Affordable Housing

One San Francisco affordable-housing measure set to pass, another unlikely to succeed

Proposition C, which would send more money to affordable housing through the city's Housing Trust Fund, faced no major opposition and was set to pass in early returns. The 'social housing' measure, Proposition I, drew nearly $3 million in spending against it from real-estate interests and was unlikely to succeed.

San Jose's Gateway Tower, with 218 affordable units, closes financing

A 15-story apartment building planned for downtown San Jose's SoFA district has closed its financing and will start initial construction soon, with completion targeted for 2029, Sing Tao reports, citing the Bay Area News Group. Gateway Tower would have 220 units, 218 of them affordable, at an estimated cost of about $198 million.

152-unit Mission District housing project to break ground with shrunken promises

A 152-unit housing project at 321 Florida Street in the Mission District is set to break ground. Before winning approval in 2021, the developer promised $2 million, a free gallery space and other community benefits, but those agreements have expired, Mission Local reports.

Freedom West Redevelopment Project Moves Forward In Western Addition

Freedom West Homes has secured funding for an initial phase of affordable housing in its plan to redevelop four blocks bounded by Gough, Fulton, Golden Gate and Laguna streets. The co-op, completed in 1973, has 382 units and about 1,000 owner households, roughly half of them seniors. A 2020 proposal for the site called for 2,515 units, many of them market-rate highrises.

San Francisco's November Proposition I would set aside more money for housing

Former Board of Supervisors president Norman Yee, a Chinatown community group worker and SF PROPEL director Sunny Angulo urged voters to support Proposition I, which would earmark part of the city's real estate transfer tax for housing. Supporters said at least 60 percent of the money would go to construction, at least a quarter to buying and preserving buildings, and at least a tenth to stabilizing renters and preventing evictions. Community housing groups say eight approved affordable projects with 1,168 units have no construction money.

Chinatown rally backs Props C and I and opposes Prop D

Community groups rallied Saturday at the plaza above the Chinatown-Rose Pak station to urge Asian American voters to support Propositions C and I and reject Proposition D on the November ballot, Sing Tao reported. Speakers said C and I would pay to build and preserve affordable housing so Chinatown seniors and working families are not pushed out, and that D would raise the signature threshold for ballot measures from 2 percent of voters to 8 percent.

Prop C would renew the Housing Trust Fund for affordable housing

Proposition C on San Francisco's November ballot would renew and expand the city's Housing Trust Fund, which pays for affordable housing. A community group leader who backs the measure told Sing Tao it raises no new tax and draws from the General Fund, and that the fund has supported about 3,000 affordable units a year since 2019.

Chinatown rally backs Propositions C and I, opposes Proposition D

Community groups rallied Saturday at a plaza above the Chinatown subway station to support Propositions C and I and oppose Proposition D. Speakers said C and I would fund affordable housing and help keep seniors and working families in the city, and that D would raise the signature threshold for citizen ballot measures from 2% to 8%.

Chinatown residents rally for Proposition C and California Proposition 1

Chinatown residents, housing advocates and elected officials rallied at the Ping Yuen public housing complex to urge voters to support Proposition C and California's Proposition 1. Proposition C would extend San Francisco's housing trust fund to 2058 and direct part of future growth in the city's general fund to affordable housing. The Chinatown Community Development Center's executive director said the trust fund has backed projects including the New Asia rebuild, planned as a 15-story building with 175 affordable units for seniors.

Illegal former Academy of Art dorms are being turned into tech hostels

Former Academy of Art University dorm buildings that the city once said were illegally converted from affordable housing are being turned into hostels for tech workers. The university was sued by the city over the conversions. The buildings will now house aspiring entrepreneurs.

El alcalde Lurie tacha la Propuesta I de ‘fondo turbio’. Su oficina controlaría el dinero.

Mayor Daniel Lurie is calling Proposition I, a housing measure, a slush fund, even though the money it would raise for affordable and social housing would be controlled by his own office. The column criticizes the mayor for telling voters that his office administers an opaque fund.

Prop I would direct mansion transfer tax revenue to affordable housing

Proposition I would send half of the transfer tax paid on San Francisco property sales over $10 million to affordable and social housing and rental assistance. The measure also would bar the Board of Supervisors from changing the transfer tax without voter approval. Mayor Daniel Lurie opposes it, along with the firefighters and police unions, saying the money now goes to the general fund and that the change could take funding from other programs, including police hiring.

Too Damn High: Lurie’s ‘Rent Emergency’ And SF’s Struggle to Make Life Affordable

Mayor Daniel Lurie declared a rent emergency last week after the median market-rate rent rose 25 percent over the past year to nearly $4,500 a month. His plan includes a proposal from Supervisor Jackie Fielder to block eviction when a tenant falls one month behind, $3 million more for the city fund that provides free legal help to tenants facing eviction, and an extra $3,000 on the $11,110 payment landlords must give tenants displaced by an owner move-in. The declaration followed last December's Family Zoning Plan, which supporters and opponents are both trying to amend this fall.

Saikat Chakrabarti drops $400K for affordable housing, public bank and transit measures

Saikat Chakrabarti has spent $400,000 to support three measures on the November ballot: Props I and J and the regional transit tax. The money backs affordable housing, a public bank and transit.

S.F. supervisor announces plan to create new department of housing

Supervisor Myrna Melgar announced legislation that would pull the Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development out of the mayor's office and turn it into a stand-alone Department of Housing Development and Preservation. Melgar also plans separate measures to create a housing co-op program and speed up the city's bike lane rollout.

San Francisco Mayor Lurie Infuses $30 Million in Reforms to Tackle ‘Rent Emergency’

Mayor Daniel Lurie announced a $30 million package of tenant protections Thursday and called rising rents a 'rent emergency' in San Francisco. He gave the speech at Alamo Square Park. Rents in the city rose 25.6 percent over the past year, the fastest growth of any US market, according to the rental listing company Apartment List.

S.F. teacher housing at 18th and Mission is on ice, emails show

Emails show that a project to build 63 units of teacher housing at 18th and Mission streets has been paused for more than a year. It is unclear how the project will proceed.

San Francisco housing shortage persists with more than 2,000 vacant lots

San Francisco has more than 2,000 vacant, undeveloped lots even as it faces a housing shortage, according to World Journal. Some empty parcels now show signs of development.

Both California and San Francisco passed drug-free housing bills. How would they coexist?

California lawmakers passed a bill that would open drug-free housing across the state, and San Francisco passed its own version in July. The article examines how the two measures would interact.

Owners of Beleaguered San Francisco Housing Complex Agree to $9 Million Settlement

The owners of Alice Griffith Apartments, a 337-unit affordable housing complex in the Bayview, agreed to pay San Francisco $9 million to settle health and safety violations. The agreement with McCormack Baron Salazar requires repairs and further improvements, according to the city attorney's office.

Owner of S.F.’s rodent-infested Alice Griffith housing complex to pay $9M settlement

The owner of the Alice Griffith public housing complex will pay $9 million to settle a lawsuit from City Attorney David Chiu over rodent infestations and other unsafe conditions. Chiu said Mission Local's reporting helped prompt the investigation.

Corrected Aug 27, 2:07 p.m.: May not be based in San Francisco