Board adopts first biannual housing balance report; supervisor says city losing protected units even as production continues

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Oct. 27 unanimously adopted the Planning Department's first biannual housing balance report, a follow-up to Proposition K and the city's stated targets for affordable housing production.

Supervisor Jane Kim, who introduced the item, said the report is intended to measure the city's production and loss of protected and affordable housing and to inform policy choices. "What I think was most striking, though, about the report is not what we're producing, but what we are losing," Kim said on the floor.

The legislation implementing the housing balance count followed the passage of Proposition K, which the board and mayor supported. Kim summarized key findings presented by city staff: a 10‑year cumulative housing balance of 15 percent citywide with wide variation across districts (reported ranges from a negative 109 percent up to positive 40 percent for affordable housing in specific districts); a projected citywide balance of 11 percent; and the planning department’s note that excluding three major development sites from the production count raised the balance to 20 percent.

Kim also cited the report's analysis of the scale of production needed to affect prices: the report estimated the city would need roughly 400,000 additional housing units to materially reduce costs, a pace far above current construction rates (roughly 2,000 units per year by the figures cited on the floor).

The board approved the resolution "same house, same call" without objection. The report and its data will serve as a backdrop for forthcoming policy discussions about production, preservation, tenant protections and prioritization of housing types.