Will Skyrocketing Rents Evict the Arts and Non-Profits in S.F.?

"San Francisco’s nonprofit sector is large and varied, accounting for nearly 8% of total wages. We rely on them to help keep San Francisco the great city it is. And they need places to work. Imagine the city without them: no clinics, few theatres, no places to serve our elderly, homeless, or disabled. If they can’t afford to stay we all lose," notes former Special Assistant to Mayor Willie Brown and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development turned consultant, David Prowler. The rents are effecting them as they are residents of the city.

The Google Bus protests recently put a spotlight on the skyrocketing rents in the city—rents that effect residents and non profits alike. However, this isn't the first time a tech boom put rent pressure on non profits. In 2000, a study "found that 58% of sites rented by nonprofits are at risk of displacement within the next 15 months. 65% of nonprofits that don’t provide direct services are thinking of leaving the City."  

In this tech boom, as in the 2000 boom, "[n]imble nonprofits are meeting the challenges. Some are shrinking their own space and subletting to others to share the cost. Others are working in shared space  . . . or even learning how well they can do without any office space. They are reaching out to resources like the Northern California Community Loan Fund and the Community Arts Stabilization Trust for technical and financial help...They are partnering with developers..."

He also notes that booms come with benefits and that busts, while putting downward pressure on rents, also put downward pressure on non profit revenue. For more details, see the source article by clicking the link below.