Mayor Lee & Board President Breed Call For November 2016 Charter Amendment To Increase Affordable Housing Requirements For New Development
WASHINGTON, D.C. – December 02, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Mayor Edwin M. Lee and Board of Supervisors President London Breed today called for a Charter Amendment for the November 2016 ballot to require more affordable housing from private developers in new housing developments, especially large developments. To develop this Charter Amendment, Mayor Lee will reconvene this month a housing working group, the same group of diverse housing stakeholders that originally built the Housing Trust Fund in 2012 and many of the housing reforms San Francisco has developed and adopted in the last two years.
“We’ve taken real steps these last four years to produce more new affordable housing than ever before, but in prosperous times like these, we can require developers to build even more housing for lower and middle income residents as part of any new project, especially large new development projects,” said Mayor Lee. “I am confident that working together with the Board of Supervisors and the housing community we can create a consensus charter amendment for the November 2016 ballot that increases inclusionary requirements in a strong economy and shortens the timeline for new housing construction and development. A ballot measure to require more affordable housing from new developments for November 2016 will complement our efforts to stop displacement and eviction of longtime residents and stabilize and preserve neighborhoods and rent-controlled housing.”
“In today’s housing crisis in San Francisco, 2012’s Proposition C has become an obstacle to creating more affordable housing. We have felt that impact firsthand in District Five,” said Board President London Breed. “12 percent affordable is not enough, and I have long been pushing for a new ballot measure in 2016 to increase affordable housing. I am glad we are reconvening the housing working group, and I look forward to leading the effort at the Board of Supervisors. We must push the envelope and require developers to build as much housing as possible that San Franciscans can actually afford.”
The housing working group assembled by Mayor Lee will consist of City officials, housing advocates, community leaders and representatives from different sectors of the real estate industry, including affordable housing developers, market rate developers, realtors and small property owners.
Early this year, Mayor Lee introduced five critical pieces of affordable housing legislation including rehabilitating public housing, preserving affordable housing, stabilizing neighborhoods by keeping people in their homes, and keeping neighbors living in their communities, building more affordable units within market rate developments and accelerating and incentivizing the production of more permanently affordable units.
These policies and programs will work in concert with the voter-approved $310 million affordable housing bond that does not raise property taxes to ensure delivery of at least 10,780 units by 2020. Mayor Lee is committed to using every tool, including leveraging local, State, and Federal resources, to build more housing, including advocating for a $350 million piece of State legislation to build 3,000 more affordable units and undertook the most ambitious re-envisioning of public housing in recent American history. Mayor Lee’s planned $2.7 billion investment from the Housing Trust Fund, tax increment and fees over the next 20 years, make up the Mayor’s long-term plan to fight the affordability crisis and shift the balance of housing in the City so that San Francisco remains affordable for low and middle income families over the long term.
