Randy Shaw

Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw's latest book is Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. He is the author of four prior books on activism, including The Activist's Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. He is also the author of The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco

Articles by Randy Shaw

Coronavirus Creates Openings for Affordable Housing

Posted March 31, 2020 by Randy Shaw

Nonprofits Must Seize on Weakened Private Market The coronavirus did not end the urban affordability crisis. To the contrary, it is only a matter of time before urban America’s restaurants, bars, hotels and entertainment venues are filled and pre-pandemic housing
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SF should shift Tenderloin tents to Civic Center Park

San Francisco Endangers Tenderloin Residents

Posted March 31, 2020 by Randy Shaw

City Intentionally Increases Tenderloin Coronavirus Risks There were 232 tents in San Francisco’s Tenderloin yesterday morning. That’s by design. The city is converting the working-class neighborhood into a containment zone for drug dealers and the unhoused. That’s why Tenderloin residents
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Will the Coronavirus Help End Homelessness?

Posted March 24, 2020 by Randy Shaw

Stimulus Package May Signal Political Shift Few thought it would take a pandemic to get the United States to finally end its homelessness crisis. Yet there has been more talk in recent weeks about getting people out of encampments and
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City Ignores Lack of Social Distancing in Tenderloin

Posted March 24, 2020 by Randy Shaw

City Not Enforcing Social Distancing I recently wrote about my forty years working to improve San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood (“After 40 years the Tenderloin at Another Crossroads,” SF Chronicle, February 23). I particularly highlighted how the city has long allowed
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America Must End No-Fault Evictions

Posted March 17, 2020 by Randy Shaw

Protecting Tenants Beyond Pandemics Cities and states are blocking evictions during the coronavirus. And Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley have called for a national moratorium on evictions during the pandemic. Such concern is heartening. But it shouldn’t take a
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Government Must Rescue Small Businesses

Posted March 17, 2020 by Randy Shaw

Cities, States Must Cover Small Business Rents Even before states and cities urged or required the closure of bars and restaurants, the coronavirus was decimating revenue. In California, State Senators Scott Wiener and Lena Gonzalez introduced legislation last week preventing
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Toronto: A Housing Model for Urban America?

Posted March 10, 2020 by Randy Shaw

Maximizing Affordability on City-Owned Lands I am often asked which high-housing city does the best job addressing its housing crisis. I usually cite Seattle. As I describe in Generation Priced Out, Seattle is best at building housing and has implemented
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UC Fires Grad Students Unable to Afford Rent

Posted March 10, 2020 by Randy Shaw

Why Aren’t CA Political Leaders Protecting Workers? On February 28, while California activists were focused on the March 3 elections, the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) fired 85 graduate students striking for higher wages. It was the first student
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