San Francisco, CA – Today Mayor London N. Breed and Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin introduced a Housing Bond for the March 2024 ballot. The $300 million dollar Housing Bond will be allocated to support the construction of new affordable homes, site acquisition for new affordable developments, preservation and rehabilitation of existing affordable housing, and down payment assistance for first-time home buyers, helping to meet the City’s ambitious housing goals.
The Bond needs to receive eight votes from the Board of Supervisors to be eligible for the March 2024 ballot and approval by two thirds of San Francisco voters.
"This Housing Bond is part of our broader strategy to get more housing built across our entire city,” said Mayor London Breed. “Local funding like this bond can work alongside other state and federal funding to help us to build more homes that are deeply affordable. To meet our housing goals, we need funding as well as changes to how we approve and build housing to get new homes built faster.”
“This Affordable Housing bond is our local commitment to meeting state-mandated housing goals, and will provide affordable homes to our most vulnerable communities impacted by the economic downturn and rising rents, including working families, seniors and women recovering from abuse and exploitation,” said Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, who co-sponsored both the Inclusionary Housing legislation and Bond as a part of a housing development incentive package. “Whether you’re a first responder trying to stay in the city, a family struggling to exit a cramped SRO hotel room, or a senior who wants to age in place with dignity, this bond will help realize a pipeline of projects that have the power to transform lives – all without raising property taxes. I want to thank the Mayor for her collaboration, along with the coalition of market-rate and affordable housing developers for their work on this urgent issue.”
The Housing Bond supports affordable housing across three main categories:
- $258 million for Production of Low-Income Housing
- $30 million for Affordable Housing Preservation
- $12 million for Home Ownership Opportunities
The City last passed a Housing Bond in 2019. That Bond has supported 1,610 new affordable homes, rehabilitation of nearly 1,000 public housing units, preserved 100 homes, and supported 100 homeowners with down payment assistance.
San Francisco is currently working to implement its Housing Element, which is the City’s effort to allow for 82,000 new homes to be built over the next eight years. Part of those requirements is for over 46,000 of the new homes to be for low-income residents. The Housing Bond would help meet these goals. The City has also formed an Affordable Housing Working Group to help develop strategies to meet the goals of the Housing Element.
The 10-Year Capital Plan, most recently adopted by the Board of Supervisors on May 19, 2023, includes the proposed 2024 Housing Bond. Published every odd year, the 10-Year Capital Plan is a fiscally constrained expenditure plan that lays out infrastructure investments over the next decade. The City Administrator prepares the document with input from citywide stakeholders, who put forth their best ideas and most realistic estimates of San Francisco's future needs.
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