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SPUR 2007 ANNUAL REPORT
PROGRAM UPDATES:
SPUR's Top Policy Goals for 2008
This article appears in the April 2008 issue of Urbanist
Housing
Unlike every other county in the Bay Area – where housing prices dropped or remained constant – in 2007 the price of owning or renting a house in San Francisco continued to climb. The city’s housing crisis only gets worse every year.
This is due to a variety of factors – a radical imbalance in the supply of housing and the demand for units, the lack of state and federal funding for affordable housing construction and the disparity in incomes in our region that effect people’s ability to compete for housing in the market.
How did we get here? The reasons for our situation are complicated. In San Francisco, we are the inheritors of a regulatory system that makes it difficult to construct new housing, particularly housing that is “affordable by design.” A disproportionate share of political power lies in the hands of people who oppose change, making it hard to get housing entitled in our city. Our state tax policies makes it almost impossible to finance public goods, such as affordable housing, through new taxes so San Franciscans look to finance public goods through exactions on new development. These exactions can only be set so high before they compromise the viability of developing new units. Much of California’s affordable housing is financed in part through state bonds that are used up every two or three years – we haven’t yet found a permanent financing solution for affordable housing.
All of these problems make it more and more difficult to build the market rate and affordable housing we need. Add to an increasing concern about sprawl and climate change and you can see that we have a real policy conundrum on our hands. In 2007, SPUR continued to work to address San Francisco’s housing crisis. We continue to advocate strongly for the construction of housing at all income levels.
Making the case for housing
SPUR continues to be one of the city’s strongest advocates for increasing the supply of housing at all income levels – subsidized affordable housing, moderate-income housing produced through San Francisco’s inclusionary housing law and market-rate housing – particularly when new residential development is located near transit hubs. In 2007, SPUR was quoted many times in the media to explain our position on the housing crisis, and help create a climate in which the magnitude of the problem we face and the steps we need to take
to address it are well understood by both top decision-makers and the general public. We were led in our efforts by Housing Committee Chair Lydia Tan. Read “Housing: The Urbanist Approach,” Gabriel Metcalf’s op-ed in the San Francisco Bay Guardian on 11/28/07.
Affordability by Design
SPUR convened a task force to figure out how to drive down the cost of building new housing without using public subsidy. The result, a policy paper titled “Affordable by Design: A proposal to create middle-income housing in San Francisco,” was published in the January 2008 edition of the Urbanist. With guidance from Architect and SPUR Board Member David Baker, we argued that by making changes to planning and building codes — regulating building density by height, bulk and setback requirements — the City and developers can bring housing to market at more affordable price points. (We also argued against the idea of limiting the number of allowable units and/or requiring parking spaces in new residential buildings.) We look forward to pushing for the implementation of “Affordable by Design” policies in the Eastern Neighborhoods and elsewhere in 2008.
Read SPUR’s “Affordability by Design” policy paper at www.spur.org/documents/010808_article_01.shtm.
Affordable housing in the Eastern Neighborhoods
The Planning Department and the Mayor’s Office of Housing continued to refine their affordable housing strategy for the “Eastern Neighborhoods” – a swath of previously industrial land encompassing the South of Market area, the Mission District, Showplace Square, Potrero Hill and the Central Waterfront. The affordable housing portion of the overall rezoning effort includes requirements for some of the largest sites to be handed over to the City for affordable-housing development; for a large portion of the residential units to be developed as affordable or middle-incoming housing; or for developers to fulfill a much higher inclusionary housing requirement. SPUR analyzed and gave feedback on these proposals. Our goal is to set affordable housing requirements at the optimal level – that is, in such a way that encourages the development of as much affordable housing as possible without rendering market-rate development infeasible.
Download SPUR’s memo on the Eastern Neighborhoods at: www.spur.org/misc_docs/spuren13008.pdf.
HOPE SF
Hope SF, an affordable housing initiative started by Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, seeks to revitalize distressed public housing projects in the wake of anemic federal funding. SPUR Policy Director Sarah Karlinsky continues to serve as a member of the Public Housing Task Force, a group that provides input on the direction of the HOPE SF program. The task force endorsed a set of principles to guide the redevelopment of public housing, including commitments to replace all public housing units; ensure that redeveloped public housing sites are integrated with surrounding neighborhoods; and to maximize affordable housing production.
San Francisco Housing Action Coalition
SPUR continues to be an active member of the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition, a diverse group of nonprofit and for-profit housing developers, neighborhood associations, architects and labor unions. Now in its ninth year, the SFHAC continues to advocate for well-designed, well-located housing in San Francisco. SPUR Board Member George Williams continues to participate actively on the coalition’s endorsement and regulatory committees.
Find out more about the SF Housing Action Coalition at www.sfhac.org.
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