Mayors housing office: 2015 affordable housing bond nearly spent; Prop C to repurpose Prop A funds for preservation

Benjamin McCloskey, deputy director for finance and administration at the Mayors Office of Housing and Community Development, told the committee that the first issuance of the 2015 Affordable Housing GO Bond is largely encumbered and that spending is progressing in a timely manner.

McCloskey said more than 94% of first-issuance funds were encumbered and about 76% had been spent as of Sept. 30, 2018, with staff projecting the first issuance would be more than 90% expended by the end of the calendar year and fully expended in mid-to-late 2019 (Benjamin McCloskey).

Jonah Lee described the 2016 initiative to repurpose remaining Prop A seismic-safety funds under Prop C to finance acquisition, preservation and rehabilitation of at-risk multifamily properties. Lee said the repurposed program will prioritize acquisition/rehabilitation and seismic retrofits — not new construction — and planned an initial issuance of about $75,000,000 in early 2019 along with a pipeline of roughly $65,000,000 across about 30 projects that could preserve approximately 325 affordable units (Jonah Lee).

Committee members asked detailed questions about how MOHCD counts units when infrastructure investments are involved (for example, partial infrastructure investment credited to specific parcels in Potrero and Sunnydale) and about governance and program rules including residency preferences and lottery rules for down-payment assistance. MOHCD said preferences exist for live-or-work-in-San Francisco applicants and described a citywide affordable housing loan committee that reviews multifamily investments (Benjamin McCloskey, Jonah Lee).

No formal action was taken. MOHCD said it will continue to report pipeline progress and anticipated issuances.