The Tenderloin District

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed almost all the of the Tenderloin, although the area didn’t appear as the Tenderloin (the TL) on any map before sometime in the 1930s.

By the 20’s it was the place to be for gambling, booze, sex, and pretty much any other kind of entertainment or distraction you might be looking for. It was the haunt of Dashiell Hammett’s private-eye, Sam Spade. Despite that the TL has been an downtown residential area since before the gold rush in 1949.

Between the end of

World War Two and the Vietnam War, the TL the vacancy rate rose sharply as central cities declined with the advent of union wages, shopping malls, freeways, and new housing developments. In the late 70’s the cheap vacancies began to fill with refugees from SE Asia. The housing stock of primarily single room apartments began to fill with families of four and five people. The child population increased dramatically and eventually the cheap rents attracted those on fixed incomes: seniors, the disabled and the formally incarcerated.

Population about 28,000

Made by direct observation of people and tents on the street, and those in emergency shelters and temporary housing, the “Point in Time” (PIT) count of the unhoused does not include Family Homelessness, which includes families with children living in SROs.

According to the 2022 Tenderloin PIT count, there were:

1896: Sheltered

1952: Unsheltered

3848: Total