TNDC plans to evict Black family with children during a pandemic

by Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco

San Francisco – Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp. (TNDC) is moving forward with the eviction of Shawana Holmes and her children out of their Shelter Plus unit, which would directly result in the family becoming homeless. “My sister died from COVID, and I care for her three kids as well as my own in my unit. I can’t be homeless again. I can’t put my children through that,” Holmes said.

The Shelter Plus care program is designed to provide extra services to help get homeless families out of crushing poverty and back on their feet. Holmes has made multiple appeals that TNDC move her family to a different unit on a different floor to suit her family’s needs. Instead of meeting this request and others asking for on-site services that should be accessible through the Shelter Plus program, TNDC is choosing to push the family onto the street, all while the COVID-19 pandemic continues. 

“We will fight for this mother and her kids to stay housed.”

“Why are they trying to evict us when they could have just moved us,” Holmes stated. “We made several requests to move out of this building because we had money stolen from us and we were not getting along with certain staff. The staff just constantly gave me the runaround or dismissed our family’s issues as not being important.”

While SF’s COVID-19 eviction moratorium has protected many tenants from the unfair, violent and traumatic experience the Holmes family is facing, SF’s largest supportive housing providers are still evicting tenants at alarming rates. Black families have been disproportionately impacted by both the pandemic and eviction during the pandemic. 

TNDC’s eviction rates of Black residents are a prime example of this racial disparity. In Shawanna Holmes’s case, TNDC had an opportunity to address the family’s issues early on, but they refused to provide supportive resources and are now moving forward with the eviction scheduled for April 21. 

The Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco (HRCSF) has also made multiple attempts urging TNDC to drop the eviction because everyone has a right to roof, and this family’s hardship will only be exacerbated by becoming homeless. HRCSF will continue organizing with the tenants and others across the city to stop the eviction. 

“We will fight for this mother and her kids to stay housed,” said Maria Zamudio with HRCSF. “The Holmes family should simply be moved to a unit that better suits their needs and receive the necessary on-site supportive services that TNDC should be providing.”

To learn more, contact Maria Zamudio, organizing director, Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco, at [email protected], or Sulaiman Hyatt, also of HRCSF, at [email protected].

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