SF Approves $114 Million for More Affordable Housing
By Olivia Wynkoop, Bay City News Foundation
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Mayor London Breed came to an agreement late Monday on a spending package to acquire, construct and repair more affordable housing projects in the city.
If approved, the $114 million in spending will include $40 million for land acquisition, $20 million for repairs in pre-existing public and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-subsidized housing, $12 million for affordable housing for educators and $10 million for elevator renovations in single-room occupancy hotels.
“The budget moving forward meets the priorities I set forward in my proposed budget to deliver on the basic services our residents deserve, while also building toward a stronger future as we emerge from this pandemic,” Breed wrote in a blog post. “The significant investments in this budget will strengthen our economic recovery, restore public safety, support workers and families and build on efforts to reduce homelessness and address behavioral health.”
About $30 million will also go to housing sites specifically for the Asian and Pacific Islander community, in accordance with Supervisor Connie Chan’s API Equity Fund. Chan said that this is the first step in investing in the $118 million project, which aims to reinvest in San Francisco’s API community with land acquisition and capacity building.
“Thank you Mayor London Breed and Chair Hillary Ronen for making San Francisco a city that knows to put our money where our mouth is,” Chan wrote on Twitter.
The spending package is funded by money from Supervisor Dean Preston’s Proposition I, a ballot measure approved by voters in 2020 that increases the transfer tax for real estate sales over $10 million. The tax is estimated to bring in another $170 million into the city annually over the next five years.
“We promised to deliver on Proposition I and tonight we did just that,” Preston said in a statement. “This deal is a huge step forward for creating the affordable housing our city needs.”
The Housing Stability Fund Oversight Board, which oversees the use of Proposition I funds, previously recommended $136 million for affordable housing projects in the mayor’s two-year budget, drawn from the funds the tax brings in this year after baseline allocations.
Breed only included one $4 million recommendation for senior operating subsidies until Preston and Supervisor Hillary Ronen set up a negotiation with her late Monday, said a legislative aide for Preston. The mayor’s proposed two-year budget is set to be voted on by the board late next month.
“We desperately need more housing for working San Franciscans,” Ronen said in a statement. “This historic deal will deliver more affordable housing and make good on the promise of Prop I.”
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