Good afternoon!

Annika Hom writes an excellent piece today that makes clear how for-profit companies make money off subsidized housing. The financing is so attractive that often the companies can make money and keep tenants happy with well-maintained apartments.

When the financing fails to materialize, the company continues to make money off rental income, but the tenants remain in unmaintained units.  

This was a tough story to report and write, but Annika does a beautiful job of making a complex story an easy, enjoyable read.

David Mamaril Horowitz is following a story on a teacher walkout to protest the ongoing payroll fiasco.

And we have the Covid tracker and neighborhood notes. Stay tuned today for our coverage of Día de los Muertos!

Enjoy,

Lydia

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Part II: Multibillion-dollar company delays Hunters Point housing renovation, cites lack of funds

If the renovation plans “got messed up when the state stopped doing this financing, too bad. You need to do the work,” Rubenzahl said. “Real estate is big-risk, big-reward.”

SF educators hold unsanctioned walkout ahead of payroll debacle protest (UPDATE)

UPDATE AT 1:12 p.m.: At Sanchez Elementary, there are around two teachers compared to the usual 12 or 14, said Mirna Cheek, a paraeducator at the school. 

Covid-19 Tracker: It’s the politics, stupid

Recorded infections and positivity rates appear to be falling while hospitalizations remain mostly flat. Wastewater monitoring has also shown the virus ebbing and R Number models are mostly down.

Neighborhood Notes: Día de los Muertos, fall open studios, dancing

Election Day is one week away. And there’s lots to do.

SNAP

Front of paneria with sign for pan de muerto

Feliz Día de Los Muertos!

By Walter Mackins

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I’ve been a Mission resident since 1998 and a professor emeritus at Berkeley’s J-school since 2019. I got my start in newspapers at the Albuquerque Tribune in the city where I was born and raised. Like many local news outlets, The Tribune no longer exists. I left daily newspapers after working at The New York Times for the business, foreign and city desks. Lucky for all of us, it is still here.

As an old friend once pointed out, local has long been in my bones. My Master’s Project at Columbia, later published in New York Magazine, was on New York City’s experiment in community boards.

As founder and an editor at ML, I've been trying to figure out how to make my interest in local news sustainable. If Mission Local is a model, the answer might be that you - the readers - reward steady and smart content. As a thank you for that support we work every day to make our content even better.