Meet The Real People Being Affected And Displaced By San Francisco's Housing Crisis

As startups are moving in, longtime residents are being evicted at higher rates than ever before.

As part of their series "You Can’t Go Home Again,” TechCrunch teamed up with Stateless Media to create this 11-minute mini-documentary humanizing the current housing shortage in the City by the Bay.

Tech Crunch + Stateless Media / Via youtube.com

TechCrunch + BuzzFeed / Via youtube.com

The cast of characters give a diverse range of the types of people being affected by the housing crisis in San Francisco. But as filmmaker Peter Savodnik told TechCrunch, "All our characters were sympathetic; all of them wanted good or reasonable things. But none of them really understood the other people in the movie, not because they didn't want to but because, like everyone, they were busy or unaware."

The Startup Bros

TechCrunch / Via youtube.com

"I think from non-tech people, there's a sort of a perceived arrogance from Google or tech people, cluelessness that shows up as arrogance. But I don't think that about Google. I have friends that work there, and I think most people that work there think they're doing good. I mean, their motto is 'Don't Be Evil'"

The Longtime San Francisco Resident

TechCrunch / Via youtube.com

"I've been rooted here since 1977. I have a lot of history here ... They come in there and say, 'OK, I've got the money, you don't got the money, get out.' To me, that's this mind-set of 'I'm better than you.'"

The Old-School Artist Being Forced To Leave Her Home

TechCrunch / Via youtube.com

"I have 60 days — less than 60 days — to get all this shit together and put it in storage ... It feels like I've given in, almost, that I'm kind of like, OK, take it over. Become a boutique town."

The Angry Activist

TechCrunch / Via youtube.com

"There are less taquerias and corner stores and more fancy coffee spots and wine bars. And this is a Latino neighborhood but there are fewer and fewer Latino families here, and more and more folks who don't even work in the city."

As this diverse cast of characters makes evident, people from different backgrounds see what's going on in San Francisco in various different lights. It's a nuanced issued, but with eviction rates up 38% from 2010 to 2013 — does anyone win?