The Tuesday Count: Housing proves key issue in San Francisco
September 1, 2015
By Josh Altic
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This edition of the Tuesday Count focuses on notable local ballot measures.
San Francisco features some of the highest housing costs in the country. According to realtor.com, 72 percent of the median income in the city was needed to pay the average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage. MPF Research, a real estate research company based in Carrollton, Texas, estimated the average monthly rent in the San Francisco metro area to be $2,802 at the end of 2014, which was second only to New York City. Over the last few months, housing was one of the most important issues in San Francisco's election on November 3, 2015. Five out of the 11 propositions on the ballot deal with housing and development, either directly or indirectly, and proposed solutions for the housing availability issues facing the city are essential to candidate platforms. Voters will decide housing-related propositions that address affordable housing bonds, restrictions on short-term rentals, a moratorium on market rate construction in the city's Mission District, housing developments on surplus public lands and a specific development proposal on the waterfront designed to include 1,500 housing units.[1]
Proposition F, designed to restrict short-term rentals in San Francisco, looks like it will be the focus of one of the most heated and well-funded ballot battles in San Francisco this year. Airbnb—an online hosting platform for short-term rentals that started up in August 2008 and was worth about $20 billion as of May 2015—is backing the campaign against Proposition F. This campaign is using the slogan "San Francisco for Everyone, No on F" and focusing on the benefits
| San Francisco for Everyone, "No on F Campaign Commercial," August 25, 2015 |
that a thriving home-sharing industry could provide to the city's economy. They also argue that Proposition F would encourage frivolous lawsuits among neighbors.[2][3]
Supporters, who have the backing of much of the hotel industry and a large contingent of affordable housing activists, formed a coalition called Share Better SF to collect the signatures to put Proposition F on the ballot and campaign for its approval. Proponents argue that under-regulated home sharing takes units out of the long-term rental market at a time when the city is facing an affordable housing crisis.[4][5]
- Housing-related propositions on the ballot in San Francisco
- Proposition F: City of San Francisco Initiative to Restrict Short-Term Rentals
- Proposition A: City of San Francisco Housing Bond Issue
- Proposition I: City of San Francisco Mission District Housing Moratorium Initiative
- Proposition K: City of San Francisco Housing Development on Surplus Public Lands
- Proposition D: City of San Francisco Mission Rock Development Initiative
Notable election results in August 2015
- Nashville, Tennessee: On August 6, 2015, Nashville voters rejected Amendments 1 and 2. Both measures proposed an extension of the city council term limits, an idea that was rejected three times previously by the voters. Amendment 2 also had provisions to reduce the number of city council members from 40 to 27. Amendment 3 was approved, instituting a minimum local-hiring mandate for taxpayer-funded projects.
- Phoenix, Arizona: On August 25, 2015, Phoenix voters approved all five measures on their ballots, including a transportation sales tax increase and the city's fourth pension reform proposal in three years. Proposition 104, which increased the city's transportation sales tax to 0.7 percent, received the most attention. Revenue from the tax was earmarked to add 42 miles of light rail routes to the city's 13.5-mile system while also funding additional bus routes and road maintenance.
- California: Four parcel tax measures and a measure to adjust the boundaries of three school districts were on local ballots for voters in California on August 25, 2015. All four parcel tax measures failed, while the measure regarding school district boundaries passed.
See also
| 2015 ballot measures |
| Tuesday Count • 2015 Scorecard |
Footnotes
- ↑ Bloomberg, "San Francisco Plans $200 Million of Bonds to Ease Housing Crunch," April 1, 2015
- ↑ Breitbart, "AIRBNB CALLS SF LED UNION BALLOT MEASURE A ‘TROJAN HORSE,’" May 1, 2015
- ↑ San Francisco for Everyone, No on F, "Home," accessed August 31, 2015
- ↑ San Francisco Chronicle, "Airbnb foes mount campaign for S.F. ballot measure," May 1, 2015
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