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Eviction by Neglect: Mission Tenants Forced Out of Crumbling Building

08.13.2015
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By Tim Redmond, 48 Hills/El Tecolote
Adan Lobo, a native of Honduras, was living in a small, run-down place on Hampshire Street, sharing a room and showering under a tarp to keep the dirty water leaking from the ceiling above from dripping on his head. It was, he says, “kind of nasty.”
But now he misses the place, because since his eviction, he has been forced into residential hotels that he says were infested with fleas and bedbugs, and now he is living in a van with three other men. Some of his former housemates are sleeping in their cars or on the street. Eviction stories are increasingly common in San Francisco, but the one concerning Lobo has a stunning twist: He and the other residents of 938-940 Hampshire St. were forced out when the landlord allowed the building to decay so badly that the Department of Building Inspection ruled that it was uninhabitable.

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Manure for Some, Dollars for Others

08.12.2015
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By Pauline Bartolone, CALmatters
Not far from the Amish farms of Central Pennsylvania, in the rolling hills southwest of coal mining country, Dennis Brubaker raises 30,000 pigs a year for slaughter. In four enclosed barns, the hogs gain 2 pounds a day away from predators. That is, until they are shipped away to be processed for supermarkets. “All they have to do is eat and drink,” says Brubaker, co-owner of Ideal Family Farms in Beavertown, Pa. “They’re just very comfortable, and that’s what turns into growth.”
After Brubaker and his three brothers bought the farm in 2007, energy costs were spiking.

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When Parents Are in Prison, Kids Pay the Price

08.11.2015
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By Catherine Girardeau, KALW Crosscurrents
When someone is imprisoned, it does not just affect the incarcerated. It affects the people left behind. Young people. Nearly 3 million children in the United States have parents in the criminal justice system – it’s almost 1 in 10 kids in California alone. It can be costly and difficult to visit or call a parent behind bars.

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Possible Spoiler for El Niño: ‘Battle of the Blobs’

08.10.2015
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By Craig Miller, KQED News Fix/Science
Hopeful Californians are looking to the Pacific this winter for an end to California’s most punishing drought on record. The reason: what appears to be a monster El Niño in the making. The abnormally warm waters along the equator could mean a wet winter. There are no guarantees, but there have been portents. On one Saturday in July, San Diego got more rain than it had gotten the entire month of January.

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S.F. Buys 6 Buildings, Keeping Artists and Others in Place

08.06.2015
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By Rigoberto Hernandez and Lydia Chávez, Mission Local
Two longtime residents and artists, as well as tenants in 18 other units, will be able to stay in rent-controlled apartments, thanks to two nonprofits buying six buildings from a landlord who decided to back away from evicting tenants and, instead, sell the buildings to the city. The purchase, part of the city’s small-sites program, will mean that the units remain affordable housing. The San Francisco Community Land Trust and the Mission Economic Development Agency will purchase the buildings. 
Read the complete story at Mission Local. 

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States May Soon Have to Report on Progress of Homeless, Foster Youth

08.05.2015
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By Susan Frey, EdSource/New America Media
Congress may soon be following California’s lead in requiring states to provide data on the academic progress of all homeless and foster youth and provide additional resources to those students. A bill amending the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to include homeless and foster youth as two new subgroups of students has passed the U.S. Senate, and two similar bills are being considered by the House of Representatives. Under the current version of the act, known as No Child Left Behind, student subgroups are based on race and ethnicity, English learner status and disability. Read the complete story at EdSource/New America Media.

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Is Valencia Street Too Expensive for Its Own Good?

08.04.2015
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By Laura Waxmann, Mission Local
With the exit of Chocolatier Blue Parlor at a site going for $10 a square foot and the appearance of other empty storefronts, it is beginning to seem to some that Valencia Street has become unsustainable for the independent artisans that it has long attracted. Instead, the street has started to attract retailers and restaurants that are not chains — a formula retail law ensures that any business with more than 11 locations must get a special permit — but already have several locations. They are not homegrown in the Mission, but imported from elsewhere in San Francisco or the world. These include the more recent stores to open — Chrome, DSPTCH, Balm and Veo Optics. For some of those long on the street, higher rents are changing its once special vibe.

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California Latinos Closing Gap in Health Coverage

08.03.2015
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By Viji Sundaram, New America Media
After the end of the second open enrollment period in health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, enrollment rates of Latinos and whites are not that different, according to a study released last week. Eligible Latinos (74 percent) are now enrolling at similar rates to those of whites (79 percent), according to a study by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. This stands in stark contrast to 2013, when Latinos in California were half as likely as whites to have health insurance. Latinos represent 41 percent of California’s population, but represent 57 percent of its uninsured population. Read the complete story at New America Media.