A line graph displaying rent collection rates by the San Francisco Housing Authority, or SFHA, from June 2019 to June 2021. The sharp decline in rent collections began months before the first San Francisco case was reported and the pandemic shutdown occurred. Up until mid-2019, the housing authority routinely collected 90 percent or more of rent. However, this rate dropped from 87 percent in September 2019 to 65 percent in March 2020, when Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency. As of June 2021, SFHA has collected 50 percent of rent directly paid to them.
The area highlighted in red represents the rent collection rates during the pandemic shutdown. The dotted green lines mark the months when stimulus checks went out in April 2020, December 2020 and March 2021.