Stuck Between NIMBYism And Anti-Gentrification
Neighbors don't want public housing, public housing residents don't want their homes gentrified -- not quite a win-win situation.
"Potrero Terrace and Potrero Annex are names given to public housing projects about a mile south of Mission Bay [in the San Francisco Bay Area], in which 1940s and 1950s barracks-style concrete buildings are scattered on a dirt-and-grass-covered hillside. They serve a dual role as gang fortress and 635-unit public slum. According to Sangiacomo/Daly math, a new neighborhood made up of 2,000 apartments -- creating about half the population density that's now filling the more urbanized parts of Mission Bay -- would offer subsidized housing sufficient to provide homes for residents currently living at the Potrero projects."
But "In San Francisco, members of the city's 400 neighborhood associations rise to arms every time someone threatens to build apartments somewhere. Public housing residents and members of the Housing Authority Commission are already using the rallying cry "anti-gentrification" to protest increasing the number of units on Housing Authority land."
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sad, but true
It's funny. I've had several friends who have recently been held up (at gunpoint) in Potrero, and are now moving from that area. So what sort of neighborhood is the Potrero Boosters trying to protect?
And what's that they say about the road to hell?
Ironically, NIMBY-ism has had many negative impacts on the quality of life in the Bay Area.
Other cities, such as Vancouver, have shown there is are answers.
While many in SF are trying to import the lessons of Vancouver, those solutions (including affordable, market-based housing) will be slow to arrive, if ever.