Rundown of how Habitat-backed housing measures in San Francisco and Menlo Park fared this election day
With the dust starting to settle on last Tuesday’s election, we can see a clearer picture of how various housing measures have fared with voters around our region.
This year Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco was supporting campaigns in Menlo Park (‘No on Measure V’) and in San Francisco (‘Yes on Measure D’) — both of which aligned closely with our commitment to remove barriers to affordable homebuilding and champion affordable homeownership across our region.
Measure V was put on the ballot by a small group of Menlo Park residents who were opposed to 80 affordable homes for teachers in the nearby Ravenswood School District.
As written, their proposal would cripple the city’s ability to build affordable housing. It would mandate a costly and impractical city-wide vote of all residents before approval of any rezoning of lots currently zoned for single family homes.
Habitat Greater San Francisco joined forces with the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County and a host of local groups to advocate for a ‘no’ vote. This was supported by community organizations (such as Project WeHope), housing advocates (NPH Northern California), economic development bodies (San Mateo County Chamber, SAMCEDA), and labor (Nor Cal Carpenters). It was also endorsed by the Menlo Park Almanac and Belle Haven News.
The ‘no’ vote led straight out of the gate — building a handy 10 point lead by the end of election night. By late afternoon on Thursday, after further votes had been counted, that lead had been maintained, with observers believing that this heralds a win for the ‘no’ campaign.
We’re happy that affordable homebuilding looks like it has a fighting chance in Menlo Park. And we are incredibly appreciative of the wide coalition of neighbors and community groups who came together to support housing for our teachers and other essential workers.
Meanwhile in San Francisco, the ‘Yes on Measure D’ campaign ended in a squeaker — with the Habitat-supported ‘yes’ camp coming up just short (48.81%) of the 50%+1 required.
Measure D sought to amend the city charter to allow qualifying affordable housing development to be approved in around six months — bypassing the byzantine approval process of ‘discretionary review’ in which so many peojects which otherwise confirm to local requirements are mired.
Why is this needed? Well San Francisco is an extraordinary city that blazes a trail across so many areas of business, culture and technology. But there is one chart-topping performance that we’re not so proud of — out of all California’s cities, San Francisco takes the longest to approve new homebuilding. It isn’t even close, we take the title going away.
Greater San Francisco was proud to take a leading role in the campaign, alongside Mayor London Breed, State Senator Scott Wiener, and a who’s who of housing advocates from around the city including the team from the Housing Action Coalition who worked tirelessly.
The campaign had to contend with a ‘spoiler’ measure — Measure E — that was placed on the ballot by opponents of streamlining to stymie Measure D and attempt to ensure it did not pass. While this measure was itself roundly defeated it also had its intended effect on ‘D’.
Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco is enormously grateful to our community for supporting these pro-housing campaigns. And we salute our wonderful partner organizations who played such a pivotal role in getting these votes over the line. Because of your work more families will benefit from a safe, decent and affordable place to live in the years ahead.
