Not If, But How
State Senator Scott Wiener has called the bluff on local control with amendments to SB50. Will critics answer again with more empty rhetoric, or do they have an actual plan?
State Senator Scott Wiener introduced amendments to SB50, the More HOMES Act, yesterday as he and the rest of his colleagues work hard to get it out of the Senate by the end of January. But you might be confused about the fact that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has already voted to oppose State Senator Scott Wiener’s SB50 in late 2019. After voting to oppose it in early 2019. You’d be forgiven if you confused that with the Board’s effort from April 2018 to formally oppose that bill’s predecessor, SB827. It’s hard not to feel like we’re reading the same news here day in and day out. Efforts to do something about our housing crisis come and go just as readily as the Board shoots them down. Yet our housing crisis worsens in San Francisco every day and the Board of Supervisors does little to alleviate it other than pass non-binding resolutions.
Supervisor Gordon Mar, for example, calls it a “a deeply flawed effort to impose one-size-fits-all, broad-based upzoning mandates on San Francisco.” Unfortunately, he has yet to bring any plans forward for more affordable homes in his neighborhood, which is still over 75% single-family homes. The Sunset, much like the rest of the Westside, also has little affordable housing and fewer plans to add some anytime soon. Instead, it’s concentrated in the eastern and southern neighborhoods that have already borne the brunt of our city’s development instead of the more affluent parts of the city.
For all the bemoaning that SB50 is one-size-fits-all, our Supervisors have yet to propose their solution that fits San Francisco, or any serious solutions to build more affordable homes. Yes, they sponsored Prop E to promote more teacher and affordable housing, but that bill will require trailing legislation to make it truly effective in many parts of the city. Even that bill is a watered down version of what Mayor London Breed wanted to place on the ballot and it had its origins in YIMBY organizing.
When YIMBYS say we want affordable housing throughout all of San Francisco, we mean it. I’ll be the first person to line up to speak in support of a 100% affordable project proposed in the Richmond, and yet no such homes have been proposed in the 3+ years Supervisor Fewer has been in office out here. While we just added another small site in the Richmond, we need to produce more homes to make tools like that truly effective. We cannot small sites our way to an affordable city. Meanwhile, over in the Outer Sunset, a few disgruntled residents are pushing back against the first HOME-SF project, seeking to add 20 new homes. That’s almost as many homes as have been built out there in the last 8 years. Supervisor Norman Yee did nothing to find a comparable site for 150 affordable senior homes in his district after opposing 250 Laguna Honda. These legislators have had chances to show us solutions to the housing crisis we face in San Francisco, and they have shown us they don’t have any serious plans.
Despite their opposition, polls show time and again a majority of Californians support Wiener’s plan to add more homes to transit and jobs rich areas such as the Westside of San Francisco. He has listened and added numerous amendments to the bill to strengthen it and make it an even better bill for our city and state, including a local flexibility provision so cities like San Francisco can come up with their own plan just like Supervisor Gordon Mar has been asking for. It’s time now for people who say that they have a local option to providing more homes in an equitable fashion throughout all of San Francisco to show us that plan. This is literally the opportunity they say they’ve been waiting for.
I’m proud to support Senator Wiener and this bill as he continues to write and pass thoughtful legislation that addresses our housing crisis. Our local legislators could learn from him. Instead of asking if, he’s asking how. Instead of just saying no, he’s trying to figure out how to get to yes. Yes to more homes in San Francisco and California — that’s the kind of leadership we don’t just need right now from our Board of Supervisors, but deserve.
We need more homes, not more grandstanding. If local legislators have their own plan, this is their chance. And if they are not up to the task, the least they can do is get out of the way while others do the tough work needed to solve our housing shortage.
