San Francisco Public Press (https://www.sfpublicpress.org/author/liz-enochs/)
Liz Enochs is an award-winning journalist with more than two decades of experience, including a dozen years covering business, finance and economics, plus more than a half-decade supervising teams in the production of high-quality editorial content. Her experience includes work as managing editor at GreenBiz, where she was instrumental in improving editorial quality and boosting traffic to the website. Enochs also led the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for two-and-a-half years.
City officials advised San Francisco residents to stay indoors wherever possible with the windows shut to protect against smoke from wildfires that has blanketed the region. On Wednesday afternoon, air quality was designated as unhealthy, though it has fluctuated. If smoke pollution deteriorates air quality to “very unhealthy,” the city will open respite centers, officials said in a press conference.
San Francisco plans to close all public schools for three weeks as a containment measure against the coronavirus pandemic, according to Mark Sanchez, president of the San Francisco Unified School District board.
Is an abundance of vacant units worsening the Bay Area’s housing crisis? That’s what some politicians have suggested. Their solution: a new tax on landlords who leave residential and commercial properties unrented. Oakland will vote in November and an S.F. measure is being planned for 2019. Vancouver, Melbourne and Paris already levy such taxes.
Last year, Portland lawmakers approved a surtax on companies with high CEO-to-worker pay ratios and dedicated the revenue to homeless services. Will the San Francisco Board of Supervisors follow suit?
City residents, advocates and experts gathered at “Hack the Housing Crisis” to come up with ways to make San Francisco more affordable and create space for new tenants. Possible solutions included building portable houses and creating social media websites where renters and landlords could connect. Part of a special report on solutions for housing affordability.
San Francisco has become the epicenter of the Bay Area’s affordability crisis, with high-tech corporations moving in, rents climbing skyward, and despair and evictions sweeping through long-established but lower-income communities. Yet for the sold-out crowd of 140 housing-policy visionaries, advocates, experts and activists at Hack the Housing Crisis, San Francisco’s struggle to house its citizens is an opportunity to build a better city for all. Part of a special report on solutions for housing affordability.
