SAN ANTONIO — Finding safe, affordable housing is a challenge thousands of people are struggling with every day in the San Antonio area.
Now there is a local documentary that explains what is going on in the housing market here. People who went to see "Everyone Needs a Home" at the Carver Community Center on Wednesday night are saying the movie is something everyone should see.
“I am feeling very optimistic and very hopeful that these types of conversations need to happen everywhere throughout the city," said Suzanne Baker after the screening.
The documentary, produced by the H. E. Butt Foundation, aims to get audience members talking and taking action to get more people in safe, affordable housing.
“We need to start thinking about new approaches to house everybody," said Baker.
Ginger Treaner, who said she attended because she has done volunteer work with the homeless community, said the community has got to "think outside the box" when it comes to helping struggling San Antonians.
Treaner said she learned a lot from "Everyone Needs a Home."
“We need to think about tiny homes, maybe railroad cars," she said. "There's got to be another way. It's good to hear other's voices and hear what they have to say."
Harlandale-area resident Alice Alvarez, who lives in the same house she grew up in, says her neighbors are being "chased out."
"We see that happening so much," she added.
“We've got fear and the only way to get to know some of those things is to get out and learn about what's happening,” Alvarez added. “I learned about the problems that are happening with investors from other countries coming in with trillions of dollars, and they're buying up homes and spaces.”
Alvarez hopes the discussion sparked at the Carver will spread to other communities.
“How do we as San Antonio, as one community say, 'No! That's enough! We're going to take care of ourselves and our neighbors and do the right thing and make sure everybody has a house and a home.'"
Agreeing that there’s great divide in resources across the city, Alvarez said no matter how much money anyone has, most people share a dream of living well.
“They talked about the difference between Stone Oak to where I live. It's another city where I live, but people want to feel safe in their home. We all want that,” Alvarez said.
The documentary includes surprising statistics about the powerful unseen forces that are driving people into housing instability.
From the impassioned but losing effort to save a south-side mobile home community from a high-end, multi-family development to the economic reality of expenses overwhelming income for many, sustainability is a complex challenge.
Graphics compare the average monthly expenses for a family of four that can reach about $5,300 to the reality of what’s coming in with paychecks of $4,590.
Several people expressed heartache over the number of evictions Bexar County is experiencing. Quoting a Texas Housers study, there were 17,900 evictions filed here in 2022. Now, on any average weekday, 69 evictions are filed.
Jean Karren said she believes everyone should invest a few minutes of time in watching the presentation.
“I think it would be wide-eye-opening!” Karren said, adding: “I feel it's so important for our city to listen to what is happening.”
While the producers hope they are able to arrange more group viewing sessions so that people can exchange ideas and neighbors can begin to build bridges, the movie is freely available online on numerous platforms.