SF Chamber Stands by Commitment to Workforce Housing

First, the Chamber wants to thank everyone who generously supported our efforts to pursue Prop J, the Workforce Housing Initiative. The defeat of Prop J, while disappointing, is not going to deter us from pursuing good public policy to provide housing for San Francisco's middle-income, working families.

No one, even those who opposed Prop J, will argue the fact that San Francisco needs more housing at every income level. We build exactly zero units of middle-income housing in San Francisco. That's a shame, and it must change. The fact is that families are being forced out of the city by the high cost of housing, particularly home ownership - and we cannot allow that to continue.

We are committed to pursuing strategies to encourage the building of more housing and keeping it affordable to those we targeted with Prop J. The fact is that families are being forced out of the city by the high cost of housing, particularly home ownership - and we cannot allow that to continue.

The purpose of Prop J, first and foremost, was to drive down the exorbitant price of housing. The units that would have been built under Prop J would have been affordable to a single person making a maximum of $76,000 - not $87,000 as stated by Hinkle. The maximum for a two-person household was $87,000 - that could be two people making $43,500 each.

Prop J was the result of more than four years of study; extensive reviews of best practices from around the country; a Workforce Housing Summit that drew upon the full range of neighborhood advocates, civic leaders, developers and housing activists. We held more than 60 meetings members of the board of supervisors and with neighborhood and community groups to get their input. And we polled San Franciscans to learn that more than two-thirds of San Francisco renters aspire to homeownership - if only it were affordable.

Prop J was defeated by nay-saying politics, not on its merits. We are proud of the fact that Prop J earned the endorsement of the San Francisco Business Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, the Independent and KGO radio. We were in the good company of Mayor Gavin Newsom, US Senator Dianne Feinstein, State Senator Jackie Speier, former planning commissioners, an interfaith group of religious leaders, and the firefighters, police officers, transport workers and building trades unions.

It is also significant that through our efforts, workforce housing is, for the first time, part of the public debate. That is because the principles on which we based the measure are sound. The Chamber will continue to advocate for more housing that is available and affordable to working families. We will work with the mayor and members of the board of supervisors and other constituent groups to help shape policy that addresses the city's full range of housing needs.

You will be hearing more about our plans in the coming weeks and months. If you have questions, or would like to comment, contact Lisbet Sunshine, Manager Workforce Housing Loan Fund at 415-352-8844 or lsunshine@sfchamber.com.

Housing Highlight

The SF Chamber's Public Policy department is pursuing a three-pronged approach towards creating homeownership opportunities for our local workforce. The Department is raising $4 million for the Workforce Housing Fund that will issue deferred second mortgages to the San Francisco workforce. We are working with local developers, housing advocates, planners and architects to increase the available supply and density of housing in San Francisco.

SF Chamber Best Practices Report

Links:

Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco
City and County of San Francisco
San Francisco Planning and Urban Research
Bayview Hope Housing
San Francisco Housing Action Coalition 415-252-7337
Bridge Housing
San Francisco Housing Action Coalition