Mayor Lee pledges added housing funds, urges state fixes for Ellis Act buyouts

Mayor Edwin M. Lee told the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Jan. 14 that his administration will increase local spending for affordable housing and press the state to address landlord-driven displacement, including Ellis Act evictions and tenant buyouts.

Lee said the city’s Housing Trust Fund represents a long-term revenue stream, describing it as a “$1,500,000,000 stream of funding over the next 30 years” that will support new and preserved affordable housing. He told supervisors his proposed two-year budget includes an $8.4 million increase in the Housing Trust Fund and more than $9 million in additional general-fund support for the city’s affordable housing pipeline and the Hope SF public-housing revitalization effort. He also said the city has released $700,000 for eviction-prevention services.

The mayor framed those steps as part of a broader effort to preserve and expand housing for low- and moderate-income San Franciscans while the city absorbs and rehabilitates public housing units. “We’re…