A San Francisco supervisor this week announced plans for a November ballot measure that aims to tackle the city’s growing grocery access crisis and bring affordable fresh food back to underserved neighborhoods.
According to the office of Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, over the past 50 years, corporate grocery and pharmacy chains have moved into San Francisco, undercutting local stores and driving them to close. Many of those same chains then departed, deliberately leaving their buildings vacant to block competitors from entering the market.
These so-called “zombie stores” sometimes pay tens of thousands of dollars a month in rent simply to keep a rival out, Mahmood’s office said in a press release. The result is a chain of food deserts across the city, forcing residents to travel miles for groceries or medication all while prices on staples like milk and fresh vegetables have climbed double digits.
The measure is co-sponsored by Supervisors Myrna Melgar, Stephen Sherrill, Chyanne Chen, and Danny Sauter. It goes before the Board of Supervisors in the coming months, and — if approved — voters will have the final say in November.
“No San Franciscan should be forced to choose between long walks, expensive rides, or going without basic necessities,” Mahmood said in a statement. “Everyone deserves access to fresh food, prescription medications, and everyday essentials close to home.”
The ballot measure would have two main components. The first would reward businesses that reopen vacant storefronts as groceries or pharmacies through tax credits and a permitting process that cuts more than six months off the timeline. Corporations that deliberately keep properties empty would face a new tax. New stores opening after January 1, 2027, would be exempt, as would properties slated for housing conversion or community use.
The second component of the proposal draws from a model currently being pursued by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. It would create a dedicated city fund to help corner stores expand into full grocery markets, allow the city to purchase vacant buildings and lease them affordably to grocers who commit to keeping prices low, and support worker-owned co-ops and community land trusts.
Participating stores would be required to charge every customer the same price as a direct response to the rise of artificial intelligence-driven “dynamic pricing,” which adjusts costs based on a shopper’s location, purchase history, or perceived need.
According to the press release, the proposal has drawn broad support, including from the United Food and Commercial Workers and SEIU Local 87 unions, and Farming Hope, a culinary nonprofit for formerly incarcerated and unhoused individuals.
“The Affordable Grocery Act is a step forward to provide a solution to transform access to food in San Francisco,” said Andie Sobrepeña, co-executive director of Farming Hope, in Mahmood’s press release.
Labor groups also see an economic upside.
“San Francisco has an opportunity to bring affordable groceries back to neighborhoods and create good-paying, union jobs for communities,” Ademola Oyefeso, international vice president with the United Food and Commercial Workers, said in the supervisor’s press release.
