SF Chinatown gets some financial relief from the city

San Francisco Chinatown streets are less busy because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some relief is finally coming to the struggling businesses in San Francisco's Chinatown after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved $1.9 million to those businesses hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to that sum, the office of Mayor London Breed is also planning to add $500,000 into the budget and another $100,000 from the Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC), bringing the total funding to $2.5 million.

The funds, which were approved last Jan. 19, will help those Chinatown businesses that suffered because of the health measures required to fight the pandemic, which included a ban in indoor dining.

The plight of the Chinatown businesses was brought to light when the 100-year old Far East Cafe announced its intention to close by the Dec. 31.

“We’re ready to fight to preserve this iconic neighborhood and this is one small step toward that,” Supervisor Aaron Peskin told the San Francisco Chronicle.

"San Francisco’s iconic Chinatown neighborhood has suffered from the triple threat of Central Subway construction delays, early xenophobic attacks and an extended shutdown that has made already struggling immigrants even poorer," Peskin's office said in a statement to Hoodline shortly after the Jan. 19 vote.

This financial assistance will help fund the Feed + Fuel Chinatown, a program launched in partnership with the nonprofit SF New Deal and the Human Services Agency that launched in April to help businesses hurt by the pandemic and at the same time, to feed the poor residents in the Chinatown neighborhood.

The funding will help the community in multiple ways, including funding roughly 60 restaurants, keeping their employees on the payroll and feeding 2,400 residents over eight weeks. It will also help control the spread of COVID-19 through shared kitchens of single-room occupancy hotels.

At this juncture, 600 residents have already received meal vouchers from 10 restaurants, including Yuet Lee Seafood Restaurant, Hang Ah Tea Room and the Far East Cafe.

"Our seniors and families in crowded SROs (Single Room Occupancy) are at higher risk of COVID exposure and going hungry, and our legacy restaurants are at risk of shuttering for good," said Peskin. 

"The cancellation of the nation’s largest Lunar New Year parade is especially dramatic, with most small businesses typically making 30% of their income in that one week alone.

"The statistics are startling," Peskin continued: "Before the pandemic, 97% of the families were working and gainfully employed. After shelter-in-place, half of them, 45% have lost all of their income.”