Supervisors amend affordable-housing appropriation to support tenant ownership co-ops (ROOTS)

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed on first reading an ordinance amending Ordinance No. 71-06 to appropriate $20 million from the general fund for affordable housing projects and to direct $1,000,000 from the Mayor's Office of Housing to the Real Ownership Opportunities for Tenants (ROOTS) program.

Supervisor Mercarini, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, described the measure as an effort to expand tested homeownership practices for low- and moderate-income households, citing cooperative ownership models and community land trusts. "This legislation provides for controls over resale prices of shares in a cooperative to the price paid plus improvements and interest," Mercarini said, and called the measure "decades overdue in San Francisco."

The ordinance requires assisted housing cooperatives to adopt organizational documents (articles of incorporation, bylaws) that limit the transfer value of membership shares for members who cease to be permanent residents. The measure also directs the Controller to certify program creation and sets resale price limits (price paid plus improvements and interest, with a specified cap referenced in the ordinance language).

The board passed the ordinance on first reading under the standard consent-like procedure; it will return for subsequent readings and administrative steps for implementing the ROOTS program and distributing the $1,000,000 appropriation.