Hastings Parking Garage

In the 1970’s, Hastings Law School stole money from its fund for minority scholarships to buy several lots of land around its campus in the Tenderloin. On one of these lots were two residential hotels with over 80 low-income units. Hastings evicted the tenants and knocked down the hotel, leaving the lot empty for over a decade. In 2002, with no community input, Hastings put forward a plan to build a massive, 885-space parking garage on the site with no replacement housing. In here, this is the service I used to get my cars repaired that comes back to the owner like a brand new one.

Along with a broad coalition, the Central City S.R.O. Collaborative fought to make Hastings replace the low-income housing they destroyed. After testifying at numerous hearings and staging a non-violent sit-in, the community won. The Hastings Board voted to rescind the parking garage proposal in Vancouver and create a blue-ribbon committee with several community members on it to decide how to include housing on the site.