Dozens of San Francisco residents, displaced after their high rise flooded over a year ago, got some bad news this week: those waiting to move back in will have to wait until next year at the earliest.
“My initial reaction is definitely ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’” said Austin Caldwell.
When it comes to returning to 33 Tehama, a luxury high-rise that he used to call home, Caldwell said it feels like the goal post keeps moving.
He was one of the residents displaced from the South of Market building in June 2022 when it flooded.
“I had stability in my life,” Caldwell said, “and the uncertainty and, honestly, the mayhem that that flooding caused in 2022 — it caused the big part of it, the downfall in my relationship. It changed my life.”
Caldwell said his decision to move on was reaffirmed after learning that residents who still want to return got a letter this week, letting them know that they’ll be waiting even longer.
A spokesperson for the developer Hines, Sam Singer, said the delay is due to a combination of factors.
“Getting the parts, getting the paperwork,” Singer said. “And it’s not the city’s fault, but it takes a while to get this done properly. It also takes time to get it done and permitted properly and that’s what is taking longer than assuredly the residents would like to have seen.”
Singer added that their hearts go out to residents and said that the owens have done everything they can to assist displaced residents.
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An attorney representing about 90 tenants against the property owners, Nazy Fahimi, said the closure has dragged on for so long that some tenants have moved away. And even while some are counting the days until they can return, others are worried that something else might go wrong at the building.
“Imagine being put out of your home,” said Fahimi. “Bad enough, right? But then the notion of ‘when is it going to be fixed,’ ‘when am I going to be able to come back,’ ‘when am I going to have some peace.’ “
