Vacant Units, San Francisco 2015

The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project has documented the latest American Community Study (ACS) data visualizing the staggering number of homes that are unoccupied on a consistent basis in San Francisco, CA. Each dot represents 10 homes, arranged by census tract.

2012 ACS data indicates there are 30,057 vacant homes in San Francisco. A common residents per unit calculation is 2.8 persons, meaning that the city of San Francisco has empty homes capable of housing more than 84,000 more people than it does.

According to a 2013 comprehensive report on homelessness by the city of San Francisco, one of the wealthiest cities in the richest nation in the world, contains 6,636 homeless adults and 914 homeless children and transition-age youth, totaling 7,550 homeless persons. According to Anti-Eviction Mapping Project’s previous Airbnb and VRBO map, almost 7,000 units are available for short-term rental online.

The Vacant Homes in San Francisco map yields another irony: two of the districts with the densest numbers of homeless persons also contain the most vacant homes. According to the homelessness report, census tract 6, which includes most of the Tenderloin and SOMA neighborhoods, contains over 3,000 homeless persons, as well as the highest density of vacant homes.