Proposition D – Redefine Affordable Housing to be More Expensive

No matter who you are or where you come from, success in life starts at home. When we all have safe and secure places to live, parents earn more, kids learn better, health and well-being improve, our communities are strengthened, and our region has the building blocks to thrive. But right now, wealthy and powerful real estate developers and corporate landlords control the housing market in California and pour millions into each election to swing votes in their favor. They use predatory strategies to drive up their profits when ordinary working Californians can’t even afford our rent or our mortgages. This especially affects people of color, working families, seniors, and people with disabilities.

Bay Rising Action endorses a NO vote on Prop D. San Francisco is already saturated with market-rate housing, with wealthy real estate developers and corporate landlords pushing out more and more working-class people of color being pushed out of the city by compounding the rising cost of living. Prop D would redefine affordable housing to be even more expensive than it already is. Under Prop D, a one-bedroom apartment costing nearly $4,000 a month would be considered “affordable housing,” whereas today’s market rate is $3,095 per month. There is also no requirement in this measure to build two- or three-bedroom units, meaning developers wouldn’t build the housing San Francisco families desperately need.

We need more truly affordable housing in our city if we are going to address homelessness and get San Francisco on the right track. Prop D would only make it easier for greedy developers to make more money off of units that aren’t even affordable for the average working family.