by Jordan Wasilewski
As of mid-October this year, I have been stably housed in San Francisco for 10 years. For the first time in my adult life, I became a tenant with my name on the lease and am living alone, instead of subletting with others.
That was also my 10th anniversary in permanent supportive housing, my 10th anniversary in a single-resident occupancy hotel, and also my 10th anniversary of permanent supportive housing and SRO activism. I became an activist because I realized PSH in San Francisco is a total shitshow.
When I first went into a PSH/SRO in October 2015, I immediately learned about all the unjust policies, such as tenants paying over half their already low incomes towards rent, having to live in a box in the Tenderloin, the inspections that seem to be about anything but health and safety, arbitrarily evicting tenants for missing a spot, the corruption of the SRO collaboratives, and having to navigate common bathrooms. And to top it all off, each floor of the first SRO I lived in had single-use water closets and toilet rooms that were gender-specific—something I couldn’t endure as a trans woman.
At the beginning of 2016, fortune started to smile upon me. I got a room with an in-unit bathroom, and I began my involvement with housing activism in the Mission. I spent the year by going to government meetings, advocating for homeless people, building relationships and community, and just learning the lay of the land. By my one-year anniversary, in October 2016, I had scored a victory when the common bathrooms in my building were made gender-neutral. Lessons learned: start small and work your way up and that your early days in advocacy are a time to listen. With that said, sometimes you need to carve out your own niche.
By my 2-year anniversary, I had done something that surprised me: I was appointed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors to the SRO Task Force. I never thought in my life I would serve on a commission. At my second meeting, I introduced a motion to recommend the Supervisors into expanding the gender-neutral restroom ordinance to common bathrooms in SROs. The motion passed, and then-Supervisor Hillary Ronen started drafting it. Lessons learned: The good thing about serving on a commission is that you learn a lot about city government. The bad thing? The same.
Three years in around October 2018, I was continuing my work on the commission. Mayor Mark Farrell had signed the all-gender restroom ordinance on Valentine’s Day. I was fulfilling my duty as an advisory commissioner, which besides pushing policy and legislation, but also reacting to such and making sure that tenants in SROs were being adequately served. I had many ups and downs, but I also was busy helping to get the homelessness measure Proposition C passed— fun fact: I signed a pro-Prop. C ballot argument and campaigned for Matt Haney to be elected as a Supervisor. Lesson learned: build relationships, because those will come in handy later on.
By year 4 in October 2019, a lot had happened. I spent my last year on the commission advocating for what would become #30RightNow, which would cap permanent supportive housing tenants’ rent at 30%. I went on a hunger strike earlier that summer, which got me on Page One of the Examiner, passed the rental cap by a small margin at the SRO Task Force, won $1 million in the city budget to begin getting rents down, and Supervisor Haney committed to legislation. In other news, I also started talking to the Department of Public Health about how the lack of SRO restrooms complicates trans people’s recovery from gender confirmation surgery. Lessons learned: Seize the moment. Also, there is a whole life after serving on a commission, and passing a resolution is only the beginning.
By October 2020, with five years under my belt, around 700 tenants benefited from their rent reduction to 30% of their income from the previous year’s allocation after Senior & Disability Action raided the mayor’s office to get it funded in early March of 2020. Still, after continuing to build a coalition, on October 20, Supervisor Haney introduced the legislation, and it would pass the Budget & Finance Committee after 80 people spoke in support during public comment. All of this, during the darkest days of the pandemic. The Board of Supervisors later passed it unanimously, then Mayor London Breed signed it. I also started writing for Street Sheet that year. Lessons learned: Sometimes crises can lead to opportunities and paradigm shifts (i.e.: maybe SROs with shared bathrooms are not the best response to homelessness after seeing COVID’s impacts on us tenants).
By October 2021, after six years, my rent and the rents of most of the remaining permanent supportive housing tenants went down to 30%. Even though it passed earlier that year, it was still a fight to get it implemented in a timely manner. One day before we were scheduled for a City Hall protest, the mayor finally announced its funding. Success! On a personal note, only a few days after my rent reduction, I moved into a step-up building, and after seeing the measure’s implementation in December, , I was able to focus on my vaginoplasty the following month. Lessons learned: Grit may be the most important part of a campaign. Also, you haven’t lived until you make Sunshine Ordinance requests to the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) from your hospital bed after major surgery.
By October 2022—on the seventh year—with the pandemic mostly passed, I got my mermaid surgery early that year and settled into normal with the rest of the world. I met with PSH tenants in New York City who successfully pushed for legislation protecting their rights. Also, with #30RightNow in the rearview mirror, I was wondering what was next. The year was filled with responding to the San Francisco Chronicle’s expose on PSH and trying to get tenants behind a vision. Eventually, Dean Preston agreed to sponsor a Supervisors’ hearing on evictions in permanent supportive housing. Lessons learned: Process can be messy, and even when it’s for a worthy cause, some people exploit crises for their own gain.
By October 2023—eight years hence—the hearing had been held. While HSH made some policy recommendations for non-payment evictions, not much has been done on them. In August, some of us had presented at the Homelessness Oversight Commission around this issue. However, Housing First started seeing backlash, as did our rights, which continues to this day. Lessons learned: Messaging is key. Find the stakeholders you need, not just the ones you want. While it’s hard to herd cats, when you successfully herd them, you are rewarded.
By October 2024, after nine years, I started to disengage and feel disillusioned by some of the toxic conversations that had been happening around drugs and permanent supportive housing, this time with a more conservative Board of Supervisors. I needed to engage in self-care, take a step back and fade into the background as a writer, which sometimes is a good thing. This October, just before my 10-year anniversary of being a PSH tenant activist, I wrote a piece in 48 Hills in reaction to a bad piece of sober housing legislation. Maybe I will come back to activism, who knows?
As I reflect back on these 10 years, there have been many achievements, but also there were many lows, many lessons learned, some moments where I’ve had to really apologize to people and rebuild trust, several pieces of bad news and missed opportunities. However, in a world where there are crises seemingly every day, I think about how staying on message and having a positive vision is needed to combat demagoguery is more important than ever.
I am for Housing First and harm reduction. I am for policies that balance autonomy with health and safety. I am for policies that are thoughtfully and rationally crafted by and for the community as opposed to demagogues and grifters. I am for recovery housing, but also open to shifting paradigms in non-sober housing that cause relapse. Having an apartment with a fridge and stove in an outer neighborhood may be more conducive to recovery than a Sword of Damocles over the heads of residents in the Tenderloin, South of Market and the Mission.
Lastly, I wanted to say that I have never been honored by any organization or any government entity for what I have done, even as I have made a difference. That is OK, as I was never in it for the glory. But, if you were touched by my activism, or if you are a permanent supportive housing tenant who had their rents reduced, or if you want to be an activist partner, please ping me. I don’t know if I have 10 more years, but I want to say that my ethic around advocacy for permanent supportive housing is that I want this to be about all of us and to make lasting change. As Bernie Sanders said, “Not Me, Us”.
Jordan Wasilewski (vash-uh-LEV-ski) (she/they) is a long time permanent supportive housing tenant activist who can be reached at jodav1026@gmail.com
