Although this crisis affects both working-class and middle-class layers, it hits working people, the elderly, and students the hardest.

Christina Medalie, a 46-year-old single mother, told the San Francisco Chronicle, "I did everything I was supposed to do. I worked. I paid the rent. I paid the bills. When it comes to that point and I still end up in a shelter there is something very wrong." Medalie was kicked out of her apartment so her landlord could move in. She spent months looking for a new place that would accept her federal Section 8 voucher.

Section 8 vouchers expire in four to six months. Last June only 37 percent of voucher recipients in neighboring Oakland could find housing before they expired. This is compared to 73 percent in June 1998. In San Francisco, two out of three vouchers expire before they can be used. Section 8 housing serves about 3 million households nationwide.

Most workers are finding it hard to find affordable housing close to where they work.

Tammy Lopez was living in Union City, a 45-minute drive from San Francisco, until her rent was raised from $1,433 a month to $2,300. She can't afford to move any further from the city because her husband has built up seniority at a trucking company there and would take a pay cut to start a new job. For now, like most working people, they are living with six relatives in a three-bedroom apartment in San Francisco.

At a March 9 Militant Labor Forum, Kendra Wilson, 26, spoke about the unjust treatment she's facing from her landlord. The roof of her apartment building had blown off during a wind storm last October. The landlord hadn't fixed the roof before it started to rain a few days later. Water caved the ceiling in, causing damage to Wilson's apartment and those of two other tenants.

Wilson and the other tenants finally called a local television news station, which covered the story. The landlord then changed the locks and warned them to not step foot on his property. "The apartments have been fixed up and rented for $950 per month. I was paying $625," said Wilson, who now lives with her mother.

Wilson and the other tenants from her building have called a housing protest for April 26 at noon in Oakland. "I think it's important to speak out and educate. What was done to us was unfair. If we don't say anything about it, it means it will happen to more people. I hope more people learn what's happening so they can act on it, to stop it," said Wilson in an interview after the forum.

One forum participant who just moved to the area explained how he stopped by a gas station, and ended up talking to the mechanic about housing. The mechanic pointed to the back corner of the room where his bedding was rolled up, and said that's where he sleeps.

Sarah Katz is a garment worker and member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees.  
 
 
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