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Supervisor Preston urges housing authority to pursue Faircloth-to-RAD option to create thousands of deeply subsidized units
Summary
Supervisor Ahsha Safa? (transcript lists as Preston) introduced a resolution calling on the San Francisco Housing Authority to use the federal Faircloth-to-RAD option to create up to 3,668 new deeply affordable units with permanent HUD subsidy; Preston warned the application window requires action by Sept. 30, 2024.
Supervisor Dean Preston introduced a resolution at the March 28 meeting urging the San Francisco Housing Authority and the mayor's office to pursue the federal Faircloth-to-RAD option offered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to create permanent federally subsidized rental units.
Preston said the city could create up to 3,668 new deeply affordable rental units by leveraging the city's Faircloth authority and HUD's time-limited financial tools. He said the process requires initiating a nonbinding reservation for anticipated RAD rents by Sept. 30, 2024, to preserve the opportunity.
"If we're serious about achieving our affordable housing goals ... the city and the housing authority must step up and follow the lead of other cities," Preston said, citing examples such as Boston and Los Angeles that have already moved to reserve Faircloth authority for new developments.
Preston described the Faircloth limit as a 1998 federal cap on public-housing unit counts that can be repurposed as authority to create new subsidized units now that public-housing inventories have declined since 1999. He said San Francisco had approximately 4,000 public housing units in 1999 and now far fewer remain, giving the city scope to build thousands of additional HUD-subsidized units if it reserves the authority and follows HUD's application steps.
The resolution asks the housing authority to initiate the nonbinding application/reservation process and to report back with plans to maximize Faircloth-to-RAD opportunities. Preston said other cities have already begun the process and that the federal window to act is time-limited.
Next steps: The measure is a resolution requesting action by the Housing Authority and does not in itself appropriate funds. The board asked the housing authority to prioritize the review and to submit any necessary notices to HUD before the stated deadline to keep the option available.
