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The Student News Site of San Francisco State University

Golden Gate Xpress

The Student News Site of San Francisco State University

Golden Gate Xpress

More than half of SF families are financially insecure

More than half of San Francisco’s families are financially insecure even though households average $110,816 annually, according to a Nov. 6 report.

Forty-seven percent of families in San Francisco — about 168,000 households — had less than $2,000 in savings and are financially insecure, compared to the national average of 52%, according to Urban Institute, an economic and social policy research company.

The report concludes that financial instability prevents these families from paying their bills and puts them at risk of eviction. Evictions cost local government between $30 million and $70 million of its $10.1 billion annual budget through unpaid property taxes and missed utility bills, the report states.

Also on Nov. 6, San Francisco’s Office of the Controller released results of a biennial survey that show 35% of respondents are either “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to move out of San Francisco in the next three years. 

Housing isn’t expected to become cheaper, either. Real estate forecast service LittleBigHomes.com estimates that there’s a 77% chance housing prices will rise in San Francisco in the next three years.

The Urban Institute report suggests solutions such as integrating financial coaching, credit building and incentivized savings interventions into existing government programs.

“Living in San Francisco is often romanticized, people don’t understand the struggle of working a 9-5 everyday of the week but it never being enough,” says SF resident Sophia Davidson. 

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    Aaron GoodmanDec 9, 2019 at 7:13 pm

    Parkmerced’s redevelopment and SFSU’s redevelopment will only worsen the housing costs for many students faculty and staff. The purchase of UPN and UPS and the historical impacts of a revolving student body on adjacent rental properties was documented prior at NYU and Peter Cooper Stuy Town in the blog “lux-town-living”.

    Students need to realize the U.Corp and masterplanning is more of a financial cooking for the profit margins and endowments of the university to transform a prior local school to a UC type financial juggernaut ignoring their prior land grabs and development impacts.

    It takes a more in depth understanding of the prior backbone of social rental housing in SF….

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More than half of SF families are financially insecure