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Chinatown. The Tenderloin. SOMA. The Mission. These couple of square miles dominate the national housing discourse. Here YIMBY finds its biggest skeptics, & for good reason. Supply lowers rents regionally, but not within walking distance of the West Coast's largest downtown. 1/
As a whole, San Francisco is a rich city. But several of its densely populated inner neighborhoods are low income. Not unusual for American cities, but most places aren't adding thousands of $100,000 jobs every year. 2/
These inner neighborhoods are more than just homes, they're also the heart of regional and national communities. The combo of having a distinct community yet being close to the physical core made them engines of political power and economic mobility. 3/
Living near the centers of power is like having a seat at the table. Need to turn out a few dozen people for a protest or public hearing? Get politicians to make a campaign stop? It's much easier when your community lives within walking distance. 4/
A common debate is between tenant groups that want all new homes to be affordable housing, vs. YIMBYs that want to get the highest number of affordable units. For example, a 50 unit all-affordable building vs. a privately funded 400 unit building with 100 affordable units. 5/
A concern is that while more housing can be provided by adding floors, there's still only going to be one ground floor for the retail. Guess what kind of retail a building that's 75% high income is going to have? 6/
So, how can SF meet housing demand in inner neighborhoods w/o causing gentrification?
1) Build as much as possible in other places near downtown, such as the Transbay District or Telegraph Hill.
2) Rent control / nonprofit purchase of bldgs.
3) Mixed income social housing. 7/
1) Build as much as possible in other places near downtown, such as the Transbay District or Telegraph Hill.
2) Rent control / nonprofit purchase of bldgs.
3) Mixed income social housing. 7/
Freeway removal and deindustrialization left plenty of empty lots along San Francisco's downtown waterfront. South of Market, thousands of new homes are built every year. North of Market, we still got surface parking lots where the height limit is 4 stories. 8/
Rent control keeps rents & the cost to buy a building low, however, many still fall into the hands of flippers who can get their financing faster than nonprofits. The new Community Opportunity to Purchase Act changes that. https://sfmohcd.org/community-opportunity-purchase-act-copa https://twitter.com/matias_kaplan/status/1198130244231688192 9/
San Francisco's Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) program gives nonprofits both the right of first offer and a right of first refusal, as well as several weeks to put together financing. https://sfmohcd.org/sites/default/files/Documents/MOH/COPA/COPA%20-%20Final%20%20Program%20Rules-09-03-2019.pdf It went into effect 6/3/2019. 10/
As far as social housing goes, one proposal is the SF Community Housing Act @SFCHA2020. It would tax large corporations and use the money to build or acquire mixed-income housing. Some units in social housing would be market rate, providing additional subsidy. 11/
