Supervisor Campos calls for 45-day moratorium on market-rate housing in the Mission, calls housing situation a crisis

Supervisor David Campos introduced an interim urgency ordinance at the April 21 Board meeting seeking a 45-day moratorium on market-rate housing in the Mission to allow the community and city agencies to plan and preserve land for affordable housing.

Campos said the district faces a “state of emergency,” citing what he described as the loss of more than 1,600 low-to-moderate-income households in the Mission and a decline in the neighborhood’s Latino share from 52 percent to 40 percent (as stated in his remarks). He said only one new affordable housing development has been completed in the Mission since 2009 and that many approved projects are producing market-rate units; he said approximately 93 percent of units in the planning pipeline were proposed as market-rate because developers pay in-lieu fees rather than building affordable units on site.

Campos said the Eastern Neighborhoods Plan “has failed the Mission” and urged a temporary pause on market-rate construction so a new plan can be developed that protects existing residents and reserves limited land for affordable housing. He requested the board consider the item immediately as a committee of the whole, rather than referring it to committee. He named co-sponsors of the measure who had agreed to sign on: Supervisors Maher, Kim, Avalos and Yi.

The item generated public-comment testimony from multiple community members who urged protection of the Mission’s residents and families; speakers included longtime educators and neighborhood activists who described displacement and loss of families and student populations. The measure was introduced for board consideration; no final action or vote on the moratorium was recorded during the April 21 meeting.