Part I: Tenants, Trauma, and the Conditions Inside Bayview Housing
By Journalist Malik Washington
Destination Freedom Media Group & The Davis Vanguard
Photo credit (Lurie) https://sfbayview.com/2025/08/hunters-point-residents-come-home-after-renovations/ations (caption): Mayor Daniel Lurie, Chief of Community Affairs EJ Jones, hilltop residents and multiple representatives from Housing Rights Committee tour Related Companies complexes Tuesday afternoon.
Bayview–Hunters Point has never lacked patience. What it lacks—again—is protection.
Inside Bayview Apartments and neighboring complexes on “The Hill,” residents describe a return home that feels less like renewal and more like repetition: unresolved habitability issues, shoddy workmanship, and a sense that the institutions charged with enforcement have chosen silence over action. These properties are managed by Related Management Company, part of the national real estate empire founded by billionaire Stephen Ross.
This is not a marginal landlord.
But for the families living here, the harm is deeply personal.
Locked In, Left Behind
Across four Related-managed complexes—Shoreview, All Hallows, LaSalle, and Bayview Apartments—roughly 600 federally subsidized units house more than 800 residents.
Renovations long fought for promised relief. Instead, tenants say they returned to unsafe conditions that raise serious questions about oversight and care.
On Aug. 19, 2025, the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper published a detailed investigation by journalist Griffin Jones documenting what residents encountered after relocation and renovation.
Missing windows, broken locks: Hunters Point residents come home after renovations
At LaSalle Apartments, Chyna Smith, seven months pregnant, reported being locked inside her unit because a newly installed lock failed. Maintenance did not respond. Smith called 911. Firefighters pried the door open and explained the lock had been improperly installed, with a stripped screw.
Smith also told the Bay View that thousands of dollars of her approved personal improvements—a stove, walk-in tub, custom cabinetry, and track lighting—were destroyed or removed during renovation, despite following company protocols.
“Why do we have to be in the dark?” Smith asked. “It’s like they’re telling us, ‘Don’t dream too big here.’”
Nearby, another family returned to find a child’s bed and mattress missing. Movers allegedly said they were instructed to discard them. Despite repeated calls and emails to management, the family reported no replacement and no compensation. The child began the school year sleeping on the floor.
Residents across the hill echoed the same assessment: the work was rushed. Paint already streaked. Blinds that would not open. Gaps at thresholds letting air inside. A union painter who worked earlier renovations said this time the work relied on cheaper labor and materials, including flat paint — “basically a primer coat” — unsuitable for living spaces.
These are not aesthetic complaints.
They are life-safety failures, property loss, and broken trust.
“They Wear You Down Until You Stop Fighting”
Photo credit: Mira Gilliam, Community Organizer and Tenant Advocate who lives on “the Hill” in Hunters Point
For Mira Gilliam, a current Bayview Apartments tenant, the neglect spans years.
“Related Management has shown nothing but disrespect—misleading information, undermining tenants, and a complete lack of communication,” Gilliam told me. “We deserve a community where we feel safe, heard, and included. Instead, we’re treated like our voices don’t matter.”
Gilliam described living for five years with a leaking ceiling that was never properly repaired.
“Their favorite quick fix was sheetrock,” she said. “They never addressed the root of the problem.”
Maintenance records, she says, show repeated complaints noting the damage was worsening—yet no meaningful action followed. Photos of the damage were dismissed.
After relocating to another unit—not because of the leak, but for personal reasons—Gilliam returned to a “newly renovated” apartment that already showed signs of prior water damage.
“It wasn’t addressed like promised,” she said.
Gilliam attempted to escalate her concerns through multiple layers of management. “I spoke with a Senior Vice President. Her assistant reached out, and then nothing,” she said. “This is the practice they use. They wear you down until you stop fighting.”
The toll, she says, is collective.
“Our elders feel disregarded and unheard. Most are afraid to speak out because they fear retaliation.”
Residents were displaced for 35 days during renovation. Many returned to missing or damaged belongings. Compensation was limited, opaque, and offered without transparency.
“We were promised better,” Gilliam said. “What we got was flat paint, cheap flooring, and appliances we were told were stainless steel but were actually white appliances painted black with epoxy.”
Gilliam walked the properties with the Mayor.
“An article was printed,” she said. “And still nothing was done.”
Community Voices Shut Out
As tenants struggled to be heard, community advocates stepped forward—only to encounter the same closed doors.
Maika Pinkston, a respected community advocate, organizer, and founder of the nonprofit FROM THE HEART, spent months requesting intervention from City Hall as conditions worsened across Related-managed properties in Bayview–Hunters Point. According to Pinkston and other organizers, her repeated attempts to engage key members of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s administration were obstructed or ignored.
Her experience mirrors what tenants describe: access denied, urgency minimized, and accountability deferred.
Maika Pinkston, community advocate, organizer, and founder of FROM THE HEART, has pressed City Hall for action as residents continued living with unresolved habitability issues inside Related-managed housing in Bayview–Hunters Point.
“We are demanding immediate corrective action and transparency regarding the ongoing neglect and substandard renovation practices impacting residents at Related Hunters Point properties.”
— Maika Pinkston, Community Advocate & Founder, FROM THE HEART
Pinkston’s words are not rhetorical. They reflect months of unanswered outreach, blocked access, and escalating conditions that residents say have been allowed to persist despite public documentation and repeated warnings.
When organizers are shut out and tenants are ignored, silence becomes policy.
And neglect becomes normalized.
I have been communicating and working closely with elders and community members who have firsthand knowledge about the living conditions inside properties managed by Related Companies. Locally at LaSalle Apartments on “the hill” Related employee Tracy McKnight ignores the complaints of our community members. Related Regional Manager Mr. Christopher Jones has perfected the art of deflection and obstruction when it comes to valid habitability complaints. I SPEAK FROM A POSITION OF CARE AND CONCERN FOR OUR COMMUNITY WHEN I SAY: “Mayor Daniel Laurie WE HAVE A PROBLEM AND I ASK THAT YOU FIX IT!” Accumulation of garbage is an ongoing problem that continues to be ignored and downplayed and I want our readers to take a good look at the following photos. Recology has said they will only remove trash that is on top of the dumpster and not on the ground. I have been in direct contact with elders who pick up excess trash and stack it on top of the available dumpsters. Regional Manager Christopher Jones (RELATED) has threatened residents with going back to the usage of the Blue Totes. This was a disaster back in the day and exacerbated the garbage problem. There are numerous problems here and I want everyone to stay tuned as we begin to follow the money in order to discover who is serving our community members and who is ripping them off! IT IS TIME FOR THE LURIE ADMINISTRATION TO LISTEN TO OUR VOICES!
Top & Left Photos: current trash situation; Bottom right: past – blue totes
Related California – Affordable Housing Team
Here’s our song/video for this article:
Freedom by Anthony Hamilton & Elayna Boynton OFFICIAL LYRICS VIDEO (Django Unchained)
founder of Destination Freedom Media Group, an independent nonprofit newsroom dedicated to accountability reporting at the intersection of civil rights, public integrity, and community survival. He has been a published journalist for over 14 years.
His work—published in partnership with the Davis Vanguard—focuses on government power, criminal justice, environmental justice, and the human consequences of policy decisions too often insulated from public scrutiny. Washington’s reporting amplifies the voices of impacted communities while insisting on documentary evidence, transparency, and the unvarnished truth—especially when institutions demand silence.
You can reach him via email: mwashington2059@gmail.com or call him at (719) 715-9592.
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