Tenderloin Nuns Get Reprieve From 50-Percent Rent Hike
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- A couple of nuns dedicating their lives to helping the homeless in San Francisco's Tenderloin District are facing eviction, saying they can't afford to pay a proposed 50-percent rent hike.
Luckily, there was late word Monday evening of news that could keep the nuns from being kicked out.
On what once was among the most drug infested streets in the city's grittiest neighborhood, residents who choose to be here are hoping they have a prayer of staying put.
While one of the nuns of the order of the Fraternite Notre Dame told KPIX 5 "The owner of the building is kicking us out," that's not entirely true.
The nuns have served food out of this dingy soup kitchen for 8 years, preparing food leftover from restaurants and banquets to the hungry of the neighborhood.
They also go out to other parts of the city.
The landlord says they can stay, if they can pay a 50 percent rent increase to $5,500 dollars a month.
That's the going rate now in the Tenderloin.
"But you have to think to the other people. The people who are suffering and struggling on the street," said Sister Mary Benedict. "You have to make money, you can make money, but you have to help the poor people. So you have to find the right balance."
That's hard in a gentrifying neighborhood. Even in the Tenderloin the homeless are starting to get pushed out.
"I don't know what I'd do without them," said neighborhood resident Princess Johnson. "They're just so nice. And they cook free food for the homeless."
There are plenty of other places to go in the neighborhood, though lines are longer.
The story here is that yet another non-profit could soon be priced out of a gentrifying San Francisco.
KPIX 5 spoke with the landlords attorney on Monday who said that the rent increase has been temporarily been put on hold and that they planned to meet with the nuns on Thursday.
While the meeting was news to the nuns when KPIX 5 told them, they said that it was good news. They also said they would like a new church and a new kitchen that they can continue to serve the poor from.
They are concerned the poor may not be welcome in the Tenderloin neighborhood for very much longer.
