More Affordable Housing & Preventing Displacement and Gentrification

This plan is based on my belief that housing is a human right. It calls for a massive investment in building affordable housing, alternative models to stabilize affordability such as co-ops, land trusts, and social housing, radically strengthened and universal tenant protections, and new efforts to reverse displacement of residents in the Mission, Bernal Heights, and Portola neighborhoods -- alongside zoning changes to make way for new affordable housing construction. As the pandemic and the current market of housing demonstrates, a market-only approach will not solve the crisis and, in our own District, it will only accelerate income inequality, displacement and high housing costs. The people of District 9 deserve a Supervisor who will stand up to the Real Estate Lobby, not cater to their profit motives. That is why, at the time of this writing,

I am proud to be the only candidate in District 9 endorsed by the SF Tenants Union and Community Tenants Association. I also reject financial support from luxury real estate developers. As Supervisor, I will work to…

Create housing at ALL income levels, prioritizing 100% affordable housing wherever possible. Since the Great Recession, the wealth gap between the poorest and wealthiest residents of San Francisco has widened, driving truly affordable housing further and further from the reach of everyday people. This was only compounded by the pandemic and inflation. We have 2,300 homeless SFUSD students and a major staffing crisis in our public safety, education, and healthcare systems driven by the inability of so many workers to afford to rent, let alone buy, a home here in San Francisco. This crisis also proves disastrous for our environment and quality of life as workers are pushed to increasingly lengthy, car-dependent commuting patterns that increase traffic congestion, pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. We need to create a balance of housing at all income levels, as mandated by the state and our own Housing Element, with a mix of 57% that is affordable to low and middle-income people, and the remainder left to the market. Every major city that has tackled housing head on, from Vienna to Singapore, takes this approach.  If we want to be a world-class city, we need to have world-class housing for workers.

46,000 new, deeply affordable green homes across San Francisco over eight years, as required by state law, including units of mixed-income social housing. New units would be energy-efficient and electric so that utility costs are minimal for occupants. In places like Vienna, people of all classes pay fair, transparent prices for high-quality publicly-owned homes. The social housing structure allows market-rate-paying tenants to subsidize the rent of low income tenants. As a bonus, the no-to-low income tenants experience the same benefits as middle-income tenants (e.g. good neighborhood public schools, infrastructure upgrades, and services usually enjoyed by more affluent communities), and middle-income tenants don’t experience the massive rent spikes that they frequently encounter in the private market. Rents are regulated by the city government so that none of the residents pay any more than 20 to 25 percent of their household income for housing. We authorized 10,000 units of municipal housing in 2020 (Prop K), and now we need to find the financing to make it happen. Helping middle-income homeowners and landlords densify their apartments and accessory dwelling units (ADU) is also a part of this strategy. But if this is left to the market, this will only be done by speculators and house-flippers, resulting in evictions and displacement. We have to help our own long-time building owners to be part of the solution. This includes creating new affordable units, adding an income stream as they age, and providing stability. This is where a public bank can come in to help finance ADU and other densifying infrastructure projects.

Make the wealthiest neighborhoods build affordable housing. Some parts of San Francisco are home to “Monster Mansions” (i.e. homes over 3,000 square feet). We want affordable housing everywhere in the city, including in the wealthiest neighborhoods that have historically excluded poor people de jure and currently exclude them de facto. No Monster Mansions should be able to get a building or renovation permit unless it adds an ADU or apartment priced at 80% Area Median Income (AMI, $80,700 annual income for one person-household) for studios/1-bedrooms or 100% AMI ($115,300 for two-person household) for 2- and 3-bedroom units. 

Strengthened renter protections. San Francisco needs to end its vicious cycle of evictions and speculation for profit. This entails 

  • protecting our universal right to legal counsel for anyone facing eviction,

  • implementing our planned rental registry to promote a fair, competitive housing market, 

  • expand regulations on predatory bad actors, 

  • ensure enforcement of the Empty Homes tax to address to thousands of vacant units across the city, 

  • pushing for reform of the Costa-Hawkins and Ellis Acts,

  • rolling out an informational campaign to make tenants aware that most of them have the right to organize tenant associations under the Union at Home ordinance,

  • implementing any policy recommendations from the upcoming BAHFA eviction study--the first study on extrajudicial evictions--the results of which will be made available in 2025

Alleviate and reverse displacement and gentrification. This would require funding for autonomous community planning to empower communities hit hard by displacement, foreclosures, and evictions to create land use plans that identify sites for city acquisition to meet the 57% affordable housing mandate required by the state and Housing Element. It also includes an Anti-Displacement Act to evaluate projected socioeconomic impacts resulting from housing developments in vulnerable communities. We also need to explore ways to lower barriers and expand the Displaced Tenants Preference to family members of displaced tenants, as well as people who work in understaffed city jobs such as SFUSD educators and staff, first responders, nurses, social workers, and more.

Establish a $20 billion Housing Fund. This is what the City has stated is needed to meet our RHNA goals for affordable housing. We need thousands of units of new housing, but the market will never build affordable housing, even in economic booms, because it’s just not as profitable. The market will build for the wealthy when the economy is hot (and leave close to a third of their units vacant as Census data shows), and shut off the top when the economy slows down, as it has today. City government must ensure continuous construction, especially in down turns such as now. The only way to build enough housing is by seeing housing as part of the public urban infrastructure needed for a city to thrive. Establishing a public bank with low- and no-interest loans and utilizing revenue bonds for patient capital investment is crucial. We need a robust housing finance infrastructure to address these challenges effectively. As Supervisor, I would call for the city to: 

  • finally spend existing Prop I funds for housing as the voters intended in 2022, 

  • pursue existing federal funding streams such as RAD, IRA, and Fairthcloth funds,

  • hold the CA legislature and governor accountable for funding affordable housing required by RHNA goals, and

  • raise taxes on the wealthiest corporations and corporate landlords in the city

Workforce housing for essential workers. Our city is in a severe staffing crisis in major sectors affecting our quality of life--nurses, social workers, first responders, teachers, childcare workers, bus drivers, street cleaners, medics, and more. Part of the reason is that these workers make just above the income thresholds to qualify for low income housing. We must provide more workforce housing for city workers, such as the housing that MEDA will build at 18th and Mission for early childhood care staff, public school and community college teachers. We also need to provide housing subsidies for students to attract talent and support the next generation of San Francisco’s essential workers.  

Take housing off the speculative market and preserve affordability. We can tackle the problems of speculation, displacement, and serial violators of tenants rights by drastically expanding the funds available for the city to buy at-risk corporate portfolios, such as the Veritas buildings, to take them off the speculative market and preserve them as permanently affordable housing. We can also stabilize communities like the Mission that have been vulnerable to displacement and gentrification by acquiring buildings with many low-income households and households of color. Housing acquisition isn't just about stabilizing tenants, but also about building a permanently affordable social housing stock. We could buy many buildings that would bring revenue to the city's affordable housing programs without raising rents on tenants. The 2,465 units sold off during the recent Veritas bankruptcy were purchased by private investors Prado and Brookfield for $392,000 and $284,000 per unit, respectively. This is tremendously inexpensive compared to typical construction costs, and is also under the $400,000 cap of the city’s Small Sites Program. The city missed a huge opportunity with the Veritas sale and we can't miss the next one.

Help homeowners, property managers, and landlords decarbonize and weatherize homes in low-income communities without displacing tenants. As Supervisor I would continue the work I started as commissioner overseeing CleanPowerSF to ensure the Department of Environment, SFPUC, CleanPowerSF, tenants rights advocates, trades workers, and environmental justice advocates work together to implement the aspects of our Climate Action Plan that involve decarbonizing and weatherizing homes in Disadvantaged Communities, without displacing tenants. With the coming of Biden’s climate bill funds, we have a unique opportunity to improve the livability of homes, reduce pollution, and create green, unionized jobs in District 9.

Convert downtown offices to residential buildings. This entails converting Class B office buildings to mixed-income residential buildings, keeping to the 57% housing balance required by our RHNA goals. In the future, we need balanced development of housing commensurate with job growth.

Leverage land banking to build 100% affordable housing on parking lots, surplus city-owned properties, and abandoned sites. Jurisdictions elsewhere in the U.S. leverage land banks to be able to reduce the harm from vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties and put those properties back to productive use aligned with community priorities. If we had a land bank in San Francisco under the Mayor’s Office of Housing, the Planning Department, or the Treasurer’s office, we would be able to acquire land, which was at a 10-year low last year, and use it to actually scale affordable and ideally, social, housing in District 9. 

Advancing Affordable Housing Through Community Land Trusts (CLTs) Community Land Trusts are a particularly effective strategy for preventing land speculation and guaranteeing that low- to middle-class households can afford housing. CLTs help foster (eventually) independent limited-equity housing cooperatives (LEHCs) that create permanently affordable ownership for people who could never afford to own housing otherwise. To fulfill their mission as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, CLTs purchase land and lease it to the residents of the structures through a 99-year lease ensuring that the buildings remain affordable in perpetuity. CLTs also provide residents with services targeted at achieving financial stability and well-being in addition to managing leases. This form of community stewardship yielded measurable outcomes during the worst of the Great Recession. Homes under CLTs faced foreclosures at rates much lower than the norm, demonstrating their efficacy in shielding communities from the ups and downs of the real estate market. We need legislative and budgetary changes to our city’s Housing Preservation Program, which funds acquisitions made by CLTs as well as a public education strategy to promote the advantages of CLTs. This isn't just about tackling the housing crisis; it's about building a foundation for a city that's more democratic and engaged.