Why We Organize ... Some Recent SF Victories

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Housing Victories

2006 - Tenants of the Fong Building (with allies Asian Law Caucus, Chinatown Community Development Corporation and SF Community Land Trust) defeated plans to demolish their homes and are organizing to convert their homes into a permanently affordable, resident controlled cooperative.

2006 – Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition wins moratorium on market-rate housing.

2006 – Housing Justice Coalition secures nearly 50 million dollars for new affordable housing from the City’s budget.

2005 – South Of Market Community Action Network wins package of aniti-displacement guarantees in the campaign to defend the Trinity Plaza from demolition. SOMCAN also wins historic housing stabilization benefits to offset negative effects of luxury housing construction in the neighborhood.

2003 – A housing takeover led by the Family Rights and Dignity project of the Coalition On Homelessness results in 250 units of family housing (owned by the Housing Authority) being rehabilitated for homeless families.

2003 – Tenderloin Housing Clinic sponsors AB1217 which exempted SRO hotels from Ellis Act evictions.

2001 – After over 700 rooms are vacated due to hotel fires, the Mission Agenda and Tenderloin Housing Clinic successfully fight for a law requiring sprinklers in all SRO rooms. Since sprinklers have been installed in individual rooms, no SRO has been closed due to fire.

Racial and Class Justice

2006 – SF labor Council is instrumental in the creation and passage of Universal Health Care for San Francisco.

2006 – Greenaction forces PG&E to shut down its power plant, known for causing extreme health problems in the Bayview District.

2006 – Young Workers United wins a historic settlement of 4 million dollars back-pay for employees of the Cheesecake Factory who were denied breaks for years.

2005 – People Organized Winning Employment Rights work with African-American Homeowners in the Bayview District to prevent the pass through of the costs of new electrical lines to the community.

2004 – Young Workers United, people Organized to Win Employment Rights and ACORN (among others) pass a measure establishing a city-wide minimum wage of $8.72.

2004 - UNITE/HERE and Chinese Progressive Association prevent layoffs and outsourcing by the Ben Davis clothing company.

Neighborhood Improvements/Community Building

2004 – A group of community members take over a vacant lot of city-owned land and turn it into a community garden to serve the Alemany community.