Programs


San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly joins owner Mike Amin along with tenants and advocates to celebrate the completion of repairs at the Baldwin House Hotel after a devastating fire

Code Enforcement Campaigns

Because there is nowhere else for low- and fixed-income tenants to go, many hotels can neglect repairs and maintenance while still turning a profit. To combat this, the Central City SRO Collaborative has helped tenants organize to win numerous code enforcement campaigns to force SRO hotels to follow city health and building codes for safety and habitability.


Community Campaigns

Our tenant representatives from different hotels work together to improve their neighborhoods and fight for more and better housing for low- and fixed-income tenants. See Central City SRO Collaborative Victories for more information on specific campaigns we have worked on.


Tenants gather to put a stop to fires in SROs on Sixth St.





Hotel residents Samuel "Shorty" Lagasca and Junebug speak out about the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund

Organizing Skills Trainings

We teach hotel residents basic organizing skills so that they can organize to empower themselves and their communities. Topics include how to plan a campaign, how to get more people involved, how to speak in public and talk to the media, and much more.


Fire Safety Workshops

Since 1988, over 1500 residential hotel units have been lost to fire in San Francisco. We sponsor free workshops with the SF Fire Department that give hotel tenants and managers the knowledge they need to prevent fires, survive them, and minimize their impact.


The Alder Hotel after a fire burned several rooms


DOPE Harm Reduction Workshops
The Central City SRO Collaborative has partnered with the DOPE (Drug Overdose Prevention and Education) Project to provide free harm reduction workshops in SRO Hotels in the Tenderloin and South of Market. These workshops have saved lives by giving tenants the training and resources they need to react appropriately if a neighbor or friend overdoses..




Tenants learn how to avoid hazards at a Safety Monitoring Workshop

Safety Monitoring Workshops

We regularly offer workshops to train SRO tenants in basic safety and prevention techniques so that they can monitor their hotels for safety hazards. Topics have included fire and earthquake safety, drug overdose prevention, health and safety hazards in hotels, and crime prevention.



Annual Hotel Tenant Conventions

On October 23, 2002, we held our first ever Hotel Tenants Convention. Planned by tenants and for tenants, over 150 residents attended from over 50 hotels. On October 29, 2003, we held our second Hotel Tenants Convention. This time, over 300 tenants from 100 hotels attended. The conventions included workshops on tenants rights, the history of residential hotels in San Francisco, and neighborhood resources. Tenants also get a chance to work in small groups to discuss the most pressing problems facing hotel residents and brainstorm some solutions. Annual conventions will be held each year in the fall.


Tenants learn about their rights and plan for improvements in their hotels at the first annual Hotel Tenant Convention



Hotel tenants and community members attend a candidate's forum in the Tenderloin

Civic Involvement
We organize voter registration drives in residential hotels and sponsor candidate forums in for hotel tenants to learn about the issues in upcoming elections as well as to voice their concerns to their future representatives.

 

 

 

Tenant Congress

The Central City SRO Collaborative worked with various tenants' rights groups, including the Tenants Union and St. Peters Housing Committee to put on a series of three city-wide Tenant Congresses over the last three years. The April, 2004 Tenant Congress was attended by 140 tenants and activists from all over San Francisco. The congress voted to endorse a plan to change the structure and selection process of the Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board's commission.

 

 

Tenants from all over San Francisco gather at the Tenant Congress to discuss structural problems with the Rent Board

 

 

ULTS outreach flyer

Universal Lifeline Telephone Service

The Central City SRO Collaborative made improving access to low-cost telephone service a major part of its program in 2003 and 2004. The Collaborative got a grant and became a Community Based Organization (CBO) with the state's Universal Lifeline Telephone Service Program. As a CBO, the Collaborative got phones for more people who previously did not have them than any other CBO in the state.

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