SF poll finds residents blame tech, City Hall for problems

SF poll finds residents blame tech, City Hall for problems

San Franciscans are evenly split on whether the city is headed in the right direction or is on the wrong track, and they view homelessness and housing as the most important issues facing their city.

The nonprofit has a steering committee of 22 members representing the tech industry, business and labor, and has seed money from Facebook, Dignity Health and the local construction workers union.

The telephone poll, conducted in August by EMC Research, surveyed 400 people who are likely to vote in San Francisco next month.

The interviews were conducted in English and Chinese, and the margin of error is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

Sonja Trauss, founder of the San Francisco Bay Area Renters’ Federation and a member of the steering committee of Rise SF, said San Franciscans tend to feel better about their city when the economy is doing badly — and worse about it when the economy is booming.

Asked whether the growth of the tech industry is to blame for the high cost of housing and traffic congestion, 63 percent said yes.

Clearly eager for housing and traffic relief, a majority of respondents endorsed every proposal asked about in the poll — including decreasing the reliance on cars, encouraging the use of car services like Zipcar and Uber, converting underused sites to apartments, and building more three- and four-bedroom apartments to keep families in the city.