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Mayor and community partners celebrate 100th unit preserved under Small Sites program
Summary
San Francisco marked a milestone in the Small Sites preservation program at a ribbon‑cutting near Seventeenth Avenue, where Mayor Ed Lee and community partners highlighted 100 units preserved for long‑term affordability and announced plans to expand acquisition funding.
San Francisco officials and nonprofit partners celebrated the city’s Small Sites preservation program reaching roughly 100 units in permanent affordable ownership at a May 4 event in the Richmond. Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer praised a public‑private effort that has used city loans and nonprofit purchasers to acquire at‑risk small buildings and keep tenants in place. The mayor described plans to reallocate a city funding source to create roughly $75 million for further acquisitions and highlighted partnerships with the San Francisco Community Land Trust, Chinatown Community Development Center and Clearing House CDFI.
Tenants and nonprofit leaders described the personal impact of acquisitions that prevented imminent displacement. Deborah Strom, a tenant whose building was purchased for preservation, said the intervention allowed her family to remain in place after a sale had threatened eviction. City staff and private lenders described collaboration on financing and technical assistance to identify at‑risk properties and close deals quickly.
The Small Sites program provides a model for acquisition‑based preservation in high‑pressure markets; staff said the city will evaluate scaling and further funding mechanisms to expand the program’s reach.
