Advocating for Air Filtration

SRO Tenant Leader, Carlos, building a DIY air filter

August 30, 2021

Brightline Defense and Asian American Youth for Environmental Justice have come together to fundraise and deliver high-quality air filtration units to Single Room Occupancy (SRO) residents in fall 2022. Brightline has distributed over 100 individual air filtration systems to SRO residents in Chinatown, Tenderloin, South of Market, and Mission District.

A unique need exists to distribute individual air filtration systems for SRO residents. Brightline’s survey of 250 SRO residents found that 73.4% of respondents reported not having an air filtration system in their unit. Unfortunately, only 18% would be able to afford and install a $200-600 portable air filtration system. SRO residents consequently face poor air quality and exacerbated health impacts because they lack access to indoor air filtration.

During the catastrophic 2020 wildfires across California, air quality disparities grew larger for SRO residents. Although public health officials recommend communities to stay home during smoky days, researchers find that indoor air pollution is at unhealthy levels during wildfires. A majority of SRO community members face chronic health conditions, suffer from a lack of air purifying infrastructure and many still have little to no resources to protect themselves from poor air quality during catastrophic air quality events. In response, Brightline piloted education efforts such as a DIY emergency air filtration workshop in 2021 on how to build cost-effective emergency air filtration units using duct tape, a box fan, and MERV-13 filter. Brightline also partnered with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to create another DIY video in 2022 to increase awareness across the bay.