'Earthquake Shacks' Built In 1906 Aftermath May Provide Lessons For San Francisco Housing Woes
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Monday marked the 116th anniversary of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, and while a mighty city has risen from those ashes, some remnants of that time have survived and may hold lessons for the housing problems we face today.
You'll find them in all parts of the city. They're usually the smallest home on the block but they represent a big part of San Francisco's past. After the earthquake and fire wiped out most of the city, it faced a catastrophic housing crisis. Homeless people were living in tents on the streets and officials were desperately looking for places for them to live. Sound familiar?
But back then, they took a much more practical approach to the problem.
"They came up with a plan to build cookie-cutter cottages that were very inexpensive that they could get build quickly, place them quickly and get people housed so that the city could start rebuilding," said Bernal Heights resident John Blackburn.
They were called "earthquake shacks," simple one or two-room structures that were placed in large camps for lower-income residents and workers to live in. Blackburn has spent years researching them and is inspired by what they represented.
"They were created when people worked together," he said. "They served a purpose, they provided affordable housing to people who could not afford a house. And they actually started neighborhoods and brought communities together. And what more can you ask? I wish we could do that today."
When the camps disbanded, many of the shacks were hauled by horse to Bernal Heights, which was mostly open land, and a parcel could be purchased for $5. But some shacks were taken to other neighborhoods, where they faced stiff opposition, which Blackburn said was the birth of San Francisco's NIMBY attitude.
Some of the old shacks still exist today, although it can be hard to recognize them. Most have had rooms added on. But the old bones are still there, and the one Ross Inden bought gives him a different perspective on life.
"The thing I like about it is, maybe it helps us revisit what our priorities are in this world that we're living in. And how much do we really need?" said shack owner Ross Inden.
San Francisco is once again experiencing a housing crisis but building codes and legal mandates are making it difficult to make progress. So, do the quake shacks hold a lesson for us? Blackburn thinks it's about not letting the rules get in the way of solving a problem.
"They didn't have to think about what they couldn't do. They thought about what they needed to do," said Blackburn. "And that's a big difference."
