialized process, but because wages in the Boise area are just \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_sanfrancisco.htm\">a lot\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_boisecity.htm\">lower\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That raises another potential impediment for state lawmakers hoping to goose the factory-built model: Organized labor. In a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/07/california-construction-unions-housing/\">familiar political split\u003c/a>, while California’s carpenters union has historically been open to the idea of off-site construction, the influential State Building & Construction Trades Council has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-trade-unions-at-odds-over-modular-15755264.php\">hostile\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Will the state step in?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Neither Wicks, nor any other legislator, has released legislative language yet aimed at supporting the industry. But in committee hearings, developers, labor leaders, academics and other off-site construction supporters have repeatedly pitched lawmakers on the same three themes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building out the pipeline is one. The state, supporters say, could keep the factories humming either by nudging affordable developers that way when they apply for state subsidies or by out-and-out requiring public entities, like state universities, to at least consider off-site when they build, say, student housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insuring factories against the risk of a developer going bankrupt (and vice versa) is another common proposal. Developers and investors are hesitant to schedule a spot on a factory line if that factory’s bankruptcy will leave them in the lurch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042674\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042674\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apartment buildings under construction near Macarthur BART station in Oakland, on Feb. 21, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Likewise, factories tend to charge high deposits to make up for the fact that developers go out of business or get hit with months-long delays. One solution could involve the taxpayer playing the role of insurer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Third: Standardizing building code requirements. The state’s Housing and Community Development department already regulates factory-built housing units. But once a module is shipped to a site, local inspectors will often do their own once-over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of these proposed fixes are specific to the industry. But some are regulatory changes that would make it easier to build more generally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That might suggest that policy should ideally focus on making it easier to build stuff more generally, “not on a specific goal,” said Stephen Smith, director of the Center for Building in North America, which advocates for cost-cutting changes to building codes. For all the emphasis on building entire studio apartments inside factories, he noted that plenty of steps in the construction process have entered the modern era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12023647\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12023647\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A line of old factory buildings on Mare Island in the city of Vallejo, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You find walls built in factories, you see elevators, you see escalators,” said Smith. “You need to consider the small victories and think of it as a general process of (regulatory) hygiene.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wicks has heard all of the arguments for why emphasizing factory-based construction won’t work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think factory-built housing is going to solve all of our problems. I think it’s a piece of the solution,” she said. “We’re not talking about actually funding the building of factories. We’re talking about creating a streamlined environment for these types of housing units to be built.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other words, it can’t hurt to try again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/02/factory-built-housing-california-wicks/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Building homes inside a factory has long been seen as a way to revolutionize the American housing industry, ushering in a new era of higher quality homes at lower price. That dream has never quite panned out. Can California finally make it happen?",
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"title": "Factory-Built Housing Hasn’t Taken Off in California Yet, but This Year Might Be Different | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the first home rolled off the factory floor in Kalamazoo, Michigan — “like a boxcar with picture windows,” according to a journalist on the scene — the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development proclaimed it “the coming of a real revolution in housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades engineers, architects, futurists, industrialists, investors and politicians have been pining for a better, faster and cheaper way to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068746/2025-was-a-blockbuster-year-for-housing-laws-what-does-that-mean-for-2026\">build homes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, amid a national housing shortage, the question felt as pressing as ever: What if construction could harness the speed, efficiency, quality control and cost-savings of the assembly line?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if, rather than building homes on-site from the ground up, they were cranked out of factories, one unit after another, shipped to where they were needed and dropped into place? What if the United States could mass-produce its way out of a housing crisis?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/20/archives/first-unit-built-in-housing-plan-button-pushed-by-romney-at-factory.html\">In Kalamazoo\u003c/a>, that vision finally seemed a reality. The HUD chief predicted that within a decade two-thirds of all \u003ca href=\"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/HUD-Challenge-November-December-1969.pdf#page=6\">housing construction\u003c/a> across the United States “would be industrialized.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The year was 1971, the HUD Secretary was George Romney (father of future Utah senator, Mitt), and the prediction was wildly off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073550\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073550\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Factory-built housing Drake Avenue Apartments sits under construction at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jungho Kim for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Within five years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/Operation-Breakthrough.html\">Operation Breakthrough\u003c/a>, the ambitious, but ultimately costly, delay-ridden and politically unpopular federal initiative that had propped up the Kalamazoo factory and eight others like it across the country, ran out of money. The dream of the factory-built house was dead — not for the first time, nor the last.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By some definitions, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_prefabrication_of_houses_1951.pdf#page=35\">first prefabricated house\u003c/a> was built, shipped and re-assembled in the 1620s. Factory-built homes made of wood and iron were a mainstay of the \u003ca href=\"http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/search/nattrust_result_detail/66817\">colonial\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://archive.org/details/SkillingsFlintCCA196560/page/n9/mode/2up\">enterprises\u003c/a> of the 19th Century. Housing and construction-worker shortages during the Second World War prompted a wave of (ultimately unsuccessful) attempts to mass-produce starter homes in the United States. The modern era is full of those predicting that the industrialization of the housing industry is just a few years away, only to be proven wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, state legislators in California believe the turning-point might actually be here. With a little state assistance, they want to make 2026 the Year of the Housing Factory. At long last.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California gets ‘modular-curious’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat and one of the legislature’s most influential policy makers on housing issues, is leading the charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the beginning of the year, she has organized two select committee hearings under the general banner of “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/committees/1700\">housing construction innovation\u003c/a>.” The bulk of the committee’s attention has been on factory-based building — why it might be a fix worth promoting and what the state could do to actually make it work this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearings are ostensibly intended to gather information, all of which will be summarized in a white paper being written by researchers at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073370\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073370\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction is underway on an affordable housing apartment building at 2550 Irving Street in San Francisco’s Sunset District on May 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But they’re also meant to build political momentum and legislative buy-in for a coming package of bills. Both the paper and bills are due to be released in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wicks has “select committee’d” her way to major policy change before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2024, she cobbled together a series of state-spanning meetings on “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/03/california-construction-permitting-wicks/\">permitting reform\u003c/a>.” Those provided the fodder for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/03/ceqa-infill-housing-wicks/\">nearly two dozen bills\u003c/a> the following year, all written with the goal of making it easier to build things in California, especially homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most significant of the bunch: Legislation \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/ceqa-urban-development-infill-budget/\">exempting most urban apartment buildings\u003c/a> from environmental litigation. Gov. Gavin Newsom enthusiastically signed it into law last summer.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Now comes phase two. Last year’s blitz of bills, capping off years of gradual legislative efforts to remove regulatory barriers to building dense housing across California, has, in Wicks’ view, teed up this next big swing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the last eight to 10 years or so the Legislature and the governor have really taken a bulldozer to a lot of the bureaucratic hurdles when it comes to housing,” said Wicks. “But one of the issues that we haven’t fundamentally tackled is the cost of construction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Factory-built housing can arrive on a construction site in varying levels of completeness. There are prefabricated panels (imagine the baked slabs of a gingerbread house) and fully three-dimensional modules (think, Legos).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interest in the use of both for apartment buildings has been steadily growing in California over the last decade. Investors have poured billions of dollars into the nascent sector, albeit with \u003ca href=\"https://www.fastcompany.com/90643381/this-prefab-builder-raised-more-than-2-billion-why-did-it-crash\">famously mixed results\u003c/a>. In California’s major urban areas, but especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, cranes delicately assembling factory-built modules into apartment blocks has become a more familiar feature of the skyline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Randall Thompson, who runs the prefabrication division of Nibbi Brothers General Contractors, said he’s seen attitudes shift radically just in the last couple of years. Not long ago, pitching a developer on factory-built construction was a tough sell. But a few years ago he noted a growing number of “modular-curious” clients willing to run the numbers. Now many are coming to him committed to the idea from the get-go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12068866\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12068866\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers build at 750 Golden Gate Ave., in San Francisco, on June 18, 2025, during a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of two affordable housing projects. One will deliver 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and the other at 850 Turk will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Policymakers are interested too, debating whether public policy and taxpayer money should be used to propel off-site construction from niche application to a regular, if not dominant, feature of the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evidence from abroad is fueling that optimism: In Sweden, where Wicks and a gaggle of other lawmakers visited last fall, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/08/headway/how-an-american-dream-of-housing-became-a-reality-in-sweden.html\">nearly half of residential construction\u003c/a> takes place in a factory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The renewed national interest is part of a “back to the drawingboard” energy that has pervaded policy circles at every level of government in the face of a national affordability crisis, said Chad Maisel, a Center for American Progress fellow and a former Biden administration housing policy advisor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, the country has tried and failed at this before, most notably with Operation Breakthrough. Yes, individual companies have gone bust trying to make off-site happen at scale. “But we haven’t really given it our all,” Maisel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Henry Ford, but for housing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If the goal is to bring down building costs, rethinking the basics of the construction process is an obvious place to start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last century, economic sectors across the United States have seen explosions in labor productivity, with industries using technological innovation, fine-tuned production processes and globe-spanning supply chains to squeeze ever more stuff out of the same number of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction has been a stagnant outlier. Since the 1970s, labor productivity has actually declined sector-wide, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/economic_brief/2025/eb_25-31\">official government statistics\u003c/a>. In 2023 the average American construction worker added about as much value on a construction site as one in 1948.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you go to buy a car, you don’t get 6,000 parts shipped to your house and then someone comes and builds it for you,” said Ryan Cassidy, vice president of real estate development at Mutual Housing California, an affordable housing developer based in Sacramento that committed last year to build its next five projects with factory-built units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044255\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044255\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy.jpg 1800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A truck is piled with planks salvaged by Perks Deconstruction from an old farmhouse in Aurora. The wood will be transported to the company’s warehouse, where it will be sorted and priced for sale. \u003ccite>(Hart Van Denburg/CPR News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In theory, breaking down the building process into a series of discrete, repeatable tasks can mean fewer highly trained workers are needed per unit. Standardized panels and modules allow factories to buy materials in bulk at discount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The work can be done faster, because it’s centralized, tightly choreographed, closely monitored and possibly automated — but also because multiple things can happen at the same time. Framers don’t have to wait for a foundation to set before getting started on the bedrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Off-site construction reliably cuts construction timelines by \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Southern-California-Off-Site-Construction-February-2022.pdf\">10 to 30 percent\u003c/a>, according to an analysis by the Terner Center. Some even rosier \u003ca href=\"https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/modular-construction-from-projects-to-products\">estimates\u003c/a> have put the figure closer to 50%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That can translate into real savings. “Factory-built housing has the potential to reduce hard (labor, material and equipment) costs by 10 to 25% — at least under the right conditions,” Terner’s director, Ben Metcalf, said at the select committee’s first \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/hearings/278391?t=1525&f=f7440a2ebdd25e14a09f1f72e544107e\">hearing\u003c/a> in early January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But historically, it’s been very hard to get those conditions right.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The ghost of Katerra\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The main hitch is an obvious one: Factories are hugely expensive to set up and run. Off-site construction companies only stand to make up those costs if they can run continuously and at full capacity. Mass production only pencils out if it massively produces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means factory production isn’t especially well-suited to industries that boom and bust, in which surplus production can’t be stockpiled in a warehouse and everything is made to order and where local variations in climate, topography and regulation require bespoke products of varying materials, designs, configurations and sizes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of which describes the current real estate sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a world in which housing projects are approved one at a time under various local rules and designs and sometimes after years of piecing together financing sources, it’s hard to build out that pipeline for a factory,” said Metcalf at the early January hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A construction worker operates machinery to move dirt at the site of new middle housing units at 2824 D Street in Sacramento on October 7, 2025. Developers are reviving “middle housing” such as duplexes and cottage clusters, but say California’s rollout of the new rules has been anything but smooth. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The particular financial needs of a factory also upend business as usual for developers and real estate funders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Industrial construction “costs less overall but costs more in the short term. Everything is frontloaded,” said Jan Lindenthal-Cox, chief investment officer at the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund. All design, engineering and material decisions have to be finalized long before the factory gears start turning. Real estate investors and lenders tend to be wary of putting up quite so much money so early in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Accelerator Fund, a privately-backed non-profit, is hoping to ease some of those concerns by providing short-term, low-cost loans to developers in order to cover those higher-than-usual early costs. The hope is that traditional funders — namely, banks and investors — will eventually feel confident enough to take over that role “once this is a more proven approach,” said Lindenthal-Cox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such skittishness pervades every step of the off-site development process, said Apoorva Pasricha, chief operation officer at Cloud Apartments, a San Francisco-based start-up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073551\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073551\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scaffolding sits in front of a weather-resistant barrier on the exterior of Drake Avenue Apartments at the site of the factory housing complex at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Scaffolding sits in front of a weather-resistant barrier on the exterior of factory-built housing, Drake Avenue Apartments, at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. Photo by Jungho Kim for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A subcontractor unfamiliar with modular construction might bid a project higher than they otherwise would to compensate for the uncertainty. Building code officials might be extra cautious or extra slow in approving a project for the same reason.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the industry grows, “creating familiarity with the process helps drive that risk down,” said Pasricha. “The question is, who is going to be willing to pay the price to learn?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some would-be pioneers have paid it. In 2021, the Silicon Valley-based modular start up Katerra went \u003ca href=\"https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/katerras-2-billion-legacy_o\">spectacularly bankrupt\u003c/a> after spending $2 billion in a hyperambitious gambit to disrupt the building industry. Katerra still hangs over the industry like a specter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian Potter, a former Katerra engineer who now writes the widely-read \u003ca href=\"https://www.construction-physics.com/\">Construction Physics\u003c/a> newsletter, said he too was once wooed by the idea that “‘we’ll just move this into a factory and we will yield enormous improvements.’”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>These days, he strenuously avoids terms like “impossible” and “doomed to fail” when asked about the potential of off-site construction. But he does stress that it’s a very hard nut to crack with limited upside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Beyond just the regulatory issues, which are real, there are just fundamental nature of the market, nature of the process, things that you have to cope with,” said Potter, whose recent book, \u003cem>The Origins of Efficiency\u003c/em>, digs into how and why modern society has succeeded at making certain things much faster and cheaper — and not others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Certain markets in California could be a good fit for factory-built construction, he added, but not for the reasons that off-site boosters typically lead with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction costs in the Bay Area, specifically, are notoriously expensive. Many of the region’s most productive housing factories are located in Idaho. That arrangement might make financial sense, said Potter, not because of anything inherently cost-saving in the industrialized process, but because wages in the Boise area are just \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_sanfrancisco.htm\">a lot\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_boisecity.htm\">lower\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That raises another potential impediment for state lawmakers hoping to goose the factory-built model: Organized labor. In a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/07/california-construction-unions-housing/\">familiar political split\u003c/a>, while California’s carpenters union has historically been open to the idea of off-site construction, the influential State Building & Construction Trades Council has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-trade-unions-at-odds-over-modular-15755264.php\">hostile\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Will the state step in?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Neither Wicks, nor any other legislator, has released legislative language yet aimed at supporting the industry. But in committee hearings, developers, labor leaders, academics and other off-site construction supporters have repeatedly pitched lawmakers on the same three themes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building out the pipeline is one. The state, supporters say, could keep the factories humming either by nudging affordable developers that way when they apply for state subsidies or by out-and-out requiring public entities, like state universities, to at least consider off-site when they build, say, student housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insuring factories against the risk of a developer going bankrupt (and vice versa) is another common proposal. Developers and investors are hesitant to schedule a spot on a factory line if that factory’s bankruptcy will leave them in the lurch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042674\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042674\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apartment buildings under construction near Macarthur BART station in Oakland, on Feb. 21, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Likewise, factories tend to charge high deposits to make up for the fact that developers go out of business or get hit with months-long delays. One solution could involve the taxpayer playing the role of insurer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Third: Standardizing building code requirements. The state’s Housing and Community Development department already regulates factory-built housing units. But once a module is shipped to a site, local inspectors will often do their own once-over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of these proposed fixes are specific to the industry. But some are regulatory changes that would make it easier to build more generally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That might suggest that policy should ideally focus on making it easier to build stuff more generally, “not on a specific goal,” said Stephen Smith, director of the Center for Building in North America, which advocates for cost-cutting changes to building codes. For all the emphasis on building entire studio apartments inside factories, he noted that plenty of steps in the construction process have entered the modern era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12023647\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12023647\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A line of old factory buildings on Mare Island in the city of Vallejo, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You find walls built in factories, you see elevators, you see escalators,” said Smith. “You need to consider the small victories and think of it as a general process of (regulatory) hygiene.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wicks has heard all of the arguments for why emphasizing factory-based construction won’t work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think factory-built housing is going to solve all of our problems. I think it’s a piece of the solution,” she said. “We’re not talking about actually funding the building of factories. We’re talking about creating a streamlined environment for these types of housing units to be built.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other words, it can’t hurt to try again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/02/factory-built-housing-california-wicks/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "once-a-last-stop-for-the-citys-homeless-sfo-ramps-up-outreach-and-support",
"title": "Once a Last Stop for the City’s Homeless, SFO Ramps Up Outreach and Support",
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"content": "\u003ch2>I. LIZBETH, SFO INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL, 5:00 a.m.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It’s 5 a.m., and \u003cu>San Francisco International Airport\u003c/u>’s International Terminal is surprisingly quiet. A janitor pushes a cart full of cleaning supplies. A Transportation Security Administration agent straggles in with her lunchbox. And Lizbeth Sanchez prepares for a day of work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Special Services area outside of security, where Sanchez works, a few passengers are asleep on top of their bags, waiting for the ticket counters to open. When they wake up, Sanchez will be ready to help them out by giving directions, pushing wheelchairs and offering language translation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some other people asleep in this seating nook aren’t actually traveling anywhere. She points to a person lying on the floor in a far corner of the Special Services area, their body mostly blocked from view by a row of seats. They look like any other traveler. But to Sanchez, it’s clear that they’re not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see feet, and I don’t see luggage,” she says. “So you notice when it’s a homeless [person], and you notice when it’s people who are missing the flights, and they decide to stay in the airport.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sanchez sees what many others don’t: Unhoused people are staying at SFO — some just to sleep for the night, others to live. And while technically not part of her job, Sanchez has made it her duty to help them, too. She lets them rest in her seating area when it’s not too busy, and she brings extra sandwiches from home to share. But it didn’t take long for Sanchez to realize she could not offer people experiencing homelessness something they really needed: housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I said, ‘God, please send me someone to help all these people,’” Sanchez says. “‘Like some Robin Hood or something like that?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>II. JAMES, SFO, 6:30 a.m.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>James Paxton is Sanchez’s Robin Hood. For over a year, he made outreach trips to the airport as a case manager for LifeMoves, a San Mateo County-based organization that connects unhoused people with housing and resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People experiencing homelessness have had a presence at the airport since at least 2018, but airport officials say their number has grown. The San Francisco Police Department says it encounters about 35 unhoused people at the airport every day. Records show that in the first week of December 2025, they made contact with nearly 250 people experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073262\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-27-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073262\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-27-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-27-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-27-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-27-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An unhoused person sits on a bench at San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While LifeMoves tries to help these individuals find a stable place to live, the process can be complicated, and the program is, at present, limited to only 4 hours per month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, LifeMoves was contracted to do homeless outreach at SFO because the airport is physically located in San Mateo County, even though the city and county of San Francisco own SFO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LifeMoves staff has led outreach trips at the airport ever since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such airport outreach is not unique to SFO. Since 2020, a homeless outreach team has been staffed at Los Angeles International Airport for 40 hours a week. Their presence makes a difference: In the team’s first six months at LAX, the airport’s unhoused population decreased by 90%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this August morning, Paxton and his team arrive at the airport before dawn to connect with unhoused folks as they’re waking up, before they start moving around and become harder to find. Paxton leads his team all over SFO, looking for people who want help. Paxton wears a backpack filled with food and hygiene products, ready to provide unhoused folks whatever they say they need: from shelter beds to medical care to Lyft rides.[aside postID=news_12068758 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251213-FEAROFFLYING00262_TV-KQED.jpg']“A lot of the clients, I need to reestablish their ID, I need to get their Social Security, their birth certificate,” Paxton says. “A lot of them don’t have any of those items, and it makes it hard to get services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Paxton only makes outreach trips to the airport once a month, he leans on people who work at SFO — food workers, bag checkers, rental car staff — to act as his unofficial eyes when he’s not there. People like Sanchez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’ll call me and be like, ‘Hey, I think this person needs help,’ and I’ll be on my way,” Paxton says. “We like to make sure that we communicate with them so we can build a better system to reach more people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paxton says that there are lots of reasons people choose to stay at SFO. It’s open around the clock. It has food, water and bathrooms. The airport is secure. It’s also easier for people experiencing homelessness to blend in at the airport as they lug around their bags or sleep. In fact, it can be hard to distinguish them from travelers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Little cues that we’ve noticed to look for, like the tag on the bag shows that he’s flying out soon,” Paxton says, pointing at a passenger’s bag. “And then other clients that we’ll notice, they’ll have bag tags, but it’ll be for like weeks ago. [That] kind of give[s] us an inclination that they may need services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paxton offered services to dozens of unhoused people he met at the airport during his year or so as a case manager for LifeMoves. He placed 15 of them into temporary shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>III. KIM, SAFE HARBOR SHELTER, 4:30 p.m.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One of Paxton’s clients is Kim Snodgrass, who became homeless after he retired.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Got a fairly nice pension and Social Security, but even with that in San José, I could not live on that,” Snodgrass says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, he got a job — and then an unexpected tax bill for thousands of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073263\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-29-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073263\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-29-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-29-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-29-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-29-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ivan Marquez, a case manager with the LifeMoves Homeless Outreach Team in northern San Mateo County, speaks with an unhoused person during an outreach visit at San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“That’s when I started going downhill.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Snodgrass moved to Mexico in search of a cheaper lifestyle, but ended up flying back to SFO with only a few hundred dollars in his pocket. He says he didn’t want to put out either of his sons, both of whom live in the Bay Area. So, after Snodgrass’s flight landed, he just stayed at the airport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had no idea where else to go, and I saw other people there that were staying there,” Snodgrass says. “I mean, you can kind of tell people that are not passengers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Snodgrass lived at the airport for more than six months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each morning, Snodgrass would head to a bathroom to wash up. Then he’d take a long walk between terminals. He’d spend time watching planes from the Reflection Room, visit one of the airport’s museum exhibits, or chat with travelers. At around 6 p.m., Snodgrass would stake out a good place to sleep for the night. He had a favorite spot: a dimly lit seating area tucked in between check-in counters in a domestic terminal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was pretty comfortable to sleep,” Snodgrass says. “You know, you have to sleep sitting up — and that’s kind of hard to do, too. There’s lots of people that want to sleep there. Not just homeless people, but also travelers that maybe are catching a flight the next day.”[aside postID=news_12051236 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250626-GRANTSPASSDECISIONANNI-03-BL-KQED.jpg']Snodgrass says most travelers didn’t seem to notice the unhoused community around them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re in their own world,” Snodgrass says. “They’re going somewhere nice or coming back from someplace nice, and are just oblivious to you, really. It’s like you don’t even exist.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Snodgrass did get noticed. Police officers, who had always patrolled the airport, began asking unhoused people to show their boarding passes. When they didn’t have plane tickets, the cops would tell them to leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though SFO is a public place, it has restricted public hours. In May, the airport shortened the time it’s open to the public — so anyone found at the airport without a plane ticket from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. the next day would be considered trespassing. This shift didn’t prevent unhoused people from seeking shelter at SFO, but it did change the way they were treated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was really harassed,” Snodgrass says. “One morning, a policeman woke me up, and he told me that I was trespassing and that I needed to leave and not to come back. He wasn’t kind at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The police made living at the airport a challenge. But getting enough to eat was even harder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Snodgrass befriended a pastor who regularly traveled to SFO, who would buy him food when he came to town. When the pastor was not around, Snodgrass would eat one Wendy’s chicken sandwich a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Snodgrass made sure other folks living at the airport had food, too. He would stand by the security line, and when travelers went to throw out their water or food, he would ask if he could have it or grab it from the trash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073260\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-10-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073260\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-10-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-10-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sylvia Bambra, a case manager with the LifeMoves Homeless Outreach Team, walks through San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 9, 2026, during an outreach visit. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I would hand it out to some other homeless people that were, like, in really bad shape.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Snodgrass could no longer afford food — and he was in really bad shape, himself. He considered suicide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You get so hungry,” Snodgrass says. “That’s very painful. I think it was after I was hungry for, hadn’t eaten for, like seven or eight days, that I contacted James [Paxton] and said, ‘I can’t deal with this anymore. Can you get me in a shelter?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paxton jumped into action and found Snodgrass an open bed at \u003ca href=\"https://safeharborhope.org/\">Safe Harbor Shelter\u003c/a> in San Mateo County. But getting unhoused folks at SFO into temporary housing does not always work out. Sometimes, when people want to move to a shelter, Paxton can’t place them where they want to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>IV. SFPD AMBASSADORS AND OFFICER WHITNEY, SAMTRANS STOP, 7:30 a.m.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Back at SFO, in an empty hallway somewhere along Paxton’s route, he runs into two men in bright blue shirts. They’re “ambassadors,” retired San Francisco police officers stationed at the airport, whose job is to assist passengers and employees. Ambassadors don’t actually do any law enforcement, but they do help Paxton locate people experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They point Paxton toward the SamTrans bus stop on the lower level, where an unhoused man lies on the floor next to a curved bench, almost entirely hidden from people passing by.[aside postID=news_12065083 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/wmn-afrofuturism-gallery-03-2000x1337.jpg']Paxton offers him a snack pack with fruit, a Danish and beef ravioli. The man takes it, along with a hygiene kit filled with products like soap, a toothbrush and an eye mask. But the unhoused man does not accept Paxton’s offer of shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He is a San Francisco native,” Paxton says. “He said that he’d like services in San Francisco. That’s where he’s from.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But LifeMoves cannot offer shelter in San Francisco, because the organization operates in San Mateo County — where the airport is located — and connects folks with services there. And that’s a problem: Unhoused people arrive at SFO from all over the region, just like travelers do — and 95% of the Bay Area’s unhoused population lives outside of San Mateo County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the local homeless community is fluid, the Bay Area’s housing strategies are not. The region’s homelessness efforts are largely siloed by county, and this fragmentation challenges the Bay Area’s ability to provide services to unhoused folks where they need them, when they need them. So, when people experiencing homelessness at the airport want shelter, LifeMoves cannot house most of them in the county where they need it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFPD says none of the unhoused folks officers encountered in December received “admonishments” or “citations”; none were arrested.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the SamTrans stop, SFPD Officer Erik Whitney also spots the unhoused man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can get on the bus,” Officer Whitney tells the man. “Out there. Not here. It’s trespassing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFPD and LifeMoves share a goal: They both want people experiencing homelessness at the airport to leave. But there’s a key difference. Paxton and his team attempt to get them shelter beds in San Mateo County before they go, while the police usually just give unhoused folks a bus ticket to go somewhere else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And at certain hours, it seems that the police make sure unhoused folks don’t get into the airport in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>V. MARTIN, SFO BART STATION, 1:15 a.m.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When the last train of the night pulls up to the SFO BART station at 1:15 a.m., about a dozen police officers on segues greet it. But no unhoused folks come off the train, and the cops whiz back into the airport on their two-wheelers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re here to make sure anybody [that] gets off the last train is flying,” BART station agent Martin Croskery says. As he locks up, he says that SFPD officers are there every night. “Cause there used to be a problem with a lot of homeless coming off the last train and then staying in the airport overnight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073261\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-24-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073261\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-24-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-24-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-24-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-24-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sylvia Bambra (left) and Ivan Marquez, case managers with the LifeMoves Homeless Outreach Team, speak with an unhoused person during an outreach visit at San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to public records, the SFPD made contact with nearly 100 unhoused people coming off of the last two BART trains of the night during the first week of December. But Croskery says he hardly sees people experiencing homelessness get off the last train these days, in part because the line no longer ends at SFO. In 2021, BART changed the train route to end in Millbrae, further south in San Mateo County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Millbrae now has issues, but the last train has to go somewhere,” Croskrey says. “The problem has shifted from — it’s gone back and forward for years. It used to be the airport, then it was Millbrae, then back [to] the airport. And the airport says, ‘We can’t have this.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>VI. JAMES, MILLBRAE BART STATION, 8:30 a.m.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At the end of Paxton’s monthly homeless outreach shift at SFO, he heads out to find more unhoused people right where Croskery says they’d be: at the Millbrae BART station. There, Paxton easily finds two people who want services in San Mateo County. They fill out LifeMoves intake forms and begin the process of getting shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with that, Paxton’s four hours of monthly outreach come to a close. But soon, the LifeMoves team may be working longer hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, the SFO Airport Commission approved a contract to staff a homeless outreach team at the airport 40 hours a week. The SFO contract is still being amended, but is expected to take effect in the spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Paxton knows that solving the Bay Area’s homelessness crisis is beyond LifeMoves’ capacity. The region needs more housing to ensure that people like Snodgrass have permanent places to live after their time at shelters runs out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do need more housing, I believe, in order to help this problem,” Paxton says. “That seems like that would be the best answer to help. But [we’re] just going to have to wait on that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Erin Bump is a radio reporter and podcast producer who lives in San Francisco. Find more of her work at \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://kalw.org\">\u003cem>kalw.org\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> or in the Century Lives podcast feed.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ch2>I. LIZBETH, SFO INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL, 5:00 a.m.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It’s 5 a.m., and \u003cu>San Francisco International Airport\u003c/u>’s International Terminal is surprisingly quiet. A janitor pushes a cart full of cleaning supplies. A Transportation Security Administration agent straggles in with her lunchbox. And Lizbeth Sanchez prepares for a day of work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Special Services area outside of security, where Sanchez works, a few passengers are asleep on top of their bags, waiting for the ticket counters to open. When they wake up, Sanchez will be ready to help them out by giving directions, pushing wheelchairs and offering language translation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some other people asleep in this seating nook aren’t actually traveling anywhere. She points to a person lying on the floor in a far corner of the Special Services area, their body mostly blocked from view by a row of seats. They look like any other traveler. But to Sanchez, it’s clear that they’re not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see feet, and I don’t see luggage,” she says. “So you notice when it’s a homeless [person], and you notice when it’s people who are missing the flights, and they decide to stay in the airport.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sanchez sees what many others don’t: Unhoused people are staying at SFO — some just to sleep for the night, others to live. And while technically not part of her job, Sanchez has made it her duty to help them, too. She lets them rest in her seating area when it’s not too busy, and she brings extra sandwiches from home to share. But it didn’t take long for Sanchez to realize she could not offer people experiencing homelessness something they really needed: housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I said, ‘God, please send me someone to help all these people,’” Sanchez says. “‘Like some Robin Hood or something like that?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>II. JAMES, SFO, 6:30 a.m.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>James Paxton is Sanchez’s Robin Hood. For over a year, he made outreach trips to the airport as a case manager for LifeMoves, a San Mateo County-based organization that connects unhoused people with housing and resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People experiencing homelessness have had a presence at the airport since at least 2018, but airport officials say their number has grown. The San Francisco Police Department says it encounters about 35 unhoused people at the airport every day. Records show that in the first week of December 2025, they made contact with nearly 250 people experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073262\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-27-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073262\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-27-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-27-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-27-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-27-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An unhoused person sits on a bench at San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While LifeMoves tries to help these individuals find a stable place to live, the process can be complicated, and the program is, at present, limited to only 4 hours per month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, LifeMoves was contracted to do homeless outreach at SFO because the airport is physically located in San Mateo County, even though the city and county of San Francisco own SFO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LifeMoves staff has led outreach trips at the airport ever since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such airport outreach is not unique to SFO. Since 2020, a homeless outreach team has been staffed at Los Angeles International Airport for 40 hours a week. Their presence makes a difference: In the team’s first six months at LAX, the airport’s unhoused population decreased by 90%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this August morning, Paxton and his team arrive at the airport before dawn to connect with unhoused folks as they’re waking up, before they start moving around and become harder to find. Paxton leads his team all over SFO, looking for people who want help. Paxton wears a backpack filled with food and hygiene products, ready to provide unhoused folks whatever they say they need: from shelter beds to medical care to Lyft rides.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“A lot of the clients, I need to reestablish their ID, I need to get their Social Security, their birth certificate,” Paxton says. “A lot of them don’t have any of those items, and it makes it hard to get services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Paxton only makes outreach trips to the airport once a month, he leans on people who work at SFO — food workers, bag checkers, rental car staff — to act as his unofficial eyes when he’s not there. People like Sanchez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’ll call me and be like, ‘Hey, I think this person needs help,’ and I’ll be on my way,” Paxton says. “We like to make sure that we communicate with them so we can build a better system to reach more people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paxton says that there are lots of reasons people choose to stay at SFO. It’s open around the clock. It has food, water and bathrooms. The airport is secure. It’s also easier for people experiencing homelessness to blend in at the airport as they lug around their bags or sleep. In fact, it can be hard to distinguish them from travelers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Little cues that we’ve noticed to look for, like the tag on the bag shows that he’s flying out soon,” Paxton says, pointing at a passenger’s bag. “And then other clients that we’ll notice, they’ll have bag tags, but it’ll be for like weeks ago. [That] kind of give[s] us an inclination that they may need services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paxton offered services to dozens of unhoused people he met at the airport during his year or so as a case manager for LifeMoves. He placed 15 of them into temporary shelters.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>III. KIM, SAFE HARBOR SHELTER, 4:30 p.m.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One of Paxton’s clients is Kim Snodgrass, who became homeless after he retired.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Got a fairly nice pension and Social Security, but even with that in San José, I could not live on that,” Snodgrass says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, he got a job — and then an unexpected tax bill for thousands of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073263\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-29-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073263\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-29-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-29-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-29-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-29-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ivan Marquez, a case manager with the LifeMoves Homeless Outreach Team in northern San Mateo County, speaks with an unhoused person during an outreach visit at San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“That’s when I started going downhill.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Snodgrass moved to Mexico in search of a cheaper lifestyle, but ended up flying back to SFO with only a few hundred dollars in his pocket. He says he didn’t want to put out either of his sons, both of whom live in the Bay Area. So, after Snodgrass’s flight landed, he just stayed at the airport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had no idea where else to go, and I saw other people there that were staying there,” Snodgrass says. “I mean, you can kind of tell people that are not passengers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Snodgrass lived at the airport for more than six months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each morning, Snodgrass would head to a bathroom to wash up. Then he’d take a long walk between terminals. He’d spend time watching planes from the Reflection Room, visit one of the airport’s museum exhibits, or chat with travelers. At around 6 p.m., Snodgrass would stake out a good place to sleep for the night. He had a favorite spot: a dimly lit seating area tucked in between check-in counters in a domestic terminal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was pretty comfortable to sleep,” Snodgrass says. “You know, you have to sleep sitting up — and that’s kind of hard to do, too. There’s lots of people that want to sleep there. Not just homeless people, but also travelers that maybe are catching a flight the next day.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Snodgrass says most travelers didn’t seem to notice the unhoused community around them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re in their own world,” Snodgrass says. “They’re going somewhere nice or coming back from someplace nice, and are just oblivious to you, really. It’s like you don’t even exist.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Snodgrass did get noticed. Police officers, who had always patrolled the airport, began asking unhoused people to show their boarding passes. When they didn’t have plane tickets, the cops would tell them to leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though SFO is a public place, it has restricted public hours. In May, the airport shortened the time it’s open to the public — so anyone found at the airport without a plane ticket from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. the next day would be considered trespassing. This shift didn’t prevent unhoused people from seeking shelter at SFO, but it did change the way they were treated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was really harassed,” Snodgrass says. “One morning, a policeman woke me up, and he told me that I was trespassing and that I needed to leave and not to come back. He wasn’t kind at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The police made living at the airport a challenge. But getting enough to eat was even harder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Snodgrass befriended a pastor who regularly traveled to SFO, who would buy him food when he came to town. When the pastor was not around, Snodgrass would eat one Wendy’s chicken sandwich a day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Snodgrass made sure other folks living at the airport had food, too. He would stand by the security line, and when travelers went to throw out their water or food, he would ask if he could have it or grab it from the trash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073260\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-10-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073260\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-10-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-10-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sylvia Bambra, a case manager with the LifeMoves Homeless Outreach Team, walks through San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 9, 2026, during an outreach visit. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I would hand it out to some other homeless people that were, like, in really bad shape.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Snodgrass could no longer afford food — and he was in really bad shape, himself. He considered suicide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You get so hungry,” Snodgrass says. “That’s very painful. I think it was after I was hungry for, hadn’t eaten for, like seven or eight days, that I contacted James [Paxton] and said, ‘I can’t deal with this anymore. Can you get me in a shelter?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paxton jumped into action and found Snodgrass an open bed at \u003ca href=\"https://safeharborhope.org/\">Safe Harbor Shelter\u003c/a> in San Mateo County. But getting unhoused folks at SFO into temporary housing does not always work out. Sometimes, when people want to move to a shelter, Paxton can’t place them where they want to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>IV. SFPD AMBASSADORS AND OFFICER WHITNEY, SAMTRANS STOP, 7:30 a.m.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Back at SFO, in an empty hallway somewhere along Paxton’s route, he runs into two men in bright blue shirts. They’re “ambassadors,” retired San Francisco police officers stationed at the airport, whose job is to assist passengers and employees. Ambassadors don’t actually do any law enforcement, but they do help Paxton locate people experiencing homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They point Paxton toward the SamTrans bus stop on the lower level, where an unhoused man lies on the floor next to a curved bench, almost entirely hidden from people passing by.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Paxton offers him a snack pack with fruit, a Danish and beef ravioli. The man takes it, along with a hygiene kit filled with products like soap, a toothbrush and an eye mask. But the unhoused man does not accept Paxton’s offer of shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He is a San Francisco native,” Paxton says. “He said that he’d like services in San Francisco. That’s where he’s from.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But LifeMoves cannot offer shelter in San Francisco, because the organization operates in San Mateo County — where the airport is located — and connects folks with services there. And that’s a problem: Unhoused people arrive at SFO from all over the region, just like travelers do — and 95% of the Bay Area’s unhoused population lives outside of San Mateo County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the local homeless community is fluid, the Bay Area’s housing strategies are not. The region’s homelessness efforts are largely siloed by county, and this fragmentation challenges the Bay Area’s ability to provide services to unhoused folks where they need them, when they need them. So, when people experiencing homelessness at the airport want shelter, LifeMoves cannot house most of them in the county where they need it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFPD says none of the unhoused folks officers encountered in December received “admonishments” or “citations”; none were arrested.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the SamTrans stop, SFPD Officer Erik Whitney also spots the unhoused man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can get on the bus,” Officer Whitney tells the man. “Out there. Not here. It’s trespassing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFPD and LifeMoves share a goal: They both want people experiencing homelessness at the airport to leave. But there’s a key difference. Paxton and his team attempt to get them shelter beds in San Mateo County before they go, while the police usually just give unhoused folks a bus ticket to go somewhere else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And at certain hours, it seems that the police make sure unhoused folks don’t get into the airport in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>V. MARTIN, SFO BART STATION, 1:15 a.m.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When the last train of the night pulls up to the SFO BART station at 1:15 a.m., about a dozen police officers on segues greet it. But no unhoused folks come off the train, and the cops whiz back into the airport on their two-wheelers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re here to make sure anybody [that] gets off the last train is flying,” BART station agent Martin Croskery says. As he locks up, he says that SFPD officers are there every night. “Cause there used to be a problem with a lot of homeless coming off the last train and then staying in the airport overnight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073261\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-24-BL-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073261\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-24-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-24-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-24-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260209-SFOSLEEPING-24-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sylvia Bambra (left) and Ivan Marquez, case managers with the LifeMoves Homeless Outreach Team, speak with an unhoused person during an outreach visit at San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to public records, the SFPD made contact with nearly 100 unhoused people coming off of the last two BART trains of the night during the first week of December. But Croskery says he hardly sees people experiencing homelessness get off the last train these days, in part because the line no longer ends at SFO. In 2021, BART changed the train route to end in Millbrae, further south in San Mateo County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Millbrae now has issues, but the last train has to go somewhere,” Croskrey says. “The problem has shifted from — it’s gone back and forward for years. It used to be the airport, then it was Millbrae, then back [to] the airport. And the airport says, ‘We can’t have this.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>VI. JAMES, MILLBRAE BART STATION, 8:30 a.m.\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At the end of Paxton’s monthly homeless outreach shift at SFO, he heads out to find more unhoused people right where Croskery says they’d be: at the Millbrae BART station. There, Paxton easily finds two people who want services in San Mateo County. They fill out LifeMoves intake forms and begin the process of getting shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with that, Paxton’s four hours of monthly outreach come to a close. But soon, the LifeMoves team may be working longer hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, the SFO Airport Commission approved a contract to staff a homeless outreach team at the airport 40 hours a week. The SFO contract is still being amended, but is expected to take effect in the spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Paxton knows that solving the Bay Area’s homelessness crisis is beyond LifeMoves’ capacity. The region needs more housing to ensure that people like Snodgrass have permanent places to live after their time at shelters runs out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do need more housing, I believe, in order to help this problem,” Paxton says. “That seems like that would be the best answer to help. But [we’re] just going to have to wait on that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Erin Bump is a radio reporter and podcast producer who lives in San Francisco. Find more of her work at \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://kalw.org\">\u003cem>kalw.org\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> or in the Century Lives podcast feed.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "yimby-groups-sue-san-francisco-arguing-upzoning-doesnt-go-far-enough",
"title": "YIMBY Groups Sue San Francisco, Arguing Upzoning Doesn’t Go Far Enough",
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"headTitle": "YIMBY Groups Sue San Francisco, Arguing Upzoning Doesn’t Go Far Enough | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Roughly a month after neighborhood and small business groups sued San Francisco over a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065204/everything-you-need-to-know-about-san-franciscos-family-zoning-plan\">housing plan\u003c/a> they said went too far, a coalition of housing activists is filing their own suit, arguing the city’s plan doesn’t go far enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Representatives from YIMBY Law, California Housing Defense Fund and Californians for Homeownership said they filed a lawsuit on Thursday afternoon, alleging that Mayor Daniel Lurie’s recently-approved \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066478/san-francisco-passed-a-new-zoning-plan-how-will-it-change-the-city\">Family Zoning Plan\u003c/a> doesn’t effectively make way for the 36,000 new homes and apartments required under state housing law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a press conference on Thursday morning, YIMBY Law Executive Director Sonja Trauss said the lawsuit was meant to show the city “tough love.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are here today on the precipice of St. Valentine’s Day out of love: love for the San Franciscans who can’t afford where they live, who are forgoing essential items like health care and saving for the future,” she said. “The Family Zoning Plan is inadequate; it’s not a real upzoning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It comes as the city battles a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069226/neighborhood-small-business-groups-file-lawsuit-over-san-francisco-rezoning-plan\">separate lawsuit filed last month\u003c/a> alleging the upzoning goes too far and could displace low-income renters and small businesses. A spokesperson for the City Attorney’s Office confirmed with KQED that the planning department can continue to implement the plan, even as it’s under litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Zisser, assistant deputy director of housing policy with California’s Housing and Community Development Department (HCD) said the fact that the city’s plan, called a housing element under state law, is the subject of multiple lawsuits does not invalidate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073372\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-08-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073372\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-08-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-08-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-08-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-08-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Housing in San Francisco’s Sunset District on May 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“In housing element law, two entities are named as having the authority to decertify a housing element: HCD and a court of law,” he wrote in an email to KQED. “HCD had previously found San Francisco’s housing element complaint with state law and has not rescinded that finding, and a court has not issued an order regarding San Francisco’s housing element.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like other cities across the state, San Francisco had to implement new development rules to allow significantly more apartments to be built across the city, particularly in areas that have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065615/san-franciscos-north-and-westside-residents-sound-off-on-housing-plan\">historically protected\u003c/a> from new housing. The city’s plan focused on increasing allowable residential building heights city-wide, particularly in San Francisco’s northern and western neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Board of Supervisors \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065708/san-francisco-supervisors-pass-rezoning-plan-making-way-for-taller-denser-housing\">approved the plan\u003c/a> in early December. Its passage came with controversy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few months before the plan made its way to the supervisors, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062042/report-projects-weak-housing-production-under-san-francisco-zoning-plan-over-next-20-years\">city’s chief economist\u003c/a> released a report showing it overestimated the number of homes that could be built and did not account for expensive market conditions that have remained high after the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>California is an expensive place to live. Are you feeling the pinch? \u003ca href=\"#Shareyourstory\">Share your story\u003c/a> with KQED by leaving us a voicemail at \u003ca href=\"tel:4155532115\">415-553-2115\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\">clicking here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The most recent lawsuit against the rezoning plan makes the same allegations and argues the city added new restrictions, including limits on unit size and parking, that could undermine housing production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the time came to fulfill the promises that San Francisco made in its housing element, the city came up short,” said Nick Eckenwiler, a staff attorney with the California Housing Defense Fund. “And so we’re here to make sure that San Francisco follows through on those and actually gets enough housing built.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charles Lutvak, a spokesperson for Lurie’s office, said the city is going to meet state requirements for its housing element, while protecting “what’s so special about our neighborhoods and our city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the cost of housing continues to rise, the Family Zoning Plan is going to help ensure that the next generation of San Franciscans can afford to raise their kids here,” he wrote in an email to KQED.[aside postID=news_12066478 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250325-APARTMENTSONWESTSIDE-10-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg']But on the other side of the debate, organizers with Neighborhoods United SF and Small Business Forward worry the Family Zoning Plan could be too effective. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/neighborhoods-united-sf-lawsuit.pdf\">lawsuit filed in early January\u003c/a> by the two groups, and others, argues that the upzoning could displace people living in rent-controlled buildings and could harm historic buildings. It also accuses the city of not following the state’s landmark environmental law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joseph Smooke, an organizer with the city’s Race and Equity in All Planning Coalition, said not everyone in San Francisco wants to live in a high-rise condo tower. He also argued that if people are displaced because their neighborhoods become too expensive due to new development, it will be hard for them to find a more affordable rental in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That household that’s looking for a new place to live is going to be confronted with whatever the market rents are at that time,” he said. “What you end up with is displacement, not just from communities, but from the city entirely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A settlement hearing in the Neighborhoods United lawsuit is set for Feb. 19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trauss said her lawsuit and the opposing one are manifestations of the local politics surrounding housing affordability, with one side arguing the city isn’t doing enough to make way for more housing, while the other said the city isn’t protecting its existing residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a way, I think it’s good that the government is caught on both sides,” she said. “It demonstrates why state intervention is needed because left just to the local politics, they’re never going to quite get over the hump.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Shareyourstory\">\u003c/a>California is expensive. Share your story of how you get by\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The lawsuit alleges the city’s recently approved Family Zoning Plan does not comply with state housing laws and will fall short of the state’s goals.",
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"title": "YIMBY Groups Sue San Francisco, Arguing Upzoning Doesn’t Go Far Enough | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Roughly a month after neighborhood and small business groups sued San Francisco over a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065204/everything-you-need-to-know-about-san-franciscos-family-zoning-plan\">housing plan\u003c/a> they said went too far, a coalition of housing activists is filing their own suit, arguing the city’s plan doesn’t go far enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Representatives from YIMBY Law, California Housing Defense Fund and Californians for Homeownership said they filed a lawsuit on Thursday afternoon, alleging that Mayor Daniel Lurie’s recently-approved \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066478/san-francisco-passed-a-new-zoning-plan-how-will-it-change-the-city\">Family Zoning Plan\u003c/a> doesn’t effectively make way for the 36,000 new homes and apartments required under state housing law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a press conference on Thursday morning, YIMBY Law Executive Director Sonja Trauss said the lawsuit was meant to show the city “tough love.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are here today on the precipice of St. Valentine’s Day out of love: love for the San Franciscans who can’t afford where they live, who are forgoing essential items like health care and saving for the future,” she said. “The Family Zoning Plan is inadequate; it’s not a real upzoning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It comes as the city battles a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069226/neighborhood-small-business-groups-file-lawsuit-over-san-francisco-rezoning-plan\">separate lawsuit filed last month\u003c/a> alleging the upzoning goes too far and could displace low-income renters and small businesses. A spokesperson for the City Attorney’s Office confirmed with KQED that the planning department can continue to implement the plan, even as it’s under litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Zisser, assistant deputy director of housing policy with California’s Housing and Community Development Department (HCD) said the fact that the city’s plan, called a housing element under state law, is the subject of multiple lawsuits does not invalidate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073372\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-08-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073372\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-08-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-08-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-08-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-08-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Housing in San Francisco’s Sunset District on May 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“In housing element law, two entities are named as having the authority to decertify a housing element: HCD and a court of law,” he wrote in an email to KQED. “HCD had previously found San Francisco’s housing element complaint with state law and has not rescinded that finding, and a court has not issued an order regarding San Francisco’s housing element.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like other cities across the state, San Francisco had to implement new development rules to allow significantly more apartments to be built across the city, particularly in areas that have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065615/san-franciscos-north-and-westside-residents-sound-off-on-housing-plan\">historically protected\u003c/a> from new housing. The city’s plan focused on increasing allowable residential building heights city-wide, particularly in San Francisco’s northern and western neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Board of Supervisors \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065708/san-francisco-supervisors-pass-rezoning-plan-making-way-for-taller-denser-housing\">approved the plan\u003c/a> in early December. Its passage came with controversy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few months before the plan made its way to the supervisors, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062042/report-projects-weak-housing-production-under-san-francisco-zoning-plan-over-next-20-years\">city’s chief economist\u003c/a> released a report showing it overestimated the number of homes that could be built and did not account for expensive market conditions that have remained high after the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>California is an expensive place to live. Are you feeling the pinch? \u003ca href=\"#Shareyourstory\">Share your story\u003c/a> with KQED by leaving us a voicemail at \u003ca href=\"tel:4155532115\">415-553-2115\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\">clicking here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>The most recent lawsuit against the rezoning plan makes the same allegations and argues the city added new restrictions, including limits on unit size and parking, that could undermine housing production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the time came to fulfill the promises that San Francisco made in its housing element, the city came up short,” said Nick Eckenwiler, a staff attorney with the California Housing Defense Fund. “And so we’re here to make sure that San Francisco follows through on those and actually gets enough housing built.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charles Lutvak, a spokesperson for Lurie’s office, said the city is going to meet state requirements for its housing element, while protecting “what’s so special about our neighborhoods and our city.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the cost of housing continues to rise, the Family Zoning Plan is going to help ensure that the next generation of San Franciscans can afford to raise their kids here,” he wrote in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But on the other side of the debate, organizers with Neighborhoods United SF and Small Business Forward worry the Family Zoning Plan could be too effective. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/neighborhoods-united-sf-lawsuit.pdf\">lawsuit filed in early January\u003c/a> by the two groups, and others, argues that the upzoning could displace people living in rent-controlled buildings and could harm historic buildings. It also accuses the city of not following the state’s landmark environmental law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joseph Smooke, an organizer with the city’s Race and Equity in All Planning Coalition, said not everyone in San Francisco wants to live in a high-rise condo tower. He also argued that if people are displaced because their neighborhoods become too expensive due to new development, it will be hard for them to find a more affordable rental in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That household that’s looking for a new place to live is going to be confronted with whatever the market rents are at that time,” he said. “What you end up with is displacement, not just from communities, but from the city entirely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A settlement hearing in the Neighborhoods United lawsuit is set for Feb. 19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trauss said her lawsuit and the opposing one are manifestations of the local politics surrounding housing affordability, with one side arguing the city isn’t doing enough to make way for more housing, while the other said the city isn’t protecting its existing residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a way, I think it’s good that the government is caught on both sides,” she said. “It demonstrates why state intervention is needed because left just to the local politics, they’re never going to quite get over the hump.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Shareyourstory\">\u003c/a>California is expensive. Share your story of how you get by\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe\n src='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header?embedded=true'\n title='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header'\n width='760' height='500'\n frameborder='0'\n marginheight='0' marginwidth='0'>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "san-francisco-opens-shelter-beds-for-unhoused-people-forced-to-move-during-super-bowl-week",
"title": "San Francisco Opens Homeless Shelter for People Forced to Move During Super Bowl",
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"headTitle": "San Francisco Opens Homeless Shelter for People Forced to Move During Super Bowl | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>As thousands of people descend upon \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> this week for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/super-bowl\">Super Bowl\u003c/a> LX, the city is looking to put on a sparkly show for tourists and locals alike — and telling unhoused individuals to move along to make way for activities downtown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to running existing interfaith winter shelters, the city is funding additional shelter beds specifically during the week of the Super Bowl, KQED has confirmed. Many homeless advocates and unhoused people say the efforts are merely pushing the issue out of view of Super Bowl fans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re trying to cover up a problem that, you know, exists. It’s dehumanizing. If you don’t have anywhere else to go, they’ll still tell you, ‘We don’t want you here,’ because it makes the city look bad,” said Jered Thomas, a 33-year-old who is homeless and recently was sleeping near the South of Market and Mission neighborhoods. “But I don’t really feel like they’re solving the problem by moving us around or policing us, making it illegal to be homeless. It just makes the problem even worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 8,300 people are homeless in San Francisco, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/data--point-time-count-dashboard\">2024 Point-in-Time count\u003c/a>, a biennial snapshot of the city’s unhoused population. Just over half of the people included in the count were unsheltered. While the city has made a number of changes to its policies for addressing homelessness, affordable housing and access to subsidies remain out of reach for many.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday night, Thomas slept at the Gubbio Project. The nonprofit typically only offers respite and services for people who are unhoused during the day. But the week of the Super Bowl, the city is helping the program operate 24 hours a day to prepare meals for guests and oversee 80 beds (60 beds for people who drop in themselves, and 20 reserved for people dropped off by police or the city’s street response teams).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072187\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072187\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_015-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_015-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_015-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_015-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jered Thomas sits inside the sanctuary at St. John’s the Evangelist Episcopal Church, home to the Gubbio Project, on Feb. 2, 2026, in San Francisco. The program provides guests a place to rest with no sign-in process and no one turned away. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This year’s Super Bowl will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, but it is expected to draw thousands of tourists from all over the globe to San Francisco, about 45 miles north. City leaders see the event, which is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071211/super-bowl-lx-promises-big-bucks-for-the-bay-area-cities-are-trying-to-cash-in\">projected to bring more than $600 million\u003c/a> to the region, as a catapult for the city’s post-pandemic economic rebound. Mayor Daniel Lurie has seized the opportunity to charm visitors and TV viewers, and change the negative narrative many conservative media pundits have spun about San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Next month, we will once again welcome people from across the globe for Super Bowl LX,” Lurie said during his State of the City address in January. “And I have no doubt that our city will once again rise to the occasion as the spotlight of the world shines on San Francisco.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not unexpected that San Francisco will clear sidewalks of encampments ahead of the major event, which also came to the Bay Area in 2016, when major sweeps took place around the Embarcadero and other areas where Super Bowl festivities were happening. The city took a similar approach with other events, like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference, when high-security levels prompted the closure of several streets downtown and restricted foot traffic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, the city is shutting down blocks downtown around the Moscone Center, where the NFL is hosting events for football fans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>California is an expensive place to live. Are you feeling the pinch? \u003ca href=\"#Shareyourstory\">Share your story\u003c/a> with KQED by leaving us a voicemail at \u003ca href=\"tel:4155532115\">415-553-2115\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\">clicking here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Officials at the Department of Emergency Management, which oversees the city’s street crews that respond to homeless encampments, said they are continuing with their regular schedule and are not ramping up enforcement efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San Francisco’s work to bring people indoors and improve street conditions is ongoing every day — regardless of whether a major event is happening in the Bay Area,” a spokesperson from DEM said. “Neighborhood Street Teams are extending hours and proactively encouraging people to accept services, as they do every day. The message is simple: help is available, and today is a good day to come inside.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other cities in the Bay Area looking to lure tourists are also continuing to clear encampments ahead of the event and maintaining that they are not ramping up enforcement around any particular event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These efforts are part of San José’s ongoing, year-round strategy to reduce homelessness with compassion, dignity and long-term solutions — not a one-time response tied to any single event,” said Sarah Fields, deputy director of public affairs for San José’s Housing Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072189\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072189\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-SUPERBOWLHOMELESSNESS-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-SUPERBOWLHOMELESSNESS-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-SUPERBOWLHOMELESSNESS-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-SUPERBOWLHOMELESSNESS-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Department of Public Works employees clean up debris after a sweep of an encampment on Merlin Street in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood on Jan. 27, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tent clearings and citations for people sleeping outside have increased across San Francisco in the last year, especially after the 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Grants Pass case that made it easier for cities to force homeless people to move, even if shelter is unavailable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s certainly been an uptick in operations for months now,” said John Do, an ACLU attorney who worked on a lawsuit against San Francisco over how it conducted homeless sweeps. The $2.8 million settlement for the case was officially finalized in September 2025. “The city wants to hide their homelessness crisis by displacing people … But those are temporary measures, which don’t, of course, address the underlying issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year’s Super Bowl also comes as nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/data--check-your-position-adult-shelter-waitlist\">400 residents remain on San Francisco’s waitlist\u003c/a> for a bed at one of the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/data--shelter-and-crisis-interventions\">53 shelter sites\u003c/a>, while others struggle to obtain permanent housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the city opens up additional beds at Gubbio in the Mission District, it’s also winding down more than 100 beds at the Monarch and Adante hotels downtown. At the same time, dozens of displaced residents of a Tenderloin building that burned in December say they are struggling to find shelter even months after the blaze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072185\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072185\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_008-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_008-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_008-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_008-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guests sleep on cots arranged throughout the sanctuary at St. John’s the Evangelist Episcopal Church, where the Gubbio Project is operating an overnight shelter during Super Bowl weekend on Feb. 2, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Shelters are full. All of the sudden, the city is providing additional beds when we have been asking for this for months,” said Gardenia Zuniga-Haro, an advocate for the residents who previously lived at the burned building. “It’s convenient for the mayor to make it look like everything is peaches and cream, but that’s not the case. He has done nothing but spend millions on bringing in celebrities and promoting Taco Bell.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lydia Bransten, executive director at the Gubbio Project, said the city’s decision to open additional beds at their site during Super Bowl week was a welcome change from past responses to major events, when the city cleared streets of homeless residents but offered them nowhere to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As much as the city is being really hard on our folks who are experiencing homelessness, this is a good move to say we understand that people are going to be displaced and we’re going to respond to it by giving people an option of someplace to be,” Bransten said. “We can’t serve everybody, but we’ll maybe serve 80 people a night. That’s a lot of people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday night, several dozen guests lingered around the quiet courtyard at the Gubbio Project. Gubbio staff, who are working 12-hour shifts this week to take on the new 24-hour model, prepared chicken alfredo pasta with broccoli and buttered biscuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072186\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072186\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_012-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_012-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_012-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_012-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joshua Wagner sits in the courtyard at St. John’s the Evangelist Episcopal Church on Feb. 2, 2026, in San Francisco. The program allows unhoused guests to rest inside the church without intake forms or barriers, emphasizing dignity, accessibility and safety. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rows of cot beds lined the inside of the church where the Gubbio Project is based, with soft sounds of snoring from those who had gone to sleep early.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The quiet shelter offered a place to finally relax for Joshua Wagner, who had been asked to move off the sidewalk on 11th Street in the South of Market neighborhood earlier that day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Me and several people that I’ve been with were told that we were not allowed to be out when the Super Bowl is happening this week, whatever the hell that means. We’re homeless. How can we not be allowed out?” Wagner said. “I can’t even rest for five minutes without somebody telling me to get up and go. I have health problems causing me great distress every time I have to battle gravity just to move along.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thomas arrived at the shelter after city outreach workers told him about the beds that would be available that night.[aside postID=news_12068047 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251211_YOUTHHOMELESSNESS_DECEMBER_GH-5-KQED.jpg']“They said that the church is opening the shelter for the week of the Super Bowl, because the city wants the homeless people off the streets for all the fans coming from the East Coast to see the city and celebrate for the Super Bowl,” Thomas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Born in San Francisco, Thomas said street crews have asked him to move along before. He’s stayed in shelters, but has experienced harassment and had his items stolen in those spaces before, so he sticks by himself on the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lately, however, he said there’s been even more shuffling around. “There’s increased police, and an obvious police presence today to say the least,” he said Monday evening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He hopes to one day do outreach himself for people in his situation. He has an idea of what could get him there: “What would be helpful for me is an opportunity for housing without all the hoops you have to go through for federal assistance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though he’s had negative experiences at some shelters, he was feeling good about his stay at Gubbio on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I like it so far. The dinner’s good. The beds are, you know, they’re comfortable. They let you bring in your things. They don’t have so many restrictions. And I feel like the staff is more understanding here than at other shelters,” he said. “It’s like a breath of fresh air.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Shareyourstory\">\u003c/a>California is expensive. Share your story of how you get by\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Bay Area cities are clearing sidewalks to boost their public image during Super Bowl LX, which is expected to draw thousands of tourists to the region and millions of TV viewers.",
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"title": "San Francisco Opens Homeless Shelter for People Forced to Move During Super Bowl | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As thousands of people descend upon \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> this week for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/super-bowl\">Super Bowl\u003c/a> LX, the city is looking to put on a sparkly show for tourists and locals alike — and telling unhoused individuals to move along to make way for activities downtown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to running existing interfaith winter shelters, the city is funding additional shelter beds specifically during the week of the Super Bowl, KQED has confirmed. Many homeless advocates and unhoused people say the efforts are merely pushing the issue out of view of Super Bowl fans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re trying to cover up a problem that, you know, exists. It’s dehumanizing. If you don’t have anywhere else to go, they’ll still tell you, ‘We don’t want you here,’ because it makes the city look bad,” said Jered Thomas, a 33-year-old who is homeless and recently was sleeping near the South of Market and Mission neighborhoods. “But I don’t really feel like they’re solving the problem by moving us around or policing us, making it illegal to be homeless. It just makes the problem even worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 8,300 people are homeless in San Francisco, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/data--point-time-count-dashboard\">2024 Point-in-Time count\u003c/a>, a biennial snapshot of the city’s unhoused population. Just over half of the people included in the count were unsheltered. While the city has made a number of changes to its policies for addressing homelessness, affordable housing and access to subsidies remain out of reach for many.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday night, Thomas slept at the Gubbio Project. The nonprofit typically only offers respite and services for people who are unhoused during the day. But the week of the Super Bowl, the city is helping the program operate 24 hours a day to prepare meals for guests and oversee 80 beds (60 beds for people who drop in themselves, and 20 reserved for people dropped off by police or the city’s street response teams).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072187\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072187\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_015-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_015-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_015-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_015-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jered Thomas sits inside the sanctuary at St. John’s the Evangelist Episcopal Church, home to the Gubbio Project, on Feb. 2, 2026, in San Francisco. The program provides guests a place to rest with no sign-in process and no one turned away. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This year’s Super Bowl will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, but it is expected to draw thousands of tourists from all over the globe to San Francisco, about 45 miles north. City leaders see the event, which is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071211/super-bowl-lx-promises-big-bucks-for-the-bay-area-cities-are-trying-to-cash-in\">projected to bring more than $600 million\u003c/a> to the region, as a catapult for the city’s post-pandemic economic rebound. Mayor Daniel Lurie has seized the opportunity to charm visitors and TV viewers, and change the negative narrative many conservative media pundits have spun about San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Next month, we will once again welcome people from across the globe for Super Bowl LX,” Lurie said during his State of the City address in January. “And I have no doubt that our city will once again rise to the occasion as the spotlight of the world shines on San Francisco.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not unexpected that San Francisco will clear sidewalks of encampments ahead of the major event, which also came to the Bay Area in 2016, when major sweeps took place around the Embarcadero and other areas where Super Bowl festivities were happening. The city took a similar approach with other events, like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference, when high-security levels prompted the closure of several streets downtown and restricted foot traffic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, the city is shutting down blocks downtown around the Moscone Center, where the NFL is hosting events for football fans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>California is an expensive place to live. Are you feeling the pinch? \u003ca href=\"#Shareyourstory\">Share your story\u003c/a> with KQED by leaving us a voicemail at \u003ca href=\"tel:4155532115\">415-553-2115\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\">clicking here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Officials at the Department of Emergency Management, which oversees the city’s street crews that respond to homeless encampments, said they are continuing with their regular schedule and are not ramping up enforcement efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San Francisco’s work to bring people indoors and improve street conditions is ongoing every day — regardless of whether a major event is happening in the Bay Area,” a spokesperson from DEM said. “Neighborhood Street Teams are extending hours and proactively encouraging people to accept services, as they do every day. The message is simple: help is available, and today is a good day to come inside.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other cities in the Bay Area looking to lure tourists are also continuing to clear encampments ahead of the event and maintaining that they are not ramping up enforcement around any particular event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These efforts are part of San José’s ongoing, year-round strategy to reduce homelessness with compassion, dignity and long-term solutions — not a one-time response tied to any single event,” said Sarah Fields, deputy director of public affairs for San José’s Housing Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072189\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072189\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-SUPERBOWLHOMELESSNESS-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-SUPERBOWLHOMELESSNESS-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-SUPERBOWLHOMELESSNESS-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-SUPERBOWLHOMELESSNESS-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Department of Public Works employees clean up debris after a sweep of an encampment on Merlin Street in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood on Jan. 27, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tent clearings and citations for people sleeping outside have increased across San Francisco in the last year, especially after the 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Grants Pass case that made it easier for cities to force homeless people to move, even if shelter is unavailable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s certainly been an uptick in operations for months now,” said John Do, an ACLU attorney who worked on a lawsuit against San Francisco over how it conducted homeless sweeps. The $2.8 million settlement for the case was officially finalized in September 2025. “The city wants to hide their homelessness crisis by displacing people … But those are temporary measures, which don’t, of course, address the underlying issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year’s Super Bowl also comes as nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/data--check-your-position-adult-shelter-waitlist\">400 residents remain on San Francisco’s waitlist\u003c/a> for a bed at one of the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/data--shelter-and-crisis-interventions\">53 shelter sites\u003c/a>, while others struggle to obtain permanent housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the city opens up additional beds at Gubbio in the Mission District, it’s also winding down more than 100 beds at the Monarch and Adante hotels downtown. At the same time, dozens of displaced residents of a Tenderloin building that burned in December say they are struggling to find shelter even months after the blaze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072185\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072185\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_008-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_008-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_008-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_008-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guests sleep on cots arranged throughout the sanctuary at St. John’s the Evangelist Episcopal Church, where the Gubbio Project is operating an overnight shelter during Super Bowl weekend on Feb. 2, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Shelters are full. All of the sudden, the city is providing additional beds when we have been asking for this for months,” said Gardenia Zuniga-Haro, an advocate for the residents who previously lived at the burned building. “It’s convenient for the mayor to make it look like everything is peaches and cream, but that’s not the case. He has done nothing but spend millions on bringing in celebrities and promoting Taco Bell.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lydia Bransten, executive director at the Gubbio Project, said the city’s decision to open additional beds at their site during Super Bowl week was a welcome change from past responses to major events, when the city cleared streets of homeless residents but offered them nowhere to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As much as the city is being really hard on our folks who are experiencing homelessness, this is a good move to say we understand that people are going to be displaced and we’re going to respond to it by giving people an option of someplace to be,” Bransten said. “We can’t serve everybody, but we’ll maybe serve 80 people a night. That’s a lot of people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday night, several dozen guests lingered around the quiet courtyard at the Gubbio Project. Gubbio staff, who are working 12-hour shifts this week to take on the new 24-hour model, prepared chicken alfredo pasta with broccoli and buttered biscuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072186\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072186\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_012-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_012-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_012-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020226SUPER-BOWL-HOMELESSNESS-_GH_012-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joshua Wagner sits in the courtyard at St. John’s the Evangelist Episcopal Church on Feb. 2, 2026, in San Francisco. The program allows unhoused guests to rest inside the church without intake forms or barriers, emphasizing dignity, accessibility and safety. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rows of cot beds lined the inside of the church where the Gubbio Project is based, with soft sounds of snoring from those who had gone to sleep early.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The quiet shelter offered a place to finally relax for Joshua Wagner, who had been asked to move off the sidewalk on 11th Street in the South of Market neighborhood earlier that day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Me and several people that I’ve been with were told that we were not allowed to be out when the Super Bowl is happening this week, whatever the hell that means. We’re homeless. How can we not be allowed out?” Wagner said. “I can’t even rest for five minutes without somebody telling me to get up and go. I have health problems causing me great distress every time I have to battle gravity just to move along.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thomas arrived at the shelter after city outreach workers told him about the beds that would be available that night.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“They said that the church is opening the shelter for the week of the Super Bowl, because the city wants the homeless people off the streets for all the fans coming from the East Coast to see the city and celebrate for the Super Bowl,” Thomas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Born in San Francisco, Thomas said street crews have asked him to move along before. He’s stayed in shelters, but has experienced harassment and had his items stolen in those spaces before, so he sticks by himself on the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lately, however, he said there’s been even more shuffling around. “There’s increased police, and an obvious police presence today to say the least,” he said Monday evening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He hopes to one day do outreach himself for people in his situation. He has an idea of what could get him there: “What would be helpful for me is an opportunity for housing without all the hoops you have to go through for federal assistance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though he’s had negative experiences at some shelters, he was feeling good about his stay at Gubbio on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I like it so far. The dinner’s good. The beds are, you know, they’re comfortable. They let you bring in your things. They don’t have so many restrictions. And I feel like the staff is more understanding here than at other shelters,” he said. “It’s like a breath of fresh air.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Shareyourstory\">\u003c/a>California is expensive. Share your story of how you get by\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe\n src='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header?embedded=true'\n title='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header'\n width='760' height='500'\n frameborder='0'\n marginheight='0' marginwidth='0'>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>In a rare moment of political alignment, President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom are both calling for restrictions on large institutional investors buying single-family homes, arguing they drive up housing prices and put individual homebuyers at a severe disadvantage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the shortage of affordable housing pushes the American Dream further out of reach, Scott and Marisa are joined by The New York Times Magazine contributing writer Francesca Mari to take a closer look at the role Wall Street investors play in rising housing costs and how much power state and federal governments actually have to reign them in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-dhKdcB cgUUbz\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">Check out \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003ca class=\"e-91036-text-link e-91036-baseline e-91036-overflow-wrap-anywhere encore-internal-color-text-announcement e-91036-text-link--use-focus sc-cwHptR fShHsZ\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/newsletters/political-breakdown\" data-encore-id=\"textLink\" data-slate-node=\"element\" data-slate-inline=\"true\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-dhKdcB cgUUbz\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">Political Breakdown’s weekly newsletter\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-dhKdcB cgUUbz\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">, delivered straight to your inbox.\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Critics argue banning institutional investors from buying single-family homes would do little to improve housing affordability today, pointing to alternative solutions like boosting new construction.",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/housing\">Affordable housing\u003c/a> developers in California are met with a lot of demands: pay for sidewalks and extra sewer lines, make sure there’s money for parks and art projects, don’t forget schools and subways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All those demands add up — contributing to about $20,000 per apartment, on average, or $2 million for a 100-unit building, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/blog/assessing-the-cost-of-impact-fees-on-affordable-housing-an-analysis-of-low-income-housing-tax-credit-projects-in-california/\">new report\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report, released Thursday, looked at some 700 projects across the state built between 2020 and 2023 and found those fees totaled a whopping $1.2 billion — money the report’s author, Ben Metcalf, said could be better spent building more housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we could have instead reinvested that $1.2 billion into new affordable housing, that could have been 5,000 families that would be off the streets or stably housed or in a much better condition,” said Metcalf, who is also the managing director for the center. “There’s a trade-off that we’re making.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings come as the state and federal government look for ways to spur housing construction and make it cheaper to build and buy homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Donald Trump has \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/01/13/nx-s1-5674777/trump-federal-reserve-jerome-powell\">aggressively pushed\u003c/a> the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, which he claimed would \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/us/politics/trump-housing-costs.html\">make homeownership more affordable\u003c/a>. And during his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069094/in-final-state-of-state-speech-gov-newsom-says-california-offers-model-for-the-nation\">State of the State\u003c/a> address earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would focus on the cost of construction during his final term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044986\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044986\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers build at 750 Golden Gate Ave. in San Francisco on June 18, 2025, during a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of two affordable housing projects. One will deliver 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and the other at 850 Turk will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But many of the biggest construction costs, including labor, material and — despite the president’s attempts — interest rates are virtually immovable. Experts say the fees local municipalities charge developers are one lever left to pull.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pulling that lever, however, may be easier said than done. Known as “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017695/san-francisco-wants-to-make-it-cheaper-for-developers-to-build-housing-downtown\">impact fees\u003c/a>” or “developer fees,” the money helps fund infrastructure and municipal services cities argue are needed to support the new residents of the development, including schools, parks, streets, sewage, electricity and public art.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apart from local bonds and sales tax measures, impact fees are one of the few ways local governments can generate tax revenue.[aside postID=news_12069513 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/IMG_9694.JPG_qed.jpg']That’s largely a result of Prop 13, a landmark 1978 ballot measure that capped property taxes and limited how much they can increase each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many cities have become increasingly hamstrung in raising revenues to pay for services, and they’re not eager to forgo the extra fees they say are necessary to maintain basic public facilities and services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t make money on these fees,” said Jason Rhine, senior director of legislative affairs for the League of California Cities. “They literally go directly back to the services and facilities … not to support anything else.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, the Terner Center’s report found that impact fees, on average, accounted for around 1% of cities’ total revenue. And many cities aren’t generating fee revenue on affordable housing at all because they’re not building any.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report looked specifically at projects built using the Low Income Housing Tax Program (LIHTC), a federal effort to \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/RS22389\">encourage affordable housing construction\u003c/a> by awarding developers tax credits to offset construction costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062182\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062182\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250519-AffordableHousingFile-13-BL_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250519-AffordableHousingFile-13-BL_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250519-AffordableHousingFile-13-BL_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250519-AffordableHousingFile-13-BL_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction is underway on an affordable housing apartment building at 2550 Irving St. in San Francisco’s Sunset District on May 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Out of the 482 cities studied, a little more than half didn’t receive a single LIHTC award between 2020 and 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike market-rate housing, affordable housing developments are exempt from some impact fees. Still, the Terner Center’s report argues, a fee is a fee. And with affordable housing, it has to be covered by taxpayers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those fees can vary depending on the type of project and where it’s built. On average, family housing projects were charged around $24,000 in impact fees, while senior housing and housing for people with special needs were charged about $19,100 and $13,800, respectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smaller, more suburban cities, where the project necessitated new infrastructure, such as roads and utility lines, tended to charge higher impact fees, while cities with larger populations usually charged lower fees.[aside postID=news_12068746 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg']“If the infrastructure doesn’t exist, you have to create that infrastructure,” Rhine said. “And since we’re limited in how we can charge or generate revenue to fund that infrastructure, it really falls on the development community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Developers said these fees don’t necessarily break a project, but they can shape what it looks like, what amenities are included and how quickly it can be built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nick Friend is the chief lending officer at Housing Trust Silicon Valley, a financial institution that provides loans for affordable housing projects across the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said higher impact fees can affect the number of family-sized apartments versus studios and one-bedrooms in a development. It can also mean using cheaper building materials and reducing the amount of common space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That can result in projects sometimes looking half-built with “spaces for amenities yet to come,” he said. “Spaces might be left empty, when they are imagined [to be], say, a playground or a landscape design feature or something.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059485\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059485\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00195_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00195_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00195_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00195_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A site of new middle housing units is under construction at 2824 D St. in Sacramento on October 7, 2025. Developers are reviving “middle housing” such as duplexes and cottage clusters, but say California’s rollout of the new rules has been anything but smooth. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To avoid those compromises, some developers told KQED they try to work with cities to waive the fees or wait to pay them until tenants are ready to move in. The city of Palo Alto waived the impact fees for \u003ca href=\"https://edenhousing.org/properties/mitchell-park-place/\">Mitchell Park Place\u003c/a>, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.paloaltoonline.com/housing/2025/12/19/mitchell-park-place-begins-to-welcome-tenants-into-affordable-housing\">recently completed\u003c/a> affordable apartment building with 50 units, including some set aside for people with disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The waiver meant more than $3 million in cost savings for Eden Housing, the developer. “Most of the cities would like to build the housing, so they’d like to find a solution, particularly [for] affordable housing,” said Linda Mandolini, president and CEO of the nonprofit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some developers and housing activists argue there are other cities that impose hefty impact fees as a way to shut out development entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://mailchi.mp/housingactioncoalition/news-from-hac-xvlkxure9o-13363216\">Housing Action Coalition\u003c/a> recently announced it had sent a letter to the Manhattan Beach City Council and had complained to the state’s housing agency after the city proposed increasing its impact fees for multifamily housing by almost three times more per square foot than for single-family homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066836\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066836\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251211-PEOPLES-PARK-RENDERINGS-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251211-PEOPLES-PARK-RENDERINGS-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251211-PEOPLES-PARK-RENDERINGS-02-KQED-160x91.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251211-PEOPLES-PARK-RENDERINGS-02-KQED-1536x871.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The university will work with Satellite Affordable Housing Associates, a Bay Area nonprofit, to build the permanent supportive housing project on Berkeley’s People’s Park. A rendering of the proposed permanent supportive housing project that will include at least 100 units for people exiting homelessness and for low-income residents. \u003ccite>(LMS Architects/Hood Design Studio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Manhattan Beach can plan for infrastructure needs without adopting policies to deter the multifamily and below-market housing it is required to encourage [under state law],” Jesse Zwick, the coalition’s southern California director, wrote in the letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To spur housing construction and make sure cities can reach their state-mandated housing goals, lawmakers have recently passed laws aiming to lessen the burden of impact fees. The new rules require cities to provide an \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1820\">estimate of the fees\u003c/a> early in the development process and allow \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB937\">certain types of projects\u003c/a> to pay them once construction and inspections are complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities are under more scrutiny to approve and build housing as the state’s affordability crisis worsens. Developers argue that if it’s easier for them to build housing, the cities can meet their goals faster. But for many cities with already-tight budgets and few resources on hand, forgoing impact fees is not necessarily a win-win.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ideally, we’d have a state fund that would fund impact fees or development fees on behalf of affordable housing developers,” Rhine said. “Right now, the bit of the trade-off really is if a developer is not going to pay those fees, somebody’s going to go without a park or a library or a service.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/housing\">Affordable housing\u003c/a> developers in California are met with a lot of demands: pay for sidewalks and extra sewer lines, make sure there’s money for parks and art projects, don’t forget schools and subways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All those demands add up — contributing to about $20,000 per apartment, on average, or $2 million for a 100-unit building, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/blog/assessing-the-cost-of-impact-fees-on-affordable-housing-an-analysis-of-low-income-housing-tax-credit-projects-in-california/\">new report\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report, released Thursday, looked at some 700 projects across the state built between 2020 and 2023 and found those fees totaled a whopping $1.2 billion — money the report’s author, Ben Metcalf, said could be better spent building more housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we could have instead reinvested that $1.2 billion into new affordable housing, that could have been 5,000 families that would be off the streets or stably housed or in a much better condition,” said Metcalf, who is also the managing director for the center. “There’s a trade-off that we’re making.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings come as the state and federal government look for ways to spur housing construction and make it cheaper to build and buy homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Donald Trump has \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/01/13/nx-s1-5674777/trump-federal-reserve-jerome-powell\">aggressively pushed\u003c/a> the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, which he claimed would \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/us/politics/trump-housing-costs.html\">make homeownership more affordable\u003c/a>. And during his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069094/in-final-state-of-state-speech-gov-newsom-says-california-offers-model-for-the-nation\">State of the State\u003c/a> address earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would focus on the cost of construction during his final term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044986\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044986\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers build at 750 Golden Gate Ave. in San Francisco on June 18, 2025, during a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of two affordable housing projects. One will deliver 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and the other at 850 Turk will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But many of the biggest construction costs, including labor, material and — despite the president’s attempts — interest rates are virtually immovable. Experts say the fees local municipalities charge developers are one lever left to pull.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pulling that lever, however, may be easier said than done. Known as “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017695/san-francisco-wants-to-make-it-cheaper-for-developers-to-build-housing-downtown\">impact fees\u003c/a>” or “developer fees,” the money helps fund infrastructure and municipal services cities argue are needed to support the new residents of the development, including schools, parks, streets, sewage, electricity and public art.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apart from local bonds and sales tax measures, impact fees are one of the few ways local governments can generate tax revenue.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That’s largely a result of Prop 13, a landmark 1978 ballot measure that capped property taxes and limited how much they can increase each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many cities have become increasingly hamstrung in raising revenues to pay for services, and they’re not eager to forgo the extra fees they say are necessary to maintain basic public facilities and services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t make money on these fees,” said Jason Rhine, senior director of legislative affairs for the League of California Cities. “They literally go directly back to the services and facilities … not to support anything else.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, the Terner Center’s report found that impact fees, on average, accounted for around 1% of cities’ total revenue. And many cities aren’t generating fee revenue on affordable housing at all because they’re not building any.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report looked specifically at projects built using the Low Income Housing Tax Program (LIHTC), a federal effort to \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/RS22389\">encourage affordable housing construction\u003c/a> by awarding developers tax credits to offset construction costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062182\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062182\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250519-AffordableHousingFile-13-BL_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250519-AffordableHousingFile-13-BL_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250519-AffordableHousingFile-13-BL_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/250519-AffordableHousingFile-13-BL_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction is underway on an affordable housing apartment building at 2550 Irving St. in San Francisco’s Sunset District on May 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Out of the 482 cities studied, a little more than half didn’t receive a single LIHTC award between 2020 and 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike market-rate housing, affordable housing developments are exempt from some impact fees. Still, the Terner Center’s report argues, a fee is a fee. And with affordable housing, it has to be covered by taxpayers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those fees can vary depending on the type of project and where it’s built. On average, family housing projects were charged around $24,000 in impact fees, while senior housing and housing for people with special needs were charged about $19,100 and $13,800, respectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smaller, more suburban cities, where the project necessitated new infrastructure, such as roads and utility lines, tended to charge higher impact fees, while cities with larger populations usually charged lower fees.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“If the infrastructure doesn’t exist, you have to create that infrastructure,” Rhine said. “And since we’re limited in how we can charge or generate revenue to fund that infrastructure, it really falls on the development community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Developers said these fees don’t necessarily break a project, but they can shape what it looks like, what amenities are included and how quickly it can be built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nick Friend is the chief lending officer at Housing Trust Silicon Valley, a financial institution that provides loans for affordable housing projects across the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said higher impact fees can affect the number of family-sized apartments versus studios and one-bedrooms in a development. It can also mean using cheaper building materials and reducing the amount of common space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That can result in projects sometimes looking half-built with “spaces for amenities yet to come,” he said. “Spaces might be left empty, when they are imagined [to be], say, a playground or a landscape design feature or something.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059485\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059485\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00195_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00195_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00195_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00195_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A site of new middle housing units is under construction at 2824 D St. in Sacramento on October 7, 2025. Developers are reviving “middle housing” such as duplexes and cottage clusters, but say California’s rollout of the new rules has been anything but smooth. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To avoid those compromises, some developers told KQED they try to work with cities to waive the fees or wait to pay them until tenants are ready to move in. The city of Palo Alto waived the impact fees for \u003ca href=\"https://edenhousing.org/properties/mitchell-park-place/\">Mitchell Park Place\u003c/a>, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.paloaltoonline.com/housing/2025/12/19/mitchell-park-place-begins-to-welcome-tenants-into-affordable-housing\">recently completed\u003c/a> affordable apartment building with 50 units, including some set aside for people with disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The waiver meant more than $3 million in cost savings for Eden Housing, the developer. “Most of the cities would like to build the housing, so they’d like to find a solution, particularly [for] affordable housing,” said Linda Mandolini, president and CEO of the nonprofit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some developers and housing activists argue there are other cities that impose hefty impact fees as a way to shut out development entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://mailchi.mp/housingactioncoalition/news-from-hac-xvlkxure9o-13363216\">Housing Action Coalition\u003c/a> recently announced it had sent a letter to the Manhattan Beach City Council and had complained to the state’s housing agency after the city proposed increasing its impact fees for multifamily housing by almost three times more per square foot than for single-family homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066836\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066836\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251211-PEOPLES-PARK-RENDERINGS-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1134\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251211-PEOPLES-PARK-RENDERINGS-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251211-PEOPLES-PARK-RENDERINGS-02-KQED-160x91.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251211-PEOPLES-PARK-RENDERINGS-02-KQED-1536x871.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The university will work with Satellite Affordable Housing Associates, a Bay Area nonprofit, to build the permanent supportive housing project on Berkeley’s People’s Park. A rendering of the proposed permanent supportive housing project that will include at least 100 units for people exiting homelessness and for low-income residents. \u003ccite>(LMS Architects/Hood Design Studio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Manhattan Beach can plan for infrastructure needs without adopting policies to deter the multifamily and below-market housing it is required to encourage [under state law],” Jesse Zwick, the coalition’s southern California director, wrote in the letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To spur housing construction and make sure cities can reach their state-mandated housing goals, lawmakers have recently passed laws aiming to lessen the burden of impact fees. The new rules require cities to provide an \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1820\">estimate of the fees\u003c/a> early in the development process and allow \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB937\">certain types of projects\u003c/a> to pay them once construction and inspections are complete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cities are under more scrutiny to approve and build housing as the state’s affordability crisis worsens. Developers argue that if it’s easier for them to build housing, the cities can meet their goals faster. But for many cities with already-tight budgets and few resources on hand, forgoing impact fees is not necessarily a win-win.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ideally, we’d have a state fund that would fund impact fees or development fees on behalf of affordable housing developers,” Rhine said. “Right now, the bit of the trade-off really is if a developer is not going to pay those fees, somebody’s going to go without a park or a library or a service.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "san-joses-batman-fighting-for-the-unhoused-is-the-real-life-superhero-we-need",
"title": "San José’s Batman, Fighting for the Unhoused, Is the Real Life Superhero ‘We Need’",
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"headTitle": "San José’s Batman, Fighting for the Unhoused, Is the Real Life Superhero ‘We Need’ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Downtown \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a> residents aren’t startled by the daunting figure in a billowing black-and-purple cape beneath the streetlights. They know what comes next: the gravelly rattle of a rolling cart stocked with water bottles and food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hey, Batman! Do what you do best,” one passerby shouted on a warm August night last year — an enthusiastic acknowledgement of Batman, and the superhero’s mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some nights, Batman meets new people. On others, he reconnects with familiar faces — like Miguel, who walked over when he saw Batman wheeling his cart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a good man,” Miguel said, as Batman kneeled to pour water for Miguel’s dog Lorio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re only using Miguel’s first name to protect his privacy as someone who is unhoused and part of a vulnerable population. Miguel speaks with certainty: “He’s my friend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monica, whom we’re referring to by her first name for the same reason, spotted Batman across St. James Park and ran up to him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053072\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-18-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053072\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-18-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-18-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-18-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-18-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Miguel reaches out to shake hands with the Batman of San José after receiving water and snacks at St. James Park in San José on Aug. 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’ve known him a long time,” she said excitedly, receiving the water Batman was handing out. “That’s my super[hero].”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the Batman of San José — a masked volunteer who has spent nearly eight years walking the city at night to help unhoused residents. He’s a far cry from the vigilantes of comic books. He isn’t swooping from rooftops, seeking revenge or delivering justice through fists. His superpower is noticing people who feel ignored and offering them food, first aid supplies, and sometimes, being someone they can confide in.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Disguise as a form of protest\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In recent years, whimsical costumes — inflatable frogs, unicorns, oversized creatures — have become a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/10/24/g-s1-94724/trump-inflatable-animals-frog-no-kings-protest-portland\">national protest language\u003c/a>, mitigating tension between demonstrators and law enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the tradition goes deeper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1974, California’s own \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-17-me-3053-story.html\">Captain Sticky\u003c/a> became the first widely documented \u003ca href=\"https://wiki.rlsh.net/wiki/RLSH_Map\">“real-life superhero,”\u003c/a> testifying before the Federal Trade Commission about health insurance fraud while dressed in a peanut-butter-and-jelly-themed cape. \u003cem>CBS San Diego\u003c/em>’s cameras \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf8Ibh1Y5JE\">captured\u003c/a> the contradiction at the heart of Captain Sticky: a quirky, outsized persona paired with a deadly serious mission — confronting “evil” by leading investigations into convalescent hospitals he said were defrauding consumers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others followed: \u003ca href=\"https://www.lametrochurches.org/dangerman-warns-la-is-not-safe-be-careful\">Danger Man\u003c/a> in Los Angeles, \u003ca href=\"https://wiki.rlsh.net/wiki/Shadarko\">Shadarko\u003c/a> in San Francisco — every day people donning costumes to protect their neighbors, deter violence, or simply show up when institutions didn’t. Batman of San José joined their ranks in 2018, when he was a high school junior.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>An origin story that starts with one act of discrimination\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Batman’s story began on an ordinary drive home from school. He was 17 when he spotted an unhoused single mother stranded on the side of the road with a broken-down car. A nearby mechanic refused to help her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Batman asked the mechanic for the same assistance on her behalf later, the mechanic agreed.[aside postID=news_12051236 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250626-GRANTSPASSDECISIONANNI-03-BL-KQED.jpg']“She tried to do exactly what I did,” he remembered. “But for some reason, I was allowed to do that and not her. That very clear sense of discrimination stuck with me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He went home unsettled — and then decided not to let the moment pass. Within days, he began figuring out how to help people like the single mother he’d seen on the roadside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, the effort was modest. His costume was bare-bones — just a sweatshirt with a Batman logo — and the supplies he handed out came from money saved from summer jobs. He stashed pieces of the outfit in his backpack or under his clothes, slipping into his Batman persona after class to check on people downtown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His choice of Batman was deliberate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I appreciate that the character is human,” he said. “[He] wants to do the right thing despite having no superpowers [and] turns personal struggle into something that helps others.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said his own struggles with a learning disability propelled him to become Batman. Now, helping others is a way to heal some of the pain he felt as a kid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then he grinned: “And the character looks cool. I won’t deny it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He embodied the character, not sharing his identity with even his parents. For Batman, anonymity is part of the work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It means I can keep myself out of this,” he said. “And it helps people recognize me from a distance.” He added that it also makes him more approachable, using levity to connect with the unhoused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Batman of San José walked beneath the Highway 87 underpass in 2020, the familiarity of the costume drew immediate attention — especially from a 3-year-old child living there with his mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053070\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-13-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053070\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With bottles of water in hand, the Batman of San José prepares to distribute supplies in San José on Aug. 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The kid was absolutely fascinated,” Batman recalled. “He was grabbing at the ears of the mask and the cape.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tender moment caught him off guard, and he found he was grateful to be wearing a mask.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lost it almost immediately,” he said, recalling the sadness of seeing a child so young without shelter. “The mask helped hide that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family was trying to get the child into school, he explained, but life on the street made regular attendance nearly impossible. Over the next several years, Batman worked alongside case managers, providing groceries, financial assistance and a steady presence as the family navigated housing instability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After about two years, when the family received more permanent housing, the child finally started attending school. Batman was there for his kindergarten graduation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t high school or college,” he said. “But to that family, it meant everything, [and] that mom is my personal hero.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053074\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-01-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053074\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-01-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Batman of San Jose films the clearing of the homeless encampment at Columbus Park in San Jose on Aug. 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The mother told him her child now runs around clutching a piece of black fabric, pretending it’s Batman — something that keeps him safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I never thought I’d have that kind of impact,” Batman said. “It taught me I don’t have to do everything — to that kid, that was everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, he has designed the costume with intention: gloves for scrambling up riverbanks, shin guards for kneeling beside tents, a belt filled with first-aid supplies, tools and tape. And the dramatic cape? It doubles as an emergency blanket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can give it to someone if I run out of everything else,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The weight of friendship and loss\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Batman has become a quiet keeper of stories and routes — able to trace who’s still around, who’s disappeared, and how lives on the margins shift over time. He has forged authentic relationships with the people he encounters, and each person leaves a mark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I consider a lot of the people I meet out here to be my friends,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He shared the story of Susie, an unhoused woman he checked on often, until police cleared the area where she was living.[aside postID=news_12058091 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250831-CREATIVEMUTUALAID00140_TV-KQED.jpg']“She passed away recently,” he said. “She was swept [by police] and then got hit by a car [in the street] — that should have never happened to her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His grievance is with a system that he feels repeatedly casts unhoused people aside — clearing encampments without permanent housing solutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials have said that the cost and pace of building permanent housing have led the city to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026437/san-jose-mayor-proposes-permanent-shift-homeless-funding-from-housing-shelter\">prioritize temporary shelter\u003c/a>. In an emailed statement, Mayor Matt Mahan’s office told KQED: “We’ve expanded temporary housing so that we can get people off the streets faster while continuing to invest in permanent supportive housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The office pointed to city data showing that more than 800 affordable housing units were permitted last year and that funding fromMeasure E — a San José tax on property sales of $2 million or more passed by voters in 2020 — helped prevent more than 1,200 families from falling into homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for Batman, those metrics don’t capture what he has watched unfold on the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People should be alive that aren’t anymore, “ he said, holding back tears. “My friends are dying, and I’m losing people I care about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, he keeps walking — beneath freeway ramps, through parks and along light rail stations — checking on people he hasn’t seen in days. Sometimes, he runs into someone he feared he’d lost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this night, he spotted KC approaching.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a minute,” Batman said. “I’ve been worried about you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been locked up for like 13 months,” KC replied. Their longstanding friendship bridges any discomfort over asking for resources — what Batman can bring next time: underwear, flashlights and a sleeping bag.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked how it feels to see Batman, “I feel happy,” KC said, smiling.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Beyond the cape: advocacy, policy and mutual aid\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Batman’s work does not end on the sidewalk. He has spoken at \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGfuMC9Y97E\">City Hall\u003c/a>, intervened during police sweeps and shown up at demonstrations. At a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoE1fkZyIjI&t=58s\">San José protest\u003c/a> last summer over human rights violations under the Trump administration, he addressed the crowd with his own understanding of resistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I look at people across the country standing up to authoritarianism, I see heroes,” he said. “And that’s the scariest thing — to be a hero.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053075\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-02-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053075\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-02-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Batman walks through the former homeless encampment at Columbus Park in San José on Aug. 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For him, that fear translated into urgency. He wanted the people he knew on the streets to live longer lives — not just endure them. He pushed back against the assumption that unhoused people were not trying hard enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People think, ‘Why don’t they have to work for it?’” he said. “Quite a few [unhoused] people work — it’s that it can be impossible to fit everything into one day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many, he explained, survival became a full-time job: finding food and water, staying clean, protecting belongings, getting to work — while also trying to secure housing. From what he has seen, the most common paths into being unhoused are job loss and medical debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s why ‘Housing First’ is always the best way to go,” he said. “Research shows it’s the quickest way to stabilize someone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/2024-04/housing-healthy-california-program-evaluation-2024.pdf\">evaluation \u003c/a>by UCLA’s Center for Health Policy Research echoes that view. Researchers found that California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcd.ca.gov/funding/archive/hhc\">Housing for a Healthy California\u003c/a> program — which follows a housing-first model that places people into stable housing before requiring medical treatment, employment or other conditions — improved long-term stability and health outcomes when paired with intensive case management and support services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Batman advocates for housing, medical support and is vocal about how San José has carried out encampment abatements like the one in Columbus Park in August of last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why are we not waiting for 1,000 beds to be open before sweeping people?” he asked.[aside postID=news_12058952 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20250616_UNHOUSEDCREEKRESTORATION_GC-37-KQED.jpg']Mayor Matt Mahan’s office said that temporary shelter was being rolled out in phases and maintained that there were sufficient beds for people \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12052645/san-jose-begins-clearing-columbus-park-the-citys-biggest-homeless-encampment\">displaced from Columbus Park\u003c/a>, one of San José’s largest encampments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were 370 people living there, and over a 70-day period of outreach before the abatement began, every single person was offered housing,” said Tasha Dean, a spokesperson for the mayor, in an email. “ About two-thirds of encampment residents accepted the city’s offer of housing, and no one who accepted housing was abated until their bed was ready for them to move in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12052645/san-jose-begins-clearing-columbus-park-the-citys-biggest-homeless-encampment\">KQED’s reporting back in August\u003c/a> found there were people who were moved without consent — and some advocates felt the outreach period fell short in informing residents of the park about their possible outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Batman adds that clearing encampments before offering housing erodes trust, making people less likely to seek help: “The people who are trying to help them are also the people in their minds who are hurting them — they’re both wearing the city of San José logo.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials frame the problem differently. They point to the cost of permanent housing — at about $1 million per unit — and the scale of unsheltered homelessness — around 5000 people — in San José, which they say makes a build-first approach untenable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t build a permanent unit for the lucky few, while leaving the vast majority of people to suffer and far too often, die, on our streets,” Dean said. “We’ve chosen to get people indoors faster with a solution that is cheaper and faster to build, so they don’t have to wait on the streets indefinitely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As that debate continues, Batman’s work has grown beyond a one-person effort. What began as solo nighttime rounds has become a small mutual-aid collective called \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bayareasuperheroes/?hl=en\">Bay Area Superheroes\u003c/a>. He has joined forces with the Crimson Fist, Black Phoenix and KaiKai Bee, expanding their reach to San Francisco and Oakland. But, for Batman, San José has remained his anchor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fabric of San José is people who are from all different walks of life and they still come together and form a community, and I think the unhoused community is just that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053069\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-10-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053069\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aaron Fenton (left), a friend and former high school classmate of the Batman of San José, crosses paths with him during a routine outreach day on Aug. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He pointed to moments that rarely made headlines: people sharing clothes and stepping in to protect neighbors during raids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If ICE shows up, they hide people,” he said. “They stand up for each other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Batman is woven into that fabric. In full costume, he cannot walk more than a few feet without running into someone he knows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s Batman!” one man called out. “Not the hero we deserve, but the hero we need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Batman smiled, waved, and disappeared into the dark with his cart of snacks and supplies, the shimmer of purple and black satin trailing behind him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "San José’s Batman, Fighting for the Unhoused, Is the Real Life Superhero ‘We Need’ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Downtown \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a> residents aren’t startled by the daunting figure in a billowing black-and-purple cape beneath the streetlights. They know what comes next: the gravelly rattle of a rolling cart stocked with water bottles and food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hey, Batman! Do what you do best,” one passerby shouted on a warm August night last year — an enthusiastic acknowledgement of Batman, and the superhero’s mission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some nights, Batman meets new people. On others, he reconnects with familiar faces — like Miguel, who walked over when he saw Batman wheeling his cart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a good man,” Miguel said, as Batman kneeled to pour water for Miguel’s dog Lorio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re only using Miguel’s first name to protect his privacy as someone who is unhoused and part of a vulnerable population. Miguel speaks with certainty: “He’s my friend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monica, whom we’re referring to by her first name for the same reason, spotted Batman across St. James Park and ran up to him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053072\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-18-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053072\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-18-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-18-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-18-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-18-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Miguel reaches out to shake hands with the Batman of San José after receiving water and snacks at St. James Park in San José on Aug. 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’ve known him a long time,” she said excitedly, receiving the water Batman was handing out. “That’s my super[hero].”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the Batman of San José — a masked volunteer who has spent nearly eight years walking the city at night to help unhoused residents. He’s a far cry from the vigilantes of comic books. He isn’t swooping from rooftops, seeking revenge or delivering justice through fists. His superpower is noticing people who feel ignored and offering them food, first aid supplies, and sometimes, being someone they can confide in.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Disguise as a form of protest\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In recent years, whimsical costumes — inflatable frogs, unicorns, oversized creatures — have become a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/10/24/g-s1-94724/trump-inflatable-animals-frog-no-kings-protest-portland\">national protest language\u003c/a>, mitigating tension between demonstrators and law enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the tradition goes deeper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1974, California’s own \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-17-me-3053-story.html\">Captain Sticky\u003c/a> became the first widely documented \u003ca href=\"https://wiki.rlsh.net/wiki/RLSH_Map\">“real-life superhero,”\u003c/a> testifying before the Federal Trade Commission about health insurance fraud while dressed in a peanut-butter-and-jelly-themed cape. \u003cem>CBS San Diego\u003c/em>’s cameras \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf8Ibh1Y5JE\">captured\u003c/a> the contradiction at the heart of Captain Sticky: a quirky, outsized persona paired with a deadly serious mission — confronting “evil” by leading investigations into convalescent hospitals he said were defrauding consumers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others followed: \u003ca href=\"https://www.lametrochurches.org/dangerman-warns-la-is-not-safe-be-careful\">Danger Man\u003c/a> in Los Angeles, \u003ca href=\"https://wiki.rlsh.net/wiki/Shadarko\">Shadarko\u003c/a> in San Francisco — every day people donning costumes to protect their neighbors, deter violence, or simply show up when institutions didn’t. Batman of San José joined their ranks in 2018, when he was a high school junior.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>An origin story that starts with one act of discrimination\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Batman’s story began on an ordinary drive home from school. He was 17 when he spotted an unhoused single mother stranded on the side of the road with a broken-down car. A nearby mechanic refused to help her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Batman asked the mechanic for the same assistance on her behalf later, the mechanic agreed.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“She tried to do exactly what I did,” he remembered. “But for some reason, I was allowed to do that and not her. That very clear sense of discrimination stuck with me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He went home unsettled — and then decided not to let the moment pass. Within days, he began figuring out how to help people like the single mother he’d seen on the roadside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, the effort was modest. His costume was bare-bones — just a sweatshirt with a Batman logo — and the supplies he handed out came from money saved from summer jobs. He stashed pieces of the outfit in his backpack or under his clothes, slipping into his Batman persona after class to check on people downtown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His choice of Batman was deliberate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I appreciate that the character is human,” he said. “[He] wants to do the right thing despite having no superpowers [and] turns personal struggle into something that helps others.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said his own struggles with a learning disability propelled him to become Batman. Now, helping others is a way to heal some of the pain he felt as a kid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then he grinned: “And the character looks cool. I won’t deny it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He embodied the character, not sharing his identity with even his parents. For Batman, anonymity is part of the work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It means I can keep myself out of this,” he said. “And it helps people recognize me from a distance.” He added that it also makes him more approachable, using levity to connect with the unhoused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Batman of San José walked beneath the Highway 87 underpass in 2020, the familiarity of the costume drew immediate attention — especially from a 3-year-old child living there with his mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053070\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-13-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053070\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With bottles of water in hand, the Batman of San José prepares to distribute supplies in San José on Aug. 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The kid was absolutely fascinated,” Batman recalled. “He was grabbing at the ears of the mask and the cape.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tender moment caught him off guard, and he found he was grateful to be wearing a mask.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I lost it almost immediately,” he said, recalling the sadness of seeing a child so young without shelter. “The mask helped hide that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family was trying to get the child into school, he explained, but life on the street made regular attendance nearly impossible. Over the next several years, Batman worked alongside case managers, providing groceries, financial assistance and a steady presence as the family navigated housing instability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After about two years, when the family received more permanent housing, the child finally started attending school. Batman was there for his kindergarten graduation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t high school or college,” he said. “But to that family, it meant everything, [and] that mom is my personal hero.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053074\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-01-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053074\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-01-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Batman of San Jose films the clearing of the homeless encampment at Columbus Park in San Jose on Aug. 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The mother told him her child now runs around clutching a piece of black fabric, pretending it’s Batman — something that keeps him safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I never thought I’d have that kind of impact,” Batman said. “It taught me I don’t have to do everything — to that kid, that was everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, he has designed the costume with intention: gloves for scrambling up riverbanks, shin guards for kneeling beside tents, a belt filled with first-aid supplies, tools and tape. And the dramatic cape? It doubles as an emergency blanket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can give it to someone if I run out of everything else,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The weight of friendship and loss\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Batman has become a quiet keeper of stories and routes — able to trace who’s still around, who’s disappeared, and how lives on the margins shift over time. He has forged authentic relationships with the people he encounters, and each person leaves a mark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I consider a lot of the people I meet out here to be my friends,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He shared the story of Susie, an unhoused woman he checked on often, until police cleared the area where she was living.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“She passed away recently,” he said. “She was swept [by police] and then got hit by a car [in the street] — that should have never happened to her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His grievance is with a system that he feels repeatedly casts unhoused people aside — clearing encampments without permanent housing solutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials have said that the cost and pace of building permanent housing have led the city to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026437/san-jose-mayor-proposes-permanent-shift-homeless-funding-from-housing-shelter\">prioritize temporary shelter\u003c/a>. In an emailed statement, Mayor Matt Mahan’s office told KQED: “We’ve expanded temporary housing so that we can get people off the streets faster while continuing to invest in permanent supportive housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The office pointed to city data showing that more than 800 affordable housing units were permitted last year and that funding fromMeasure E — a San José tax on property sales of $2 million or more passed by voters in 2020 — helped prevent more than 1,200 families from falling into homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for Batman, those metrics don’t capture what he has watched unfold on the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People should be alive that aren’t anymore, “ he said, holding back tears. “My friends are dying, and I’m losing people I care about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, he keeps walking — beneath freeway ramps, through parks and along light rail stations — checking on people he hasn’t seen in days. Sometimes, he runs into someone he feared he’d lost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this night, he spotted KC approaching.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a minute,” Batman said. “I’ve been worried about you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been locked up for like 13 months,” KC replied. Their longstanding friendship bridges any discomfort over asking for resources — what Batman can bring next time: underwear, flashlights and a sleeping bag.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked how it feels to see Batman, “I feel happy,” KC said, smiling.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Beyond the cape: advocacy, policy and mutual aid\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Batman’s work does not end on the sidewalk. He has spoken at \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGfuMC9Y97E\">City Hall\u003c/a>, intervened during police sweeps and shown up at demonstrations. At a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoE1fkZyIjI&t=58s\">San José protest\u003c/a> last summer over human rights violations under the Trump administration, he addressed the crowd with his own understanding of resistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I look at people across the country standing up to authoritarianism, I see heroes,” he said. “And that’s the scariest thing — to be a hero.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053075\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-02-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053075\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250820-BATMAN-OF-SAN-JOSE-MD-02-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Batman walks through the former homeless encampment at Columbus Park in San José on Aug. 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For him, that fear translated into urgency. He wanted the people he knew on the streets to live longer lives — not just endure them. He pushed back against the assumption that unhoused people were not trying hard enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People think, ‘Why don’t they have to work for it?’” he said. “Quite a few [unhoused] people work — it’s that it can be impossible to fit everything into one day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many, he explained, survival became a full-time job: finding food and water, staying clean, protecting belongings, getting to work — while also trying to secure housing. From what he has seen, the most common paths into being unhoused are job loss and medical debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s why ‘Housing First’ is always the best way to go,” he said. “Research shows it’s the quickest way to stabilize someone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/2024-04/housing-healthy-california-program-evaluation-2024.pdf\">evaluation \u003c/a>by UCLA’s Center for Health Policy Research echoes that view. Researchers found that California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcd.ca.gov/funding/archive/hhc\">Housing for a Healthy California\u003c/a> program — which follows a housing-first model that places people into stable housing before requiring medical treatment, employment or other conditions — improved long-term stability and health outcomes when paired with intensive case management and support services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Batman advocates for housing, medical support and is vocal about how San José has carried out encampment abatements like the one in Columbus Park in August of last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why are we not waiting for 1,000 beds to be open before sweeping people?” he asked.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Mayor Matt Mahan’s office said that temporary shelter was being rolled out in phases and maintained that there were sufficient beds for people \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12052645/san-jose-begins-clearing-columbus-park-the-citys-biggest-homeless-encampment\">displaced from Columbus Park\u003c/a>, one of San José’s largest encampments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were 370 people living there, and over a 70-day period of outreach before the abatement began, every single person was offered housing,” said Tasha Dean, a spokesperson for the mayor, in an email. “ About two-thirds of encampment residents accepted the city’s offer of housing, and no one who accepted housing was abated until their bed was ready for them to move in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12052645/san-jose-begins-clearing-columbus-park-the-citys-biggest-homeless-encampment\">KQED’s reporting back in August\u003c/a> found there were people who were moved without consent — and some advocates felt the outreach period fell short in informing residents of the park about their possible outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Batman adds that clearing encampments before offering housing erodes trust, making people less likely to seek help: “The people who are trying to help them are also the people in their minds who are hurting them — they’re both wearing the city of San José logo.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials frame the problem differently. They point to the cost of permanent housing — at about $1 million per unit — and the scale of unsheltered homelessness — around 5000 people — in San José, which they say makes a build-first approach untenable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t build a permanent unit for the lucky few, while leaving the vast majority of people to suffer and far too often, die, on our streets,” Dean said. “We’ve chosen to get people indoors faster with a solution that is cheaper and faster to build, so they don’t have to wait on the streets indefinitely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As that debate continues, Batman’s work has grown beyond a one-person effort. What began as solo nighttime rounds has become a small mutual-aid collective called \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bayareasuperheroes/?hl=en\">Bay Area Superheroes\u003c/a>. He has joined forces with the Crimson Fist, Black Phoenix and KaiKai Bee, expanding their reach to San Francisco and Oakland. But, for Batman, San José has remained his anchor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fabric of San José is people who are from all different walks of life and they still come together and form a community, and I think the unhoused community is just that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053069\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-10-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053069\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250813_THEBATMANOFSANJOSES_GH-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aaron Fenton (left), a friend and former high school classmate of the Batman of San José, crosses paths with him during a routine outreach day on Aug. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He pointed to moments that rarely made headlines: people sharing clothes and stepping in to protect neighbors during raids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If ICE shows up, they hide people,” he said. “They stand up for each other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Batman is woven into that fabric. In full costume, he cannot walk more than a few feet without running into someone he knows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s Batman!” one man called out. “Not the hero we deserve, but the hero we need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Batman smiled, waved, and disappeared into the dark with his cart of snacks and supplies, the shimmer of purple and black satin trailing behind him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "How the Bay Area’s Gay Bars Became a Battleground for LGBTQ+ Rights in the 1950s",
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"headTitle": "How the Bay Area’s Gay Bars Became a Battleground for LGBTQ+ Rights in the 1950s | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> has an international reputation as a haven of freedom and culture for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/lgbtq\">LGBTQ+\u003c/a> community. And with good reason.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco elected \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11706248/40-years-after-assassinations-assessing-the-legacies-of-harvey-milk-and-george-moscone\">Harvey Milk\u003c/a>, California’s first openly gay public official. It’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11876846/never-take-it-down-the-original-1978-rainbow-flag-returns-to-sf\">the birthplace of the rainbow pride flag\u003c/a>, now a global symbol. The city has also long had an iconic drag queen scene and legendary nightlife with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930323/san-francisco-gay-bars-history-silver-rail-febes-black-cat\">a long history of bustling gay\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13929998/historic-lesbian-bars-san-francisco-mauds-pegs-front-anns-monas-440-tommy-vasu\">lesbian bars\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Bay Area was not always this way. The LGBTQ+ community had to fight for these freedoms and safe spaces. Often, this fight was against oppressive policing from the state and local government. And some important moments in that fight happened in unexpected places, like Pacifica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was like, whoa, it says this was in Pacifica! Why have I never heard of it?” Bay Curious listener Henry Lie asked. He’d stumbled across mention of a 1956 police raid at a bar called Hazel’s Inn, where nearly a hundred queer folks were arrested. He wanted to know more.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Progress and repression of LGBTQ+ rights\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“The early 1950s, I would say it was the heyday of gay nightlife in San Francisco,” said Nan Alamilla Boyd, an oral historian at the UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library. As a longtime researcher of San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ history, Boyd has interviewed dozens of queer individuals who frequented gay bars during this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her interviews uncover stories of the Bay Area’s history, especially the repression queer people faced in the 1950s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069459\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/HAZEL_S-BUILDING_1966-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069459\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/HAZEL_S-BUILDING_1966-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1171\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/HAZEL_S-BUILDING_1966-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/HAZEL_S-BUILDING_1966-KQED-160x94.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/HAZEL_S-BUILDING_1966-KQED-1536x899.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The building once housed Hazel’s Inn. This photo was taken in 1966, when the city condemned the building. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of The Pacifica Historical Society)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“A lot of these people [I interviewed] witnessed front row seats to [this repressive era], and kept being as out and proud as possible and survived to tell about it,” Boyd said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1951, the California State Board of Equalization revoked the liquor license of the Black Cat Cafe, a popular gay bar, because the establishment was “injurious to public morals.” The Black Cat owner, Sol Stouman, appealed the move to the California Supreme Court. The court ruled in his favor, affirming that the presence of LGBTQ+ people in a bar was allowable, as long as there were no “immoral acts” taking place. The case is known as Stoumen v. Reilly and many historians see it as the first legal victory for the LGBTQ+ community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The argument was that it’s not illegal to be a homosexual, it’s illegal to do homosexual acts,” Boyd explained. “I know it seems really regressive now, but the decision was liberating because the conclusion was that it wasn’t status that was illegal, it was behavior.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first time, LGBTQ+ people had the protected right to gather at bars without facing prosecution for simply being a queer person in public. And so queer nightlife blossomed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were maybe four or five ‘lesbian bars’ in North Beach within walking distance of each other at any point in time between 1948 and 1955,” Boyd said.[aside postID=news_12029551 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250205-WildSideWest-21-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']But just a few years later, the U.S. government started targeting the LGBTQ+ community. Now known as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/articles/state-department-gay-employees-outed-fired-lavender-scare\">Lavender Scare\u003c/a>, many of the freedoms enjoyed in the early 50s came under attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order in 1953 banning gay people from federal work for immoral conduct and “sexual perversion.” And in California, a new state agency called the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control was created in 1955. Known as the ABC, its job was to ensure that licensed bars abided by legal and \u003cem>moral \u003c/em>codes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Things really changed in 1955,” Boyd said. The ABC began waging a war against gay bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency found ways to undermine the protections previously won by the LGBTQ+ community in Stouman v. Reilly. Since “homosexual acts” were still illegal, suddenly the state was very concerned about specific actions taking place in bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was a question about what exactly [were] the behaviors that [were] illegal,” Boyd said. “Do you have to see someone having sex in the bar? Or is it kissing? What about fondling? What about sitting on a lap? What about dancing close? So, all this stuff then started being hashed out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With each enforcement action against queer bar patrons, the ABC expanded the definition of illegal acts. Soon, even dancing with someone of the same sex was punishable. The ABC even collaborated with local law enforcement agencies to conduct undercover surveillance operations that identified and monitored LGBTQ gathering spots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 1955, the gay bars in San Francisco were getting less and less safe. And as harassment and policing increased, the LGBTQ+ community began looking for new places to gather outside of San Francisco, away from well-known gay bars. The community ended up down the coast, where they made Hazel’s Inn their spot.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Hazel’s Inn raid\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the early hours of Feb. 19, 1956, a group of 35 ABC and San Mateo County Sheriff’s officers stormed into a full and bustling Hazel’s Inn. There were around 200 patrons present in the bar, mostly men, when the sheriff jumped onto the bar and announced, “This is a raid!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ninety people were arrested that night, including the bar’s owner, Hazel Nikola, a straight woman in her 60’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069461\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2125px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/San_Francisco_Chronicle__February_20_1956__Hazel_s-Inn-KQED-1-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069461\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/San_Francisco_Chronicle__February_20_1956__Hazel_s-Inn-KQED-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2125\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/San_Francisco_Chronicle__February_20_1956__Hazel_s-Inn-KQED-1-scaled.jpg 2125w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/San_Francisco_Chronicle__February_20_1956__Hazel_s-Inn-KQED-1-2000x2409.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/San_Francisco_Chronicle__February_20_1956__Hazel_s-Inn-KQED-1-160x193.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/San_Francisco_Chronicle__February_20_1956__Hazel_s-Inn-KQED-1-1275x1536.jpg 1275w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/San_Francisco_Chronicle__February_20_1956__Hazel_s-Inn-KQED-1-1700x2048.jpg 1700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2125px) 100vw, 2125px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coverage of the Hazel’s Inn raid from the San Francisco Chronicle in 1956. It was common, at the time, for newspapers to use derogatory language in reference to the LGBTQ community. \u003ccite>(The San Francisco Chronicle via Newsbank)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hazel’s Inn had been under state surveillance for months, and patrons were forced to walk past a line of agents who had been watching them. One by one, agents picked out those they had seen showing queer affection. Most of those arrested faced vagrancy charges. Nikola’s liquor license was quickly revoked for knowingly hosting a hangout for queer people and for serving an underage person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When \u003ca href=\"https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-20-february-1956-smt-hazels-i/10556199/\">\u003cem>The San Mateo Times\u003c/em>\u003c/a> asked Sheriff Earl Whitmore about the raid, he said, “Let it be known that we are not going to tolerate gatherings of homosexuals in the county.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The full extent of the ABC’s operation at Hazel’s Inn became clear as the case was brought before\u003ca href=\"https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AHSI&u=glbths&id=GALE%7CMDRLJF555849529&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-AHSI&sPage=11&asid=6014d9b9\"> the ABC Board\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ca-court-of-appeal/1810632.html\">court\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In court documents, Laurence E. Strong, an ABC agent, described the scene at Hazel’s Inn the night of the raid and in the months leading up to it. Strong described how one male patron sat on another man’s lap and how two others were seen holding hands. In the corner of the bar, a couple was seen embracing as one nestled his head into the other’s shoulder. Some men pinched each other’s butts and fondled each other while dancing. Women danced close together with other women. Men were seen powdering their faces and women wore slacks and sports coats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These scenes of queerness would be used in court to justify the revocation of Nikola’s liquor license for being a “resort for sexual perverts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While most of those arrested that night were cleared of charges, the damage had already been done. Newspapers caught wind of the raid, and patrons were publicly outed, with their names, occupations and home addresses published for all to see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People were so fearful,” Boyd said. “There were [LGBTQ+ people] who would never go out because they were afraid of getting arrested. And then [their] name would be in the paper and [their] life would be ruined.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Hazel’s Inn raid became a playbook for the state to target the queer community over the following 15 years. Surveillance, raids, and the revocation of liquor licenses were all part of a strategy to push LGBTQ+ people out of the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Resistance amidst repression\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Looking back at this history of aggressive policing against queer people and their bars, it’s no surprise that queer nightlife continues to be central to the LGBTQ+ community. For many, gay bars were the only spaces they were afforded the freedom to be openly queer. They were also the battlegrounds where civil rights were won and lost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the fight for LGBTQ+ rights continues. As the federal government uses its power to withhold \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12049666/nowhere-else-to-go-sf-families-protest-kaisers-new-limits-on-gender-affirming-care\">gender-affirming healthcare\u003c/a> and to target\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12047432/us-sues-california-over-its-refusal-to-ban-transgender-athletes-from-girls-sports\"> transgender youth in sports\u003c/a>, Boyd said it can be hard to keep hope alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12068581\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260102-hazelsinnraid00178_TV_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12068581\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260102-hazelsinnraid00178_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260102-hazelsinnraid00178_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260102-hazelsinnraid00178_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260102-hazelsinnraid00178_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nan Alamilla Boyd, a historian, poses for a portrait at the GLBT Historical Society Archives in San Francisco on Jan. 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ / KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The hits [to LGBTQ+ rights] keep coming and in many different ways,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, her work has taught her that in times of repression, powerful political organizing and cultural innovation can emerge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By the early 1960s, [queer] bartenders and the bar owners had pretty elaborate methods to resist the policing agencies,” Boyd said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They created a resistance movement powerful enough to outlast the government’s efforts to eradicate queer nightlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t really make cultural innovation illegal because it happens,” Boyd said. “It’s everything, everywhere, all at once. It’s the thing that’s our spirit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s because of that indomitable spirit that the Bay Area looks and feels the way it does today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12063643 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251008-GirlintheFishbowl-01-BL.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>San Francisco and its surrounding Bay Area have long been known as a gay capital of the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all, it’s here, where the first lesbian civil rights group was formed, the Daughters of Bilitis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And where Harvey Milk became an iconic gay public official! [tape]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Harvey Milk:\u003c/strong> I will fight to represent my constituents. I will fight to represent the city and county of San Francisco. I will fight to give those people who once walked away hope, so that those people will walk back in. Thank you very much. [clapping]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>It was the birthplace of the Gay pride flag. And it’s where city hall is lit up in a rainbow for pride month. This is the Bay Area that our question asker, Henry Lie, knows well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music stops\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Henry Lie: \u003c/strong>I’m originally from Pacifica…went to high school at Terranova High School.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Henry always thought of Pacifica as an extension of San Francisco — it’s just a few miles south, after all. And, there’s not a whole lot that surprises Henry about his hometown. That is until he learned about a moment in Pacifica’s history that left him with a ton of questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Henry Lie:\u003c/strong> We have this museum.. I think I was there and saw like a footnote or something and it just said like, oh yeah, Hazel’s Inn raid where, you know, there was a large gathering of LGBTQ+ identifying people and a bunch of people were arrested, couple of people charged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Henry had stumbled across a forgotten moment in history — a massive police raid that took place in 1956, part of a crusade to push LGBTQ people out of the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Ominous music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local newspapers documented the raid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Voice Over 1: \u003c/strong>San Francisco Examiner: Ninety persons, mostly men, were booked at the San Mateo County jail yesterday after a vice raid on a tavern suspected of being a gathering place for sex deviates.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Voice Over 2: \u003c/strong>San Mateo Times: The raid, according to Sheriff Whitmore, “was to let homosexuals know we’re not going to tolerate their congregation in this county.” \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Voice Over 3: \u003c/strong>Redwood City Tribune: Mrs. Nicola, owner of Hazel’s Inn, is charged with operating a resort for sexual deviates. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Big questions began surfacing for Henry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Henry Lie:\u003c/strong> And I was like, whoa, I’ve never even heard of Hazel’s Inn. This says this was in Pacifica. Why have I never heard of it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> So he came to Bay Curious, hoping to find out more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Henry Lie:\u003c/strong> Could you dive deeper into the Hazel’s Inn raid in Pacifica and the effects that it had on the LGBTQ plus community in the greater Bay area in the late 1950s?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Bay Curious theme music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>I’m Olivia Allen-Price and this is Bay Curious. This week, we’re going back to the gay bars of the 1950s to learn about a moment in time when the San Francisco Bay Area was far less welcoming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All that coming right up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Theme music ends\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sponsor Break\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>To dig deeper into Bay Area queer history, KQED’s Ana De Almeida Amaral takes us to Pacifica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral:\u003c/strong> Pacifica is a beautiful place, with sprawling views of the ocean and stunning beaches. It has that small town feel, complete with a\u003cem> tiny\u003c/em> museum showcasing its history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Del Rosso:\u003c/strong> This is our little museum…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>Laura Del Rosso was born and raised in Pacifica, and serves as a docent and board member for the Pacifica Coastside Museum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Del Rosso:\u003c/strong> This whole area around here was full of speakeasies, taverns, restaurants, and brothels during Prohibition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>It seems hard to imagine now, but this small town was once infamous for its nightlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Del Rosso: \u003c/strong>Some people think that San Mateo County coast was actually the wettest place in the whole United States, meaning there was more booze here and in Half Moon Bay area than anywhere else in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>While the historical society has long been aware of the clandestine nightlife during Prohibition, it wasn’t until a few years ago that they started uncovering the history of a hushed queer nightlife scene that took hold right here, in the 1950’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jazzy music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>Hazel’s Inn was a tavern in Sharp Park, now a neighborhood in Pacifica. ^The bar is long gone^, but in 1956 the Pacifica Tribune, described it as a large and homey space, with knick-nacks above a mahogany bar, a shuffle board, a dance floor and a jukebox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hazel’s Inn was owned and run by Hazel Nikola, a straight woman in her 60s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Del Rosso:\u003c/strong> From what we understand then, after she got a divorce she was running the place by herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>And the place was popular! Sometimes there were up to 500 patrons in a weekend. For a long time it catered mostly to locals and tourists on holiday at the beach, but then in 1955 and 56, the LGBT community made it \u003cem>their\u003c/em> spot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Del Rosso:\u003c/strong> When the gay men started coming from San Francisco, she welcomed them. And she was non-judgmental. However, it’s obvious that somebody was not happy and did contact the sheriff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>But before we can get to that night — the night of the Hazel’s Inn raid — we have to ask why here? Miles from San Francisco, hidden in a small town, far from any other gay nightlife, why was Hazel’s Inn the place that attracted hundreds of LGBTQ people?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>To answer this question, I went to the archives at the GLBT historical society — where collections documenting the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Trans community are housed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There, I met Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd. She’s an oral historian with the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd: \u003c/strong>I was professor of women and gender studies at San Francisco State for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>She’s one of the few people who has researched queer nightlife in the 1950’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> 1956, 90 persons, mostly men were booked at the San Mateo county jail…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>At the archives we read some of the newspaper clippings about Hazel’s Inn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> Suspected of being a gathering place for sex deviates…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>She did a lot of her research back in the 1990s and was able to interview dozens of queer people who lived in the Bay Area in the 1940s and 50s. Most of them have since passed away, so her work and these archives are some of the last links to this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Piano music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>Back in the 1940s, San Francisco already had a queer nightlife scene, but at the time it was illegal to be gay. And bars that were caught serving queer people… that was illegal too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> If you were not a legal kind of person, then you couldn’t like buy a drink in a bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>But the law changed in 1951— when the Black Cat Cafe, in San Francisco, had its liquor license suspended for serving members of the LGBT community. The owner appealed the decision to the California Supreme court. The case is known as Stouman vs. Riley and it’s a big moment in queer civil rights history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> The argument was that it’s not illegal to be a homosexual, it’s illegal to do homosexual acts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>The court agreed. And the ruling became one of the first civil rights protections for LGBTQ people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music ends\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>For the first time, they had the protected right to assemble. Gay men and lesbian women could buy drinks at bars and hang out with other queer friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is as long as there were no homosexual acts taking place that were deemed “illegal or immoral.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many legal decisions, it was a vague but powerful protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> I know it seems really regressive now, right? But the decision was liberating because the conclusion was that it wasn’t Status that was illegal, it was behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>And so queer nightlife in the Bay Area blossomed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> In the early 1950s, I would say it was the heyday of gay nightlife in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>And really iconic gay bars came into the picture. The Black Cat Cafe was running again, Tommy’s Place and Ann’s 440 opened. And these places became sanctuaries for the LGBT community to be \u003cem>together. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> There were maybe four or five quote unquote lesbian bars in North Beach in walking distance of each other at any point in time between like, let’s say, 1948 and 1955. So it’s like a really interesting community that evolved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>And this was really important because in the 1950s it was still not super safe to be gay. Many queer folks were closeted by day in order to keep their jobs. But at night…at the bar…there was a freedom that didn’t really exist anywhere else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> And it was before the state caught wind of what was happening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>But then a panic started to take hold in the United States…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Senator McCarthy archival tape:\u003c/strong> Are you a member of the communist conspiracy as of this moment?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>A conservative mindset took hold in American politics and culture — ushering in a time of suspicion and fear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Senator McCarthy archival tape:\u003c/strong> Our nation may very well die, and I ask you caused it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>And quickly, LGBT people become \u003cu>targets\u003c/u> at the federal, state and local level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Eisenhower signed an executive order in 1953 banning gay people from federal work, labeling them as having immoral conduct and “sexual perversion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, in 1955 \u003cem>California\u003c/em> created a new state agency called the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control or the ABC. An agency whose sole job was to ensure that licensed bars abided by legal and \u003cem>moral\u003c/em> codes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And from the moment the department of Alcoholic Beverage control was created a top priority for them was to…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd: \u003c/strong>Shut down the gay bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>And they did this by finding ways around those vague protections won in the Stouman v. Riley case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While queer people were granted the right to assemble, “homosexual acts” were still illegal, so authorities started taking an interest in the specifics of what that meant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> There’s a question about like, well then what exactly are the behaviors that are illegal? Like, do you have to like see someone, having sex in the bar? Or is it kissing? What about fondling? What about sitting on a lap? What about holding hands? What about dancing close? So all this stuff was like, then started being hashed out, you know, this is an illegal act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>And the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control started collaborating with a bunch of law enforcement agencies throughout the Bay Area to ferret out people engaged in those acts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 1955, the gay bars in San Francisco were getting less and less safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as harassment and policing increased, the LGBT community began looking for new places to gather outside of San Francisco, away from well-known gay bars, and they ended up down the coast, at Hazel’s Inn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sound design of a raucous bar scene\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only testimonies about what happened on Feb. 19, 1956, the night that Hazel’s Inn was raided, come from court documents and hearings at the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. Laurence E. Strong, an ABC agent, described in detail what was happening at the bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That night, the dance floor was alive, and the bar was filled with around 200 patrons, mostly men. These men wrapped their arms around each other and embraced one another while dancing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also described how one patron sat on another man’s lap and how two other men held hands. In the corner of the bar, a couple embraced as one nestled his head into the other’s shoulder. Some men pinched each other’s butts and fondled each other while dancing. Women danced close together with other women. Men were seen powdering their faces and women wore slacks and sports coats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It sounds like a scene of queer joy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music turns tense\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Suddenly, 35 law enforcement agents stormed the bar — a mix of San Mateo county sheriff’s officers and ABC agents began arresting people. The sheriff jumped on to the bar and announced:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Voice over:\u003c/strong> “This is a raid!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>Patrons were forced to walk past a line of agents. And one by one, agents picked out people they had seen showing queer affection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Boyd says that the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board had been watching Hazel’s Inn for months, gathering evidence and building a case that behavior there was “illegal and immoral.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd: \u003c/strong>They had undercover agents in the bars. And they would go in twos or threes and they would watch each other. And somebody would get an interested person, and then would sort of lead them on, until there was some kind of physical, sexual, or flirtatious engagement that involved touching. It was entrapment. And that was a common and acceptable practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>Ninety people were arrested that night at Hazel’s Inn, including Hazel Nikola — the owner. The bar’s liquor license was quickly revoked for being quote “a resort for sexual perverts” and for serving someone underaged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mass arrest caught the attention of a variety of civil rights groups, including the ACLU who represented 30 defendants. Most of those arrested were cleared of charges, but the damage had already been done. People were outed in the newspapers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> There would be a list of the people and their address and sometimes their occupation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Voice over: \u003c/strong>The San Mateo Times: Local persons arrested were: Iris Ann Glasgow, 24 years old. Clerk. 1515 James Street, Redwood City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>Many of these people were publicly named as “sexual perverts”. That often meant being ostracized or losing their job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> People were so fearful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Cello music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>As for the bar, Hazel fought the revocation of her liquor license for\u003cem> two years \u003c/em>but the court ultimately sided with the ABC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Del Rosso:\u003c/strong> I think she was just really bitter about what happened here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music ends\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>Back in the Pacifica Coastside museum, Laura reflected on what the raid did to Hazel Nikola.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Del Rosso:\u003c/strong> She lost her liquor license and things just kind of went downhill for her. You have that information on the thing. And she ended up, she ended closing. She was very, very bitter at the end. She felt like she was really an important part of the community and that they had kind of betrayed her. She left Sharp Park and went to live somewhere else. And never came back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>For the queer community, the effects were even more devastating. The Hazel’s Inn Raid became a playbook for the state to target the queer community over the next 15 years. (Surveillance, raids, and the revocation of liquor licenses.) It was a strategy to push LGBTQ people out of the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it didn’t work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite this aggressive policing and repression, the gay bars never died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Queer patrons, and bartenders, and bar owners found ways to keep going. They found ways to spot surveillance in their bars, they organized and worked to keep the police out of their spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historian Dr. Boyd again:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> My takeaway from history as a historian is that during these times of repression. There’s cultural innovation that happens. You can’t really name it yet, right? But it’s taking shape you know, that there’s something coming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>During those years of extreme repression, queer activists were making connections, organizing, and laying the groundwork for the next several decades of activism that would see LGBTQ rights expand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area has changed a lot since the raid at Hazel’s Inn. But still, a fearless commitment to community and authenticity — the spirit that kept these gay bars alive — lives on here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>That was reporter Ana De Almeida Amaral. Featuring the voices of Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman, Carly Severn, Christopher Beale and Paul Lancour for archival material.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Did you know that Bay Curious listeners help choose which questions we answer on the podcast? Each month we have a new voting round up at \u003ca href=\"http://baycurious.org\">BayCurious.org\u003c/a>, with three fascinating questions to choose from. This month…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Question 1: \u003c/strong>Did the Navy airship America crash land into several houses? What happened to the crew?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Question 2:\u003c/strong> Why is San Francisco home to so many federal and statewide courts? Why aren’t they in Sacramento or Los Angeles?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Question 3: \u003c/strong>I want to learn more about San Francisco upzoning and how people feel about it in the Richmond and Sunset districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Cast your vote with one click at \u003ca href=\"http://baycurious.org\">BayCurious.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Henry Lie:\u003c/strong> Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Become a member today at \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/donate\">kqed.org/donate\u003c/a>. Our show is produced by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and me Olivia Allen-Price. With extra support from Katie Sprenger, Matt Morales, Tim Olsen, Maha Sanad, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on team KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a wonderful week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> has an international reputation as a haven of freedom and culture for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/lgbtq\">LGBTQ+\u003c/a> community. And with good reason.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco elected \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11706248/40-years-after-assassinations-assessing-the-legacies-of-harvey-milk-and-george-moscone\">Harvey Milk\u003c/a>, California’s first openly gay public official. It’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11876846/never-take-it-down-the-original-1978-rainbow-flag-returns-to-sf\">the birthplace of the rainbow pride flag\u003c/a>, now a global symbol. The city has also long had an iconic drag queen scene and legendary nightlife with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930323/san-francisco-gay-bars-history-silver-rail-febes-black-cat\">a long history of bustling gay\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13929998/historic-lesbian-bars-san-francisco-mauds-pegs-front-anns-monas-440-tommy-vasu\">lesbian bars\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Bay Area was not always this way. The LGBTQ+ community had to fight for these freedoms and safe spaces. Often, this fight was against oppressive policing from the state and local government. And some important moments in that fight happened in unexpected places, like Pacifica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was like, whoa, it says this was in Pacifica! Why have I never heard of it?” Bay Curious listener Henry Lie asked. He’d stumbled across mention of a 1956 police raid at a bar called Hazel’s Inn, where nearly a hundred queer folks were arrested. He wanted to know more.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Progress and repression of LGBTQ+ rights\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“The early 1950s, I would say it was the heyday of gay nightlife in San Francisco,” said Nan Alamilla Boyd, an oral historian at the UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library. As a longtime researcher of San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ history, Boyd has interviewed dozens of queer individuals who frequented gay bars during this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her interviews uncover stories of the Bay Area’s history, especially the repression queer people faced in the 1950s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069459\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/HAZEL_S-BUILDING_1966-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069459\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/HAZEL_S-BUILDING_1966-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1171\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/HAZEL_S-BUILDING_1966-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/HAZEL_S-BUILDING_1966-KQED-160x94.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/HAZEL_S-BUILDING_1966-KQED-1536x899.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The building once housed Hazel’s Inn. This photo was taken in 1966, when the city condemned the building. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of The Pacifica Historical Society)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“A lot of these people [I interviewed] witnessed front row seats to [this repressive era], and kept being as out and proud as possible and survived to tell about it,” Boyd said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1951, the California State Board of Equalization revoked the liquor license of the Black Cat Cafe, a popular gay bar, because the establishment was “injurious to public morals.” The Black Cat owner, Sol Stouman, appealed the move to the California Supreme Court. The court ruled in his favor, affirming that the presence of LGBTQ+ people in a bar was allowable, as long as there were no “immoral acts” taking place. The case is known as Stoumen v. Reilly and many historians see it as the first legal victory for the LGBTQ+ community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The argument was that it’s not illegal to be a homosexual, it’s illegal to do homosexual acts,” Boyd explained. “I know it seems really regressive now, but the decision was liberating because the conclusion was that it wasn’t status that was illegal, it was behavior.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first time, LGBTQ+ people had the protected right to gather at bars without facing prosecution for simply being a queer person in public. And so queer nightlife blossomed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were maybe four or five ‘lesbian bars’ in North Beach within walking distance of each other at any point in time between 1948 and 1955,” Boyd said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But just a few years later, the U.S. government started targeting the LGBTQ+ community. Now known as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/articles/state-department-gay-employees-outed-fired-lavender-scare\">Lavender Scare\u003c/a>, many of the freedoms enjoyed in the early 50s came under attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order in 1953 banning gay people from federal work for immoral conduct and “sexual perversion.” And in California, a new state agency called the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control was created in 1955. Known as the ABC, its job was to ensure that licensed bars abided by legal and \u003cem>moral \u003c/em>codes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Things really changed in 1955,” Boyd said. The ABC began waging a war against gay bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency found ways to undermine the protections previously won by the LGBTQ+ community in Stouman v. Reilly. Since “homosexual acts” were still illegal, suddenly the state was very concerned about specific actions taking place in bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was a question about what exactly [were] the behaviors that [were] illegal,” Boyd said. “Do you have to see someone having sex in the bar? Or is it kissing? What about fondling? What about sitting on a lap? What about dancing close? So, all this stuff then started being hashed out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With each enforcement action against queer bar patrons, the ABC expanded the definition of illegal acts. Soon, even dancing with someone of the same sex was punishable. The ABC even collaborated with local law enforcement agencies to conduct undercover surveillance operations that identified and monitored LGBTQ gathering spots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 1955, the gay bars in San Francisco were getting less and less safe. And as harassment and policing increased, the LGBTQ+ community began looking for new places to gather outside of San Francisco, away from well-known gay bars. The community ended up down the coast, where they made Hazel’s Inn their spot.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Hazel’s Inn raid\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the early hours of Feb. 19, 1956, a group of 35 ABC and San Mateo County Sheriff’s officers stormed into a full and bustling Hazel’s Inn. There were around 200 patrons present in the bar, mostly men, when the sheriff jumped onto the bar and announced, “This is a raid!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ninety people were arrested that night, including the bar’s owner, Hazel Nikola, a straight woman in her 60’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069461\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2125px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/San_Francisco_Chronicle__February_20_1956__Hazel_s-Inn-KQED-1-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069461\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/San_Francisco_Chronicle__February_20_1956__Hazel_s-Inn-KQED-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2125\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/San_Francisco_Chronicle__February_20_1956__Hazel_s-Inn-KQED-1-scaled.jpg 2125w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/San_Francisco_Chronicle__February_20_1956__Hazel_s-Inn-KQED-1-2000x2409.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/San_Francisco_Chronicle__February_20_1956__Hazel_s-Inn-KQED-1-160x193.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/San_Francisco_Chronicle__February_20_1956__Hazel_s-Inn-KQED-1-1275x1536.jpg 1275w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/San_Francisco_Chronicle__February_20_1956__Hazel_s-Inn-KQED-1-1700x2048.jpg 1700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2125px) 100vw, 2125px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coverage of the Hazel’s Inn raid from the San Francisco Chronicle in 1956. It was common, at the time, for newspapers to use derogatory language in reference to the LGBTQ community. \u003ccite>(The San Francisco Chronicle via Newsbank)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hazel’s Inn had been under state surveillance for months, and patrons were forced to walk past a line of agents who had been watching them. One by one, agents picked out those they had seen showing queer affection. Most of those arrested faced vagrancy charges. Nikola’s liquor license was quickly revoked for knowingly hosting a hangout for queer people and for serving an underage person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When \u003ca href=\"https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-20-february-1956-smt-hazels-i/10556199/\">\u003cem>The San Mateo Times\u003c/em>\u003c/a> asked Sheriff Earl Whitmore about the raid, he said, “Let it be known that we are not going to tolerate gatherings of homosexuals in the county.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The full extent of the ABC’s operation at Hazel’s Inn became clear as the case was brought before\u003ca href=\"https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AHSI&u=glbths&id=GALE%7CMDRLJF555849529&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-AHSI&sPage=11&asid=6014d9b9\"> the ABC Board\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ca-court-of-appeal/1810632.html\">court\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In court documents, Laurence E. Strong, an ABC agent, described the scene at Hazel’s Inn the night of the raid and in the months leading up to it. Strong described how one male patron sat on another man’s lap and how two others were seen holding hands. In the corner of the bar, a couple was seen embracing as one nestled his head into the other’s shoulder. Some men pinched each other’s butts and fondled each other while dancing. Women danced close together with other women. Men were seen powdering their faces and women wore slacks and sports coats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These scenes of queerness would be used in court to justify the revocation of Nikola’s liquor license for being a “resort for sexual perverts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While most of those arrested that night were cleared of charges, the damage had already been done. Newspapers caught wind of the raid, and patrons were publicly outed, with their names, occupations and home addresses published for all to see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People were so fearful,” Boyd said. “There were [LGBTQ+ people] who would never go out because they were afraid of getting arrested. And then [their] name would be in the paper and [their] life would be ruined.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Hazel’s Inn raid became a playbook for the state to target the queer community over the following 15 years. Surveillance, raids, and the revocation of liquor licenses were all part of a strategy to push LGBTQ+ people out of the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Resistance amidst repression\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Looking back at this history of aggressive policing against queer people and their bars, it’s no surprise that queer nightlife continues to be central to the LGBTQ+ community. For many, gay bars were the only spaces they were afforded the freedom to be openly queer. They were also the battlegrounds where civil rights were won and lost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the fight for LGBTQ+ rights continues. As the federal government uses its power to withhold \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12049666/nowhere-else-to-go-sf-families-protest-kaisers-new-limits-on-gender-affirming-care\">gender-affirming healthcare\u003c/a> and to target\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12047432/us-sues-california-over-its-refusal-to-ban-transgender-athletes-from-girls-sports\"> transgender youth in sports\u003c/a>, Boyd said it can be hard to keep hope alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12068581\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260102-hazelsinnraid00178_TV_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12068581\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260102-hazelsinnraid00178_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260102-hazelsinnraid00178_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260102-hazelsinnraid00178_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260102-hazelsinnraid00178_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nan Alamilla Boyd, a historian, poses for a portrait at the GLBT Historical Society Archives in San Francisco on Jan. 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ / KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The hits [to LGBTQ+ rights] keep coming and in many different ways,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, her work has taught her that in times of repression, powerful political organizing and cultural innovation can emerge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By the early 1960s, [queer] bartenders and the bar owners had pretty elaborate methods to resist the policing agencies,” Boyd said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They created a resistance movement powerful enough to outlast the government’s efforts to eradicate queer nightlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t really make cultural innovation illegal because it happens,” Boyd said. “It’s everything, everywhere, all at once. It’s the thing that’s our spirit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s because of that indomitable spirit that the Bay Area looks and feels the way it does today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>San Francisco and its surrounding Bay Area have long been known as a gay capital of the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all, it’s here, where the first lesbian civil rights group was formed, the Daughters of Bilitis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And where Harvey Milk became an iconic gay public official! [tape]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Harvey Milk:\u003c/strong> I will fight to represent my constituents. I will fight to represent the city and county of San Francisco. I will fight to give those people who once walked away hope, so that those people will walk back in. Thank you very much. [clapping]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>It was the birthplace of the Gay pride flag. And it’s where city hall is lit up in a rainbow for pride month. This is the Bay Area that our question asker, Henry Lie, knows well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music stops\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Henry Lie: \u003c/strong>I’m originally from Pacifica…went to high school at Terranova High School.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Henry always thought of Pacifica as an extension of San Francisco — it’s just a few miles south, after all. And, there’s not a whole lot that surprises Henry about his hometown. That is until he learned about a moment in Pacifica’s history that left him with a ton of questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Henry Lie:\u003c/strong> We have this museum.. I think I was there and saw like a footnote or something and it just said like, oh yeah, Hazel’s Inn raid where, you know, there was a large gathering of LGBTQ+ identifying people and a bunch of people were arrested, couple of people charged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Henry had stumbled across a forgotten moment in history — a massive police raid that took place in 1956, part of a crusade to push LGBTQ people out of the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Ominous music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local newspapers documented the raid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Voice Over 1: \u003c/strong>San Francisco Examiner: Ninety persons, mostly men, were booked at the San Mateo County jail yesterday after a vice raid on a tavern suspected of being a gathering place for sex deviates.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Voice Over 2: \u003c/strong>San Mateo Times: The raid, according to Sheriff Whitmore, “was to let homosexuals know we’re not going to tolerate their congregation in this county.” \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Voice Over 3: \u003c/strong>Redwood City Tribune: Mrs. Nicola, owner of Hazel’s Inn, is charged with operating a resort for sexual deviates. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Big questions began surfacing for Henry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Henry Lie:\u003c/strong> And I was like, whoa, I’ve never even heard of Hazel’s Inn. This says this was in Pacifica. Why have I never heard of it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> So he came to Bay Curious, hoping to find out more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Henry Lie:\u003c/strong> Could you dive deeper into the Hazel’s Inn raid in Pacifica and the effects that it had on the LGBTQ plus community in the greater Bay area in the late 1950s?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Bay Curious theme music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>I’m Olivia Allen-Price and this is Bay Curious. This week, we’re going back to the gay bars of the 1950s to learn about a moment in time when the San Francisco Bay Area was far less welcoming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All that coming right up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Theme music ends\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sponsor Break\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>To dig deeper into Bay Area queer history, KQED’s Ana De Almeida Amaral takes us to Pacifica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral:\u003c/strong> Pacifica is a beautiful place, with sprawling views of the ocean and stunning beaches. It has that small town feel, complete with a\u003cem> tiny\u003c/em> museum showcasing its history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Del Rosso:\u003c/strong> This is our little museum…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>Laura Del Rosso was born and raised in Pacifica, and serves as a docent and board member for the Pacifica Coastside Museum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Del Rosso:\u003c/strong> This whole area around here was full of speakeasies, taverns, restaurants, and brothels during Prohibition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>It seems hard to imagine now, but this small town was once infamous for its nightlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Del Rosso: \u003c/strong>Some people think that San Mateo County coast was actually the wettest place in the whole United States, meaning there was more booze here and in Half Moon Bay area than anywhere else in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>While the historical society has long been aware of the clandestine nightlife during Prohibition, it wasn’t until a few years ago that they started uncovering the history of a hushed queer nightlife scene that took hold right here, in the 1950’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jazzy music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>Hazel’s Inn was a tavern in Sharp Park, now a neighborhood in Pacifica. ^The bar is long gone^, but in 1956 the Pacifica Tribune, described it as a large and homey space, with knick-nacks above a mahogany bar, a shuffle board, a dance floor and a jukebox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hazel’s Inn was owned and run by Hazel Nikola, a straight woman in her 60s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Del Rosso:\u003c/strong> From what we understand then, after she got a divorce she was running the place by herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>And the place was popular! Sometimes there were up to 500 patrons in a weekend. For a long time it catered mostly to locals and tourists on holiday at the beach, but then in 1955 and 56, the LGBT community made it \u003cem>their\u003c/em> spot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Del Rosso:\u003c/strong> When the gay men started coming from San Francisco, she welcomed them. And she was non-judgmental. However, it’s obvious that somebody was not happy and did contact the sheriff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>But before we can get to that night — the night of the Hazel’s Inn raid — we have to ask why here? Miles from San Francisco, hidden in a small town, far from any other gay nightlife, why was Hazel’s Inn the place that attracted hundreds of LGBTQ people?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>To answer this question, I went to the archives at the GLBT historical society — where collections documenting the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Trans community are housed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There, I met Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd. She’s an oral historian with the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd: \u003c/strong>I was professor of women and gender studies at San Francisco State for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>She’s one of the few people who has researched queer nightlife in the 1950’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> 1956, 90 persons, mostly men were booked at the San Mateo county jail…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>At the archives we read some of the newspaper clippings about Hazel’s Inn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> Suspected of being a gathering place for sex deviates…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>She did a lot of her research back in the 1990s and was able to interview dozens of queer people who lived in the Bay Area in the 1940s and 50s. Most of them have since passed away, so her work and these archives are some of the last links to this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Piano music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>Back in the 1940s, San Francisco already had a queer nightlife scene, but at the time it was illegal to be gay. And bars that were caught serving queer people… that was illegal too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> If you were not a legal kind of person, then you couldn’t like buy a drink in a bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>But the law changed in 1951— when the Black Cat Cafe, in San Francisco, had its liquor license suspended for serving members of the LGBT community. The owner appealed the decision to the California Supreme court. The case is known as Stouman vs. Riley and it’s a big moment in queer civil rights history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> The argument was that it’s not illegal to be a homosexual, it’s illegal to do homosexual acts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>The court agreed. And the ruling became one of the first civil rights protections for LGBTQ people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music ends\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>For the first time, they had the protected right to assemble. Gay men and lesbian women could buy drinks at bars and hang out with other queer friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is as long as there were no homosexual acts taking place that were deemed “illegal or immoral.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many legal decisions, it was a vague but powerful protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> I know it seems really regressive now, right? But the decision was liberating because the conclusion was that it wasn’t Status that was illegal, it was behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>And so queer nightlife in the Bay Area blossomed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> In the early 1950s, I would say it was the heyday of gay nightlife in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>And really iconic gay bars came into the picture. The Black Cat Cafe was running again, Tommy’s Place and Ann’s 440 opened. And these places became sanctuaries for the LGBT community to be \u003cem>together. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> There were maybe four or five quote unquote lesbian bars in North Beach in walking distance of each other at any point in time between like, let’s say, 1948 and 1955. So it’s like a really interesting community that evolved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>And this was really important because in the 1950s it was still not super safe to be gay. Many queer folks were closeted by day in order to keep their jobs. But at night…at the bar…there was a freedom that didn’t really exist anywhere else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> And it was before the state caught wind of what was happening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>But then a panic started to take hold in the United States…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Senator McCarthy archival tape:\u003c/strong> Are you a member of the communist conspiracy as of this moment?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>A conservative mindset took hold in American politics and culture — ushering in a time of suspicion and fear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Senator McCarthy archival tape:\u003c/strong> Our nation may very well die, and I ask you caused it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>And quickly, LGBT people become \u003cu>targets\u003c/u> at the federal, state and local level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Eisenhower signed an executive order in 1953 banning gay people from federal work, labeling them as having immoral conduct and “sexual perversion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, in 1955 \u003cem>California\u003c/em> created a new state agency called the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control or the ABC. An agency whose sole job was to ensure that licensed bars abided by legal and \u003cem>moral\u003c/em> codes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And from the moment the department of Alcoholic Beverage control was created a top priority for them was to…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd: \u003c/strong>Shut down the gay bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>And they did this by finding ways around those vague protections won in the Stouman v. Riley case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While queer people were granted the right to assemble, “homosexual acts” were still illegal, so authorities started taking an interest in the specifics of what that meant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> There’s a question about like, well then what exactly are the behaviors that are illegal? Like, do you have to like see someone, having sex in the bar? Or is it kissing? What about fondling? What about sitting on a lap? What about holding hands? What about dancing close? So all this stuff was like, then started being hashed out, you know, this is an illegal act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>And the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control started collaborating with a bunch of law enforcement agencies throughout the Bay Area to ferret out people engaged in those acts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 1955, the gay bars in San Francisco were getting less and less safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as harassment and policing increased, the LGBT community began looking for new places to gather outside of San Francisco, away from well-known gay bars, and they ended up down the coast, at Hazel’s Inn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sound design of a raucous bar scene\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only testimonies about what happened on Feb. 19, 1956, the night that Hazel’s Inn was raided, come from court documents and hearings at the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. Laurence E. Strong, an ABC agent, described in detail what was happening at the bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That night, the dance floor was alive, and the bar was filled with around 200 patrons, mostly men. These men wrapped their arms around each other and embraced one another while dancing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also described how one patron sat on another man’s lap and how two other men held hands. In the corner of the bar, a couple embraced as one nestled his head into the other’s shoulder. Some men pinched each other’s butts and fondled each other while dancing. Women danced close together with other women. Men were seen powdering their faces and women wore slacks and sports coats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It sounds like a scene of queer joy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music turns tense\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Suddenly, 35 law enforcement agents stormed the bar — a mix of San Mateo county sheriff’s officers and ABC agents began arresting people. The sheriff jumped on to the bar and announced:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Voice over:\u003c/strong> “This is a raid!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>Patrons were forced to walk past a line of agents. And one by one, agents picked out people they had seen showing queer affection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. Boyd says that the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board had been watching Hazel’s Inn for months, gathering evidence and building a case that behavior there was “illegal and immoral.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd: \u003c/strong>They had undercover agents in the bars. And they would go in twos or threes and they would watch each other. And somebody would get an interested person, and then would sort of lead them on, until there was some kind of physical, sexual, or flirtatious engagement that involved touching. It was entrapment. And that was a common and acceptable practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>Ninety people were arrested that night at Hazel’s Inn, including Hazel Nikola — the owner. The bar’s liquor license was quickly revoked for being quote “a resort for sexual perverts” and for serving someone underaged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mass arrest caught the attention of a variety of civil rights groups, including the ACLU who represented 30 defendants. Most of those arrested were cleared of charges, but the damage had already been done. People were outed in the newspapers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> There would be a list of the people and their address and sometimes their occupation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Voice over: \u003c/strong>The San Mateo Times: Local persons arrested were: Iris Ann Glasgow, 24 years old. Clerk. 1515 James Street, Redwood City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>Many of these people were publicly named as “sexual perverts”. That often meant being ostracized or losing their job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> People were so fearful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Cello music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>As for the bar, Hazel fought the revocation of her liquor license for\u003cem> two years \u003c/em>but the court ultimately sided with the ABC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Del Rosso:\u003c/strong> I think she was just really bitter about what happened here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music ends\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>Back in the Pacifica Coastside museum, Laura reflected on what the raid did to Hazel Nikola.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laura Del Rosso:\u003c/strong> She lost her liquor license and things just kind of went downhill for her. You have that information on the thing. And she ended up, she ended closing. She was very, very bitter at the end. She felt like she was really an important part of the community and that they had kind of betrayed her. She left Sharp Park and went to live somewhere else. And never came back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>For the queer community, the effects were even more devastating. The Hazel’s Inn Raid became a playbook for the state to target the queer community over the next 15 years. (Surveillance, raids, and the revocation of liquor licenses.) It was a strategy to push LGBTQ people out of the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it didn’t work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite this aggressive policing and repression, the gay bars never died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Queer patrons, and bartenders, and bar owners found ways to keep going. They found ways to spot surveillance in their bars, they organized and worked to keep the police out of their spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historian Dr. Boyd again:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Nan Alamilla Boyd:\u003c/strong> My takeaway from history as a historian is that during these times of repression. There’s cultural innovation that happens. You can’t really name it yet, right? But it’s taking shape you know, that there’s something coming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ana De Almeida Amaral: \u003c/strong>During those years of extreme repression, queer activists were making connections, organizing, and laying the groundwork for the next several decades of activism that would see LGBTQ rights expand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area has changed a lot since the raid at Hazel’s Inn. But still, a fearless commitment to community and authenticity — the spirit that kept these gay bars alive — lives on here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>That was reporter Ana De Almeida Amaral. Featuring the voices of Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman, Carly Severn, Christopher Beale and Paul Lancour for archival material.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Did you know that Bay Curious listeners help choose which questions we answer on the podcast? Each month we have a new voting round up at \u003ca href=\"http://baycurious.org\">BayCurious.org\u003c/a>, with three fascinating questions to choose from. This month…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Question 1: \u003c/strong>Did the Navy airship America crash land into several houses? What happened to the crew?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Question 2:\u003c/strong> Why is San Francisco home to so many federal and statewide courts? Why aren’t they in Sacramento or Los Angeles?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Question 3: \u003c/strong>I want to learn more about San Francisco upzoning and how people feel about it in the Richmond and Sunset districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Cast your vote with one click at \u003ca href=\"http://baycurious.org\">BayCurious.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Henry Lie:\u003c/strong> Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Become a member today at \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/donate\">kqed.org/donate\u003c/a>. Our show is produced by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and me Olivia Allen-Price. With extra support from Katie Sprenger, Matt Morales, Tim Olsen, Maha Sanad, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on team KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a wonderful week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>"
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"radiolab": {
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},
"rightnowish": {
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"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
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"soldout": {
"id": "soldout",
"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
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