Tenderloin fire displaces 46 residents from low-income housing building

Smoke and flames forced 46 people out of a six-story low-income housing building at 285 Turk Street in the Tenderloin, turning a few hours of fire response into an immediate housing crisis for adults, children and pets in one of San Francisco’s most crowded neighborhoods.

San Francisco firefighters first got calls about the fire at about 11:14 p.m. on May 12. The blaze began around 12:30 a.m. in a second-floor light well and moved vertically through the building to the roof, prompting a two-alarm response, Lt. Mariano Elias said. No injuries were reported, but 41 adults, five minors and three dogs were displaced, and 15 units were left temporarily uninhabitable.

The building is owned by the San Francisco Community Land Trust, which acquired 285 Turk Street in January 2022 for $9.4 million to preserve 40 affordable homes in the Tenderloin. The nonprofit had planned to convert the property into a limited-equity housing cooperative, a model meant to keep homes affordable over the long term. Instead, the fire has forced residents to scramble for a place to sleep, along with medication, clothes, child care and other basics that can disappear in one night when a low-income building is taken offline.

The American Red Cross and San Francisco emergency response teams helped transport residents to temporary shelters overnight. That immediate help matters in a neighborhood where many households have little cash on hand and few backup options. Even without injuries, a fire in a building like this can quickly become a broader stability problem, pushing families into emergency placements while trying to keep work, school and caregiving routines intact.

The fire also tests the city’s affordable-housing safety net. San Francisco’s Good Samaritan tenancy rules can allow displaced tenants to rent a temporary replacement unit at reduced rent after a qualifying emergency such as a fire. The city’s Displaced Tenant Housing Preference can also give fire-displaced tenants priority in affordable housing lotteries. Those tools matter most when a building full of permanently affordable homes suddenly goes dark.

For the Tenderloin, the larger question is whether other dense, older low-income buildings are just as exposed. A fire that raced through a light well at 285 Turk Street has already shown how quickly one emergency can unsettle dozens of lives, and how thin the margin can be when San Francisco’s affordable housing stock is pushed out of service.