SF Gate: Around the Bay Area, special rental offers and help for homeless fire victims

With North Bay fires still burning, we can’t yet know the exact number of people looking for shelter. Reportedly, an estimated 333-square-miles have burned, which means–for perspective–California’s scorched area is larger than New York City. Counting the now homeless is complicated. According to the Mercury News, “together, the Tubbs, Pocket, Sonoma, Nuns and Atlas fires destroyed a total of 5,017 structures, though officials have yet to identify how many of those were single family homes, apartments or condos, meaning the full extent of lost housing has yet to be determined.” Stories of doubled and even tripled rent are particularly distressing in an area that even in the best of times commands high rents and low inventory. In the wake of such a catastrophe, with an estimated $65 Billion worth of real estate at risk of destruction or already destroyed, the demand for housing is in itself a whole separate emergency.