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When Bob Isaacson moved into the Mission Creek Harbor community 38 years ago, the landscape looked very different from what exists today.

“It was fairly grubby. It was really outcast,” says Isaacson, 88. “There was a bunch of people that lived in Islais Creek on houseboats and the city wanted to get rid of them, so they told the port who was in charge that if they didn’t provide a place for them, they’d move the houseboats by City Hall and burn them.”

Today, Isaacson and his wife, Ginny Stearns, live in a two-bedroom floating home among 19 other homes lined up along a dock in Mission Creek. Their community is surrounded by newly constructed housing and mixed-use buildings, but they have managed to stand strong amid the development.

Back to Gallery Wonder of water keeps couple afloat in Mission Creek home 11 1 of 11 Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle 2 of 11 Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle 3 of 11 Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle 4 of 11 Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle 5 of 11 Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle 6 of 11 Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle 7 of 11 Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle 8 of 11 Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle 9 of 11 Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle 10 of 11 Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle 11 of 11 Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle





















The community consists of about 50 residents who work together and make decisions for the area. “We have a master lease that goes until 2055,” Isaacson says. “We run the harbor. We make our own rules. It’s a very good deal for us and for the port.”

This master lease secures the fate of this community for the next 37 years. After that, the Port of San Francisco and harbor residents will be faced with a new challenge: climate change. Mission Creek is one of the lowest points in San Francisco, so decisions will need to be made around the time their lease ends on how to combat rising sea levels, Stearns says.

Ownership of a floating home is vastly different from one with a solid ground foundation. Stearns and Isaacson are constantly checking the line to make sure their home is secured to the dock. After their first home sank, they installed an alarm system in their new home to alert them of water seeping in.

“Living on the water to me is a wonder,” Isaacson says. “I felt like moving into an apartment would be like moving into a closet. Here, you don’t have the illusion of solidity. You have the reality of it’s always moving and it’s always unfirm.”

The Regulars is a photo and video column that offers a glimpse into the lives of ordinary people in the Bay Area, caught in routine activities of modern urban life.