Formerly Incarcerated San Franciscans Face Housing Hurdles as Rents Climb

San Francisco’s post-pandemic rental market is tightening fast, and the AI industry’s rapid expansion is playing a major role. As tech companies scale up operations, they’re drawing workers back into the city and reigniting demand for limited housing. The result: a spike in rental prices that’s making it harder for many residents to secure a place to live, especially those with criminal records.

Over the past year, average asking rents in San Francisco have increased by nearly 5%, according to data from Zillow. Some neighborhoods, including SoMa and the Mission, have seen sharper jumps. Behind those numbers is a shifting population. Tech workers returning to the office and new hires arriving with AI startups are competing for the same pool of rental units. The city’s housing stock, which has grown slowly due to zoning constraints and high construction costs, has not kept pace.

For San Franciscans with criminal records, especially those recently released from incarceration, the tightening market adds another barrier to reentry. Many landlords use background checks to screen tenants, and a felony conviction can immediately disqualify an applicant. Housing advocates say this practice limits opportunities for stability and increases the risk of recidivism.

Damion Bolden, a 42-year-old San Francisco native, returned home after spending more than a decade in prison. He found support through the Five Keys Charter School and a transitional housing program, but finding long-term housing has been difficult. Lease rejections came quickly once background checks were run. “They see the record, and that’s it,” Bolden said. “You don’t get a second look.”

Transitional housing programs provide temporary shelter, but many have waitlists or caps on how long someone can stay. Meanwhile, market-rate rentals are increasingly out of reach. The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is now over $3,000 per month, based on data from Apartment List.

Several local nonprofits, including HomeFree and All of Us or None, are working to support individuals with criminal records navigate the housing market. Their services range from legal aid to landlord mediation. Patricia St. Onge, a housing activist and member of the Reentry Council of San Francisco, says the current affordability crisis has made their work much harder. “We used to fight discrimination. Now we’re fighting that and a deep shortage,” she said.

California does not ban landlords from running criminal background checks, though some jurisdictions like Oakland have passed local ordinances limiting how that information can be used. San Francisco has yet to implement similar restrictions. Advocates have pushed for a Fair Chance Housing Ordinance, which would prohibit landlords from asking about criminal history until later in the application process or not at all, but the measure has yet to gain traction at the Board of Supervisors.

The lack of permanent housing options directly affects outcomes for those reentering society. A 2022 study by the Prison Policy Initiative found that formerly incarcerated individuals are nearly 10 times more likely to experience homelessness than the general public. Without stable housing, access to employment, healthcare, and recovery services becomes more difficult.

While some AI companies moving into San Francisco have publicly committed to inclusive hiring, few have addressed the housing stability of formerly incarcerated employees or neighbors. Industry growth has created new jobs and tax revenues, but it has also widened existing inequalities. As competition intensifies for the city’s housing stock, residents already on the margins are increasingly left out.

City officials face limited options. Affordable housing construction remains slow, state housing mandates carry limited enforcement, and market dynamics continue to favor high-income tenants. In the absence of strong protections or new regulations, reentry populations must rely on the narrow pathways carved by nonprofits and public-private partnerships to remain housed.

As AI reshapes San Francisco’s employment landscape, the city is still wrestling with how to ensure that growth does not come at the cost of housing access for residents with the fewest resources. For those like Bolden, the challenge isn’t rebuilding life after incarceration. It’s finding a place to live in a city drifting further out of reach.