Building the affordable housing San Francisco needs
March 7, 2023
By Karoleen Feng, Gina Dacus, Anni Chung and Maurilio Leon | Council of Community Housing Organizations
The certification of San Francisco’s Housing Element by the California Department of Housing and Community Development is a big milestone, and it provides The City a powerful impetus to address the housing affordability crisis. With a mandate to build 46,000 affordable housing units out of 82,000 units total, San Francisco must rise to the occasion.
As a coalition of nonprofit organizations that have built housing for extremely low- to moderate-income San Franciscans, the Council of Community Housing Organizations seeks the inclusion of equity and affordability strategies in Mayor London Breed’s Housing for All Plan. This gives San Francisco a fighting chance to achieve the affordable housing goal in the 2023-2031 Housing Element cycle.
Let’s put this in context: During the last cycle, San Francisco achieved 150% of its market rate housing goals, while building much less than 50% of the affordable housing targeted at low- and moderate income levels. To successfully meet the Housing Element’s affordable housing goal and to truly build housing for all, The City will need to collaborate in new ways with community leaders to identify strategies and scale up its investments. For tens of thousands of residents in communities across San Francisco who are experiencing housing insecurity, the City must not fail. We worked alongside The City during the pandemic to keep households as housing secure as possible, and we know we can succeed together.
