For years, several units along the Great Highway in San Francisco were uninhabitable.
Wanda Coleman, a resident at the San Francisco Housing Authority’s “Scattered Sites” for the past three decades, recalls many challenges that made daily life difficult for her. The stairs had no support, giant holes allowed free range for rodents, insects and other unwelcome guests — water damage was visible on the walls.
After numerous calls and low-quality repairs Ms. Coleman grew hopeless. She didn’t want friends or family to visit.
“I didn’t want to sit outside,” Coleman said. “I kept the outside and inside clean to the best of my ability, but when you don’t have any support it’s really hard.”
For Wanda, 2022 was the year she gained the support she prayed for. Mission Housing got to work, acquiring five sites across the City, including the one along the Great Highway that housed Coleman and her family.
In a concert of events, that included the relocation of all the tenants across fives sites and almost 70 units, Mission Housing breathed new life into the buildings – tearing down the old, uninhabitable units and preserving them with complete rehabilitations.
“I really thank Mission Housing for all their support,” Ms. Coleman said. “I really think I would not have made it without [their] support.”
The rehabilitation of Ms. Coleman’s home and the others in the New Map portfolio took a village. Each team poured time, labor and passion into achieving what Ms. Coleman finds to be more than just some new appliances and a quartet of walls with fresh paint.
“I don’t call this a home, I don’t call this a house, I call this my mansion,” she said.