On March 5, San Francisco voters will have the chance to vote on Proposition A, allowing the city to issue up to $300 million in bonds to pay for affordable housing development. The bond will help San Francisco build the 46,598 units of below-market-rate housing it needs to complete by 2031.
Each dollar of the bond will leverage several times as much money in state and federal funds for housing and transit. For example, four past bond-funded housing projects in San Francisco were eligible to apply for Affordable Housing Sustainable Communities cap and trade funding.
Prop A needs a two-thirds vote to pass, so it’s critical that we get everyone who cares about affordable housing in San Francisco to vote YES on A. Use this form to sign up for Prop A mobilizations in San Francisco.
Why TransForm supports Proposition A
Building affordable housing is essential. It’s also costly. San Francisco is a dense and expensive city, so the costs of building new housing are steeper than in other parts of the Bay Area. The city needs the funding from the bonds permitted by Prop A to build the affordable housing its residents need.
Building affordable housing near high-quality transit is a powerful and proven GHG reduction strategy. This could be especially true in a highly connected city like San Francisco. Extremely low-income (ELI) and very low-income (VLI) households living in areas near public transit rather than non-TOD (transit-oriented development) areas can result in up to 50% fewer VMT.
TransForm is working with partners to promote innovative ways to reduce the costs of building affordable units, including reducing or eliminating parking spaces. With its compact layout and excellent transit systems, San Francisco is a good candidate for new buildings that devote all their space to housing humans rather than cars. Combined with new funding sources, innovations like this can help us gain the housing our state and region desperately need.
TransForm also supports a regional housing measure that will provide $10 billion for affordable housing throughout the nine-county Bay Area. That measure will be on the November ballot, and if it passes, it will work in conjunction with Proposition A to provide much-needed funding for affordable housing.
Our partners at the Council of Community Housing Organizations (CCHO) are mobilizing to get out the vote for yes on Prop A. Sign up to help with text banking, distributing flyers, or putting up signs in local businesses.
Voting has begun as voters receive their mail-in ballots. Your help to mobilize San Francisco residents to vote YES on Prop A makes a difference.