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News & Info News About SFCLT SF Bay Guardian May 2006
SF Bay Guardian May 2006
"21 units,
affordable forever"
Sarah Phelan
SF Bay Guardian
May 23, 2006
After eight years of stressing about being evicted from the rent-controlled Fong Building on Columbus Street, Chungyau Poon, 77, can finally relax.
On May 16, in its first deal since incorporating three years ago, the San Francisco Community Land Trust purchased the historic 21-unit building, where Poon has lived for three and a half decades in the shadow of the Transamerica Pyramid. About 50 Cantonese people, including seniors and their families, reside in the building.
The deal marks the final chapter in a saga that began in 1998, when City College planned to demolish the Fong Building to build a new campus, and ended last week, when the college sold the building to the SFCLT for $1.5 million.
Referring to the I-Hotel, which housed a Filipino community before its demolition a third of a century ago, Sup. Aaron Peskin said the Fong Building's conversion to a land trust "ensures history doesn't repeat itself."
The SFCLT's executive director, James Tracy, credits the Fong Building residents, Asian Law Caucus, Asian Neighborhood Design, Chinatown Community Development Corporation, and Board of Supervisors for making the deal possible.
Ted Gullicksen of the San Francisco Tenants Union wants the land-trust group to focus on housing that isn't already rent-controlled. But he agrees that CLTs could play a role similar to that of environmental land trusts. "Instead of preserving wetlands and wildlife, they'd be preserving housing stock at an affordable level," he said.
CCDC housing development director Susie Wong says that opportunities like the one presented by the Fong Building are "pretty rare." She adds, "All along, the Fong residents wanted to stay together. They are like a village within a building." SFBG
Sarah Phelan
SF Bay Guardian
May 23, 2006
After eight years of stressing about being evicted from the rent-controlled Fong Building on Columbus Street, Chungyau Poon, 77, can finally relax.
On May 16, in its first deal since incorporating three years ago, the San Francisco Community Land Trust purchased the historic 21-unit building, where Poon has lived for three and a half decades in the shadow of the Transamerica Pyramid. About 50 Cantonese people, including seniors and their families, reside in the building.
The way the deal will work: The trust will own the land under the building and residents will collectively own and manage the housing units. The housing will be affordable forever: If a resident wants to sell, the resale price will be limited and not subject to market forces and speculation.
The deal marks the final chapter in a saga that began in 1998, when City College planned to demolish the Fong Building to build a new campus, and ended last week, when the college sold the building to the SFCLT for $1.5 million.
Referring to the I-Hotel, which housed a Filipino community before its demolition a third of a century ago, Sup. Aaron Peskin said the Fong Building's conversion to a land trust "ensures history doesn't repeat itself."
The SFCLT's executive director, James Tracy, credits the Fong Building residents, Asian Law Caucus, Asian Neighborhood Design, Chinatown Community Development Corporation, and Board of Supervisors for making the deal possible.
Ted Gullicksen of the San Francisco Tenants Union wants the land-trust group to focus on housing that isn't already rent-controlled. But he agrees that CLTs could play a role similar to that of environmental land trusts. "Instead of preserving wetlands and wildlife, they'd be preserving housing stock at an affordable level," he said.
CCDC housing development director Susie Wong says that opportunities like the one presented by the Fong Building are "pretty rare." She adds, "All along, the Fong residents wanted to stay together. They are like a village within a building." SFBG
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