Brightline Podcast Mini-Episode 1

Mini-Episode 1: Reggie Reed

Caption:. In this bonus episode, we spotlight the work of SRO tenant organizer Reggie Reed. We’ll hear about the Central City SRO Collaborative’s fight for tenants’ rights, wildfire air quality surveying efforts, and the need for a holistic approach to housing in San Francisco.

Transcript:

REGGIE: This is America. Everybody deserves to have decent air quality. Everybody deserves to have fresh air when they’re in their house. Everybody.

AUBREY : This is The Brightline Podcast from Brightline Defense. We explore environmental justice issues, or EJ issues, in the broader Bay Area, highlighting the work of community-based organizations, including our own. My name’s Aubrey. Today, we have a special new kind of episode for you guys. Between some of our long-form episodes, we’ll be bringing you bonus content featuring the story of a single community organizer doing amazing EJ work right now, on the ground. I’ll let our first incredible guest introduce himself.

REGGIE: My name is Reggie Reed. I am a private tenant organizer here with the Central City SRO Collaborative.

AUBREY: If you listened to the last episode of the Brightline Podcast, “80 Square Feet of Chinatown,” you’ll recognize the term SRO.

REGGIE: Well SRO stands for Single Room Occupancy. And it is just that. It is a single room with a bed and a sink.

AUBREY: Before moving into one of San Francisco’s 500 or so SRO hotels, Reggie’s housing situation was precarious.

REGGIE: I was living in a homeless shelter. It’s almost like a lottery system. You stay in the shelter for a few months and then eventually your number will come up and they’ll put you in one of these SROS. And that’s what happened to me.

Actually I’m currently living in an SRO. I’m very blessed and very fortunate- I live in one of the nicer SROs. It’s very big, and because I’ve been doing it for a few years, I have everything I need in my room: I got an air fryer, crock pot, George Foreman grill, microwave, toaster oven toaster. In fact I’m gonna cook a lasagna tonight.

AUBREY: After moving into an SRO in 2011, Reggie saw the difficulties that many other tenants faced trying to access basic amenities.

REGGIE: It happens frequently that the landlords, they don’t wanna fix nothing. In fact, one building I’m working on Post Street, they got new ownership, and they took away a lot of the services they had previously. In terms of the Dish network, the wifi, the community kitchen, and they’re still charging them the full amount of rent. And that’s illegal.

AUBREY: This is where the Central City SRO Collaborative steps in.

REGGIE: We are advocates for people who live in SROs and low income housing. If they’re having a problem with the management. Like the plumbing’s not working and the manager isn’t doing anything about it. Well you come to us. We will file a complaint with the department of building inspection. We’ll file a complaint with the rent board. Just because it’s an SRO, you still have tenant rights.

AUBREY: As a tenant and organizer, Reggie noticed another major problem affecting SROs.

REGGIE: I stayed in an SRO where I got very little air quality. I didn’t have any type of ventilation coming into my room. During the wildfires that we had last year, you remember how bad the air quality got? I mean, it got bad for weeks on end. So we were doing air quality surveys here in the Tenderloin and South of Market in the low income areas.

AUBREY: Along with members of the Brightline Team, Reggie went door to door documenting the air quality problems inside SROs. At first, residents were hesitant to talk with him.

REGGIE: Once people see that you’re genuinely concerned about them, then they start opening up, telling you how they got asthma, they got COPD. And a lot of the things I learned, just confirmed what I already knew. Most of the areas that had the worst air quality were in the poor neighborhoods. And, this is America. Everybody deserves to have decent air quality. Everybody deserves to have fresh air when they’re in their house. Everybody. You’re punishing people for being poor.

[music]

AUBREY: In our last episode, we talked about how environmental justice isn’t just about nature, but also human environments as well. But Reggie challenges us to think even more expansively about what EJ community work can encompass. For him, building maintenance and air quality can’t be untangled from issues like mental health and housing equity.

REGGIE: A lot of the tenants have mental health issues. And most, if not all, have been homeless. It’s a little deeper than just giving someone a key, and then just “see ya!” You need to address the reasons why they were homeless in the first place. Because what happens is, a lot of people I know from the homeless shelter I was in years ago, they right back out there in the street. They end up getting evicted because of the problems they have…you don’t address the underlining conditions, it’s just like putting a bandaid on someone who needs open heart surgery. And that’s not gonna solve the problem.

[music]

AUBREY: This episode was written and produced by me, Aubrey Calaway. with additional help from Daniela Cortes and Cecilia Mejia. Original music by Maya Glicksman with additional help from Daniela Cortes and Cecilia Mejia. Thank you to Eddie Ahn for support on research and writing, and to Reggie Reed for sharing his insights and story.

For more information about Brightline, you can visit our website at BrightlineDefense.org or on social media @brightlinedefense. You can also find a transcript of this episode on our Medium Blog. To learn more about the Central City S.R.O Collaborative, check out their website at ccsroc.net.

And finally, don’t forget to give us a follow and leave a review if you enjoyed the show. We are so excited to continue exploring Bay Area environmental justice issues with you, so please stay tuned for more from us, wherever you get your podcasts. Take care.