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San Francisco, California, Affordable Housing Requirements Charter Amendment, Proposition C (June 2016)
| Proposition C: San Francisco Affordable Housing Requirements Charter Amendment (June 2016) |
|---|
|
| The basics |
| Election date: |
| June 7, 2016 |
| Status: |
 Approved
|
| Topic: |
| Local housing |
| Related articles |
| Local housing on the ballot June 7, 2016 ballot measures in California San Francisco County, California ballot measures |
| See also |
| San Francisco, California Municipal elections in San Francisco, California (2016) |
A measure to impose additional affordable housing requirements was on the ballot for voters in San Francisco, California, on June 7, 2016. It was approved.
| A "yes" vote was a vote in favor of amending the city charter to increase requirements for affordable housing on developments with 25 or more units and to give the San Francisco Board of Supervisors the authority to alter the existing and impose new affordable housing requirements through ordinances. |
| A "no" vote was a vote against amending the charter, keeping the then-current affordable housing requirements and requiring a charter amendment ballot measure to change the city's laws governing affordable housing requirements. |
Allowing the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to alter the city's affordable housing requirements through an ordinance instead of a charter amendment would allow the board much more control over the affordable housing laws and would allow changes to be made much more quickly and without voter approval through a ballot measure.
Election results
| San Francisco, Measure C | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 161,324 | 67.92% | ||
| No | 76,207 | 32.08% | ||
- Election results from San Francisco Elections Office
Text of measure
Ballot question
The following question appeared on the ballot:[1]
| “ |
Shall the City amend the Charter to increase affordable housing requirements for private developers of new market-rate housing projects of 25 or more units until the Board of Supervisors passes an ordinance changing those requirements and also authorize the Board of Supervisors to change affordable housing requirements by ordinance?[2] |
” |
Ballot Simplification Committee digest
The following summary of Proposition C was prepared by the San Francisco Ballot Simplification Committee:[3]
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Full text
The full legal text of Proposition C can be read here.
Support
Supporters
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors supported this measure.[4]
The San Francisco League of Conservation Voters endorsed a "yes" vote on Proposition C.[5]
The following individuals and representatives of the following organizations signed the official argument in favor of Proposition C:[6]
- Supervisor Jane Kim
- Supervisor Aaron Peskin
- State Senator Mark Leno (D-11)
- Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-19)
- Affordable Housing Alliance
- Council of Community Housing Organizations
- Tenants and Owners Development Corporation
- United Educators of San Francisco
- Housing Rights Committee
Arguments in favor
The San Francisco League of Conservation Voters released a statement in support of Proposition C. An excerpt of the leagues analysis is below:[5]
| “ |
The other issue is the impact of raising the % affordable: as you raise the % requirement a higher fraction of units built are affordable, but it raises the net cost of the project so fewer units might be built. At some point we maximize the number of affordable units built. Finding that point is difficult. Also, building more market-rate dwelling units (du) will moderate their sales prices as more units enter the marketplace. And as these units age they become more affordable. [...] The success of the Transbay Area's 35% affordability requirement and the SF Giants site’s 40% suggests that 25% and 33% affordable are reasonable when building on free land, already owned by the city or an affordable housing developer. Higher affordability requirements might lower the price land owners can get, making it cheaper to build housing, but might encourage some land to be removed from the market. Prop C allows the Supervisors to adjust the housing affordability requirements in response to the impacts of the interim requirements.[2] |
” |
Official argument
The following official argument was submitted in favor of Proposition C:[6]
| “ |
San Franciscans are being forced out of our city every day because there is simply not enough affordable housing. Meanwhile, luxury housing developments are being built all over the city. Proposition C is a real solution that requires new housing development to include more options for middle-class and working San Franciscans. This housing will be paid for by private developers, not taxpayers. Proposition C: • Increases the percentage of affordable housing that private market-rate developers must provide; • More than doubles the affordable housing requirement for large projects from 12% to 25%; • Includes middle-income affordable housing requirements for the first time, so San Franciscans like teachers and nurses can afford to live here. • Encourages the creation of on-site affordable housing to promote diverse, mixed-income development in our neighborhoods. After the recession and during this housing crisis, it is time to increase affordable housing requirements. Importantly, Prop C allows the Board of Supervisors to adjust the requirements higher or lower based on future economic conditions to ensure that we always produce the maximum number of economically feasible affordable housing units. Proposition C was created by a broad, diverse coalition of elected leaders, advocates and organizations who work to prevent evictions, slow the rising costs of rent and homeownership, and provide affordable housing to those most in need. Please join us on June 7th and vote YES on C.[2] |
” |
Opposition
Opponents
The SF Bay Area Renters Federation (SFBARF), which was founded by housing activists Sonia Trauss, and the SF Yes In My Back Yard party (SFYIMBY) both also opposed Proposition C, arguing its restrictions would reduce the overall amount of housing built in the area, thereby reducing the amount of new affordable housing rather than increasing it.[7][8]
Terence Faulkner, who has written many ballot arguments for San Francisco ballot measures in the past, also opposed Proposition C and wrote the official ballot argument in opposition to the proposal. Faulkner served on the chair of the San Francisco Republican Party from 1987 to 1989 and has been active in both the central committee and state executive committee of the Republican Party since then. For this election, Faulkner also wrote a ballot argument in opposition to Proposition D.[4]
Arguments against
Official argument
The following official argument was submitted in opposition to Proposition C:[6]
| “ |
THE WHOLE AREA OF SO-CALLED “AFFORDABLE HOUSING” HAS BECOME AN ORGY OF POLITICAL PATRONAGE AND GIFTS TO FAVORED BUILDING DEVELOPERS. All the selective political legislation involving so-called “affordable housing” involves payments to be made by certain building developers to be put into special city government accounts — which, in turn, will raise the costs of construction for the original developers…so that they will be forced to charge more to home or condo buyers. The resulting “affordable housing funds” will then be used to bid up the price of more real-estate and be given, one way or the other, to a second group of politically chosen building developers to increase their profits. The second group of building developers will, hopefully, make lots of money…and, again hopefully, will make plenty of political campaign donations to candidates and issues favored by the public officials who provided the “affordable housing funds”. That is all you need to know about so-called “affordable housing” and “affordable housing funds”. Vote “NO!” on Proposition “C”.[2] |
” |
Path to the ballot
Proposition C was put on the ballot through a vote of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.[4]
Board of Supervisors election
- Note: The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is functionally the city council of San Francisco, which is a consolidated city-county government. Thus, the board of supervisors is referred to as the city council below.
- See also: Municipal elections in San Francisco, California (2016)
The city of San Francisco, California, held elections for six of the 11 seats on its board of supervisors on November 8, 2016. The city utilized instant-runoff voting (IRV) for municipal offices, eliminating the need for runoff elections.[9]
Other San Francisco measures
• Proposition A: San Francisco Public Health and Safety Bond Issue
• Proposition B: San Francisco Park Fund Charter Amendment (June 2016)
• Proposition D: San Francisco Citizen Complaints Office Investigations of Police Shootings
• Proposition E: San Francisco Paid Sick Leave Changes
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms San Francisco affordable housing amendment Proposition C. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ San Francisco Elections, "June 2016 Ballot Questions," accessed April 30, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 San Francisco Elections Office, "Ballot Simplification Committee - June 2016," accessed April 30, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 San Francisco Elections Office, "June 7, 2016 Presidential Primary Election Local Ballot Measures," accessed April 30, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 San Francisco League of Conservation Voters, "June 2016: Vote Yes on Prop C for More Affordable Housing Construction," May 11, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 San Francisco Elections, "Proposition C: Affordable Housing Requirements," accessed May 26, 2016
- ↑ San Francisco Bay Area Renters Federation, "Home," accessed May 20, 2016
- ↑ SF YIMBY, "Home," accessed May 20, 2016
- ↑ City and County of San Francisco, "Past Election Results," accessed September 15, 2021
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