We Brought Our Housing Report to the 465 Collective!
By Priya Prabhakar | April 3, 2026
On Thursday, March 12, REP-SF members Joseph Smooke and Priya Prabhakar of People Power Media joined the Reading Club at 465 Collective – part of Thursdays are for Queers and Comrades, a recurring series that co-creates space for trans, nonbinary, and queer communities, creativity, and organizing in San Francisco.
We brought the Key Findings of People Power Media’s recent report, Who Is San Francisco Building For?
Key Finding 1: The City is over-building housing most San Franciscans cannot afford.
Key Finding 2: People of Color Neighborhoods and low-income communities, and people who work in San Francisco, especially minimum wage workers and essential workers, cannot afford the housing being built.
Key Finding 3: Development and gentrification in all areas of San Francisco, including the western and central parts of the City.
Key Finding 4: The neighborhoods in the east side of San Francisco experience the most development and gentrification.
We were joined by folks from various walks of life, all with their own experiences living in San Francisco and a shared interest in understanding the housing crisis. After collectively reading the Key Findings, participants reflected that the crisis is nothing new – the City has been in a constant cycle of incentivizing land speculation and displacing its most vulnerable communities since the 1800s. From that history, one question began our discussion: Why is it so hard to build affordable housing?
Our conversation highlighted the regulatory, financial, and political obstacles that stand in the way – obstacles rooted in a housing economy that prioritizes profit over people’s needs. We discussed the lack of political will to act against the interests of for-profit developers and landlords, the consistent failure to enforce incentives like state density bonuses and legislative subsidies, and how growing privatization has eroded access to public amenities like trash cans and bathrooms – hitting houseless residents the hardest. Even as basic needs go unmet through disinvestment, millions of dollars continue to fund policing and carceral “solutions.” Participants also named the deepening alignment between YIMBYs, City government, and the billionaire class. One participant said: “The powers that be in the banks and political leadership don’t want housing to be affordable here in San Francisco.”
“The powers that be in the banks and political leadership don’t want housing to be affordable here in San Francisco.”
Participants also reflected on how we can put PPM’s housing report to work in community organizing and advocacy through REP-SF. Over the past few years, we’ve been exploring how the report can support a legal argument demonstrating that the City and the State are in violation of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) mandate. It also strengthens our narrative strategy – pushing back against YIMBY talking points that rely on the dangerous myth of trickle-down economics as a fix for the housing crisis.
The Key Findings also provoked participants to share personal experiences navigating housing in San Francisco, ask questions rooted in a genuine desire to learn more, and express interest in getting involved with REP-SF’s advocacy work. Thank you to the 465 Collective for giving us the space and time to co-learn!
