Affordable, low cost housing crisis, San Francisco

San Francisco Chronicle/SF Gate/Emily Green, 9/8/15. "San Francisco Major Ed Lee rolls out affordable housing plan."

"Mayor Ed Lee detailed his goal on Tuesday to make San Francisco affordable again, fleshing out a plan to build or rehabilitate 10,000 units for low-income and working-class families by 2020.  The 10,000-unit target — split roughly evenly between new and rehabilitated units — is central to Lee’s larger effort of expanding dramatically the city’s housing stock and stopping the exodus of longtime residents, a goal he said on Tuesday is his “No. 1” priority.  ...

Affordable housing units.
Pacifica needs some too.

....  Lee’s housing plan has five prongs. The newest part is to expand the production of affordable housing through the city’s inclusionary housing program, which requires market-rate developers to build or finance below-market-rate units with each project. Lee will seek through legislation to relax current requirements so that developers could build affordable units for a broader range of incomes. For example, instead of building 10 units that would be required to rent at $1,000 a month, a developer could build 20 to rent at $1,500 a month. ....  Additionally, developers could add up to two stories to a building in exchange for increasing the number of units they rent or sell to low- and middle-income residents. The most significant is that nonprofit developers will take over federally funded public housing projects in exchange for upgrading them. While that part was already known, Lee said on Tuesday that construction will begin in November that will lead to the repair of 1,400 units by 2017 and another 2,060 by 2018.

 ....  He is also working to help low-income residents living in buildings where developers are no longer required to provide the units at below-market rates. The mayor’s plan seeks to negotiate with those building owners where affordability restrictions are expiring, as well as pass legislation to give the city first right to buy the property if it goes on the market. Another component of the mayor’s plan is to ensure that when new housing units go on the market, residents of that neighborhood have priority when it comes to renting or buying them. Lee said Tuesday his goal is “diversity, equity and economic vitality.” He said the city “can’t just build, but we need to make sure we preserve” existing housing stock."  Read article.

Submitted by Jim Wagner
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Related - SF Curbed.  See article, "New legislation aims to speed up affordable housing", Tracy Elsen, 9/15/15. ....  "Supervisor Scott Wiener will introduce legislation today streamlining the process for below market rate housing. The proposal could take years off of the process for some affordable housing developments. The legislation specifically addresses the conditional use authorization process, which is required for projects that meet height limits but need exemptions for things like unit size or number of total units. The new process would apply to any projects that are 100 percent affordable to families earning less than 120 percent of area median income—about $122,000 for a family of four. The legislation would also allow below market rate developments built on public land to bypass rezoning."  Note graphic rendering of 800 Presidio Avenue from this "New Legislation" article.  

Posted by Kathy Meeh