San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar held a rally on the steps of City Hall Tuesday morning to announce a new charter amendment proposal that would double the city’s Housing Trust Fund, with the money earmarked for affordable housing programs.
The amendment, which would be on the November ballot for San Francisco voters, would grow the yearly city contribution of $52 million to over $125 million by allocating a portion of revenue from future property tax growth — up to $3 billion over the next 30 years.
Melgar worked with several nonprofit and affordable housing organizations to draft the charter amendment proposal. She said her team worked with the mayor’s office to address a severe housing shortage that she believes will worsen unless immediate action is taken.
“The last few years have been really difficult,” said Melgar. “From the pandemic to the ailing economy to the slashing of federal and state funds for housing, there’s a lot at stake, but for San Francisco, we don’t just stand by, we organize.”
The Housing Trust Fund was originally established in 2012 through a Charter Amendment approved by the voters to support creating, acquiring, and rehabilitating affordable housing and promoting affordable home ownership programs. The fund currently provides $52 million per year through 2043 but Melgar’s proposal would push the contributions to a total of $125 million through 2058.
The charter amendment proposal needs six supervisors to approve it before it is placed on the November ballot. Melgar said supervisors Shamann Walton, Danny Sauter, Stephen Sherrill and Matt Dorsey have supported the measure and is confident one more lawmaker will sign off on the proposal.
Lurie echoed Melgar’s comments about the need to address San Francisco’s affordable housing shortage, calling it “the most significant affordable housing investment in San Francisco’s history.” He said the lack of units has pushed out young adults, families, public sector employees, and seniors — people he said are an integral part of San Francisco’s character.
“Right now, housing is simply not getting built at the pace we need, and the consequences are all around us,” said Lurie. “This will give San Francisco something dependable — stable local dollars that allow us to plan ahead and keep affordable housing projects moving to ensure these dollars get put to work immediately.”
Lurie plans to ease the process of building new housing through an ordinance that would lower the city’s inclusionary housing requirements. The required amount of affordable housing provided on-site for projects with 25 or more units would be cut from 15% to 5%.
According to realtor website Zillow and its home value index, the average cost of buying a house in San Francisco is $1.3 million, more than the national average of $400,000. The average rental price for all units is $4,101, more than New York City and higher than the national average of $1,930.
Rebecca Foster is the CEO at the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund — a group that works to streamline the affordable housing construction and preservation process — and is also a member of the city’s Inclusionary Housing Technical Advisory Committee. She said the city cannot solve the housing crisis unless there is serious investment by local governments.
“I can tell you the data is clear,” said Foster. “Building housing today in San Francisco is simply not financially feasible. Rising costs and continued uncertainty mean the economics of housing production simply do not pencil.”
Foster said the city will run out of local affordable housing by 2028 and push out more low-income residents unless action is taken.
“We need a San Francisco where teachers can afford to live near the schools where they work, where first responders can raise families in the neighborhoods they serve, where young families are not forced to leave because housing costs are too high, and where our seniors can stay in the communities they helped to build,” said Foster.