Hundreds of San Francisco SRO Units Still Vacant

According to an SFist article by Joe Kukura, San Francisco has cut the vacancy rate in its single-room occupancy hotels (SROs), designed as supportive housing for formerly unhoused people, from 11.5 percent to 7.8 percent.

While poor building conditions are to blame for some vacancies—run-down units, vermin infestations, and high crime rates make some buildings unlivable—“the primary reason most of those units are sitting empty is paperwork — someone wants a unit, but the wheels of bureaucracy are still spinning to get them into it.” 

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle adds, “In an investigative series called Broken Homes, the Chronicle found widespread disrepair and staffing shortages in many supportive-housing SROs, along with an alarming number of fatal drug overdoses. A lack of funding and oversight from HSH had allowed such problems to fester.” Now, the city is working to reduce wait times, make capital improvements, and bring the vacancy rate down further. The city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) “recently embarked on a monthslong campaign to fill half of the 140 empty units in four of the most challenging buildings. The department is now trying to move people into other similarly underutilized properties,” with a goal of reducing vacancies to 7 percent or lower.