Board adopts neighborhood preference for affordable housing after heated debate

San Francisco ' The Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance on first reading to add a neighborhood preference to the city's process for allocating below-market-rate (BMR) housing, creating a new category that gives a share of units to residents who live in the neighborhood where a BMR unit is built.

Supporters said the change will help long-time residents displaced by rising rents and demographic change remain near work, family and services. Supervisor London Breed, one of the ordinance sponsors, and Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer (co-sponsors and allies were repeatedly named during debate) argued the preference honors neighborhoods that accept major new projects and can help historically displaced communities win better access to new housing.

Opponents and several supervisors warned the new rule could pit low-income residents in different districts against each other, accelerate geographic re-segregation, and create legal risk when federal or state funding is…