Study: 8,000 Latinos Have Left the Mission Since 2000

"According to [a recent] study, conducted by the Council of Community Housing Organizations and the Mission Economic Development Agency, Latinos comprised half of the Mission’s population in 2000 and now are less than 40 percent of the population," reports Joe Fitzgerald Rodriquez. That decreased shared represents a net loss of 8,000 Latinos from the Mission during that time. The study also projects forward, noting that Latinos will make up less than a third of the population in the neighborhood by 2020 if the trend persists.

Rodriguez also notes that other demographic groups are also declining in population in the Mission. "Families of any ethnicity earning between $50,000-$75,000 made up a quarter of Mission households in 2000. They are now only 13 percent, according to the study."

In addition to sharing the news of the study, Rodriguez also uses the study's findings in an argument pushing back on a spate of articles at local publications in recent months questioning the gentrification narrative in San Francisco's recent evolution.

Rodriguez has a simple, pointed response: "As these numbers clearly show, people are not angry simply because their favorite dive bar went bye-bye. People are angry because they’re involuntarily losing their homes."