What About the Housing Mandates (Part 2/2)

Dear Friends & Neighbors,

In case you missed it, we held our housing townhall last Tuesday, 2/13, at Miraloma Clubhouse. We had a modest turnout, and an excellent dialogue with panelists and neighbors surrounding the pros and cons of the new housing mandates. Matt Boschetto, who is running for D7 Supervisor, hosted and moderated the townhall. I believe there will be a video recording of the event coming out soon. I will share it with you when it is ready.

In Part 1 of this blog, I wrote how the new densification and upzoning laws are being forced upon the city by the state, without proper feedback or consensus from the neighborhoods themselves. One of the panelists at the townhall, Mr. Corey Smith, from Housing Action Coalition, made it clear that municipalities no longer have the choice of "opting out" of these new laws. Sacramento has set very specific guidelines for how many new units to build and by when, and so now, it's up to us to figure out how to do this. Needless to say, there is much confusion and disbelief coming from residents, especially on the west side of our city. Their concern was largely represented at the townhall by Mr. Dennis Richards, a panelist from Our Neighborhood Voices, a grassroots organization that is devoted to amending the state constitution so that Sacramento cannot take away the right of municipalities to opt-out of the new housing elements.

Having said that, almost everyone at the townhall agreed that San Francisco does have a lack of affordable housing. And so the real question, in my opinion, is not about how many new units to build or when to build them by, but rather, how can we make the current supply of housing more affordable? If we can create healthy dialogue around this question and begin to answer it, much like the conversation we initiated at our townhall, then I believe it will be a step in the right direction.

So, even though panelists and the audience did not agree with the state mandate for 82,000 new homes in San Francisco, which you can read more about here, what panelists did agree upon is this:

Yes on Prop C: This will make it easier and more cost effective for developers to convert downtown commercial buildings into residences. I am not sure how many new housing units this will generate, but again, this is a step in the right direction. You can read more about the benefits of Prop C here. (If, for any reason, you disagree with Prop C and will vote "No," then please let us know why in the comments section below.)

The Vienna Plan: I never heard of the Vienna Plan before the townhall, but it was brought up by one of the panelists. I can't remember who brought it up, but both Corey and Dennis seemed to agree that it is a good model for social housing. And so I looked it up and found this article. According to the article, more than 60% of the 1.8 million inhabitants in Vienna, the capital of Austria, live in subsidized housing, and nearly half of the housing market is made up of city-owned flats and cooperative apartments. By not privatizing social housing, Vienna was able to circumvent the free market from deciding the price of homes, which is one reason our own residents, particularly the younger generation, cannot afford to buy property in our city.

Could Prop C and the Vienna Plan be steps in the right direction for San Francisco? Again, only time, and more honest and civil dialogue between all stakeholders, including the state, city, developers, and our neighborhoods, will tell.

Before I end, I would like to share that the West of Twin Peaks Central Council (WTPCC) will be continuing this important conversation with the SF Planning Department on Monday, Feb 26th, 7-8:30pm. You are welcome to join by Zoom here, or attend in person at: Forest Hill Clubhouse, 381 Magellan Ave, San Francisco, 94116.

Thank you for reading and again, please feel free to post any comments, questions, or concerns below.

Your neighbor,

Lefteris Eleftheriou