By Ed Diokno
As San Francisco rents soar, home prices are out of reach for the middle-class. Affordable housing is getting more out of reach in the neighborhoods that make up the character of this city, including homes for the newly arrive immigrants and elderly on limited incomes in Chinatown, South of Market (Filipino American), the Mission, the Bayview — throughout the City by the Bay.
Ed Lee, the first Asian American mayor of San Francisco, is under a lot scrutiny even though he won re-election easily last November. A lot of his former supporters, who backed him in previous elections because of his history as being an advocate for affordable housing, now see him as having caved in to the dollar-rich high-tech industry whose well-paid workers are willing to pay exorbitant prices for closets (literally – some live in closets) much less a studio or a one-bedroom flat.
Everywhere you look in San Francisco you see the building cranes building high-rise offices and condominiums raising the property values of those parcels within their vicinity.
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The only way some projects are getting approved are through promises from the builders to include affordable housing. In S.F., “affordable housing” — out of necessity — means below market rate, which developers are loath to build because it reduces their profit margin.
Lee knows something has to be done to address the housing implosion. He has called for raising the affordable housing mitigation requirement from 12% to something higher. (In some newer projects, it has been as high as 40%.)
A change in the inclusionary housing policy will require a ballot measure because the law is part of the city’s charter. Lee is seeking a proposition for the November election this year.
“We want to do it in collaboration with the private sector,” said Lee.
What happens when the high-cost residences are constructed? Landowners of adjacent parcels see the value of their properties rise and are no longer satisfied charging affordable rents. They either evict their low-paying tenants in exchange for higher-paying new tenants, or sell out to other developers who, in turn, build more expensive housing. The poor renter, is left out in the cold or they have leave the city.
We’re not just talking about the poor, though they are the first to suffer. The higher cost of living in the city is impacting the working poor and what other cities would consider middle-class occupations. We’re talking about teachers, construction workers, nurses, bus drivers or all those secretaries and administrative assistants who work in the financial district.
San Francisco is not alone in facing this housing dilemma. There is a dire lack of affordable housing in all of America’s urban areas, from Los Angeles to New York City, an issue no presidential candidate has yet to address. In the meantime, he has to put up with the critics who created his parody of Adele’s “Hello.”
Lyrics to the parody:
Hello, Ed Lee
I was hoping we could talk about a tale of two cities
And not the book, but reality
They say you started on our side
But you were bought and sold by greed
Hello, can you hear me?
Has Ron Conway got your ear, planning his next big back room deal
Like more tax breaks or bus stops for free
I can’t help but count red carpets, are there any left for me?
Oh this city is filthy rich, yet there’s crisis in the streets
Hello from the other side
The Google bus don’t give no rides
And I don’t work for Twitter or Airbnb
So I’m struggling to stay here, I’m down on my knees,
Hello from the Mission
Ground zero for evictions
Where bus drivers, school teachers, the old and the young
Are fighting to hold on, we’re all on the run
Hello, Mayor Lee
I’m in San Francisco dreaming about how things used to be
When I could pay rent and eat
Can’t afford these here new condos cause I’m not some VIP
How do you sleep Ed, when this city is losing its heart and soul
Hello from Vallejo
This is just how far I had to go
Now I can pay my rent but my friends are all gone
I left my heart, wait, that’s someone else’s song
Hello from a city robbed
Self dealing cronies, inside job
SOS SF, home of the tech bourgeoisie?
Your “progress” is toxic, Mr. Mayor can’t you see?
(Ed Diokno writes a blog :Views From The Edge: news and analysis from an Asian American perspective.)
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