City departments brief supervisors on Mayor—s Housing Working Group recommendations

Supervisor London Breed convened a hearing requesting updates on the Mayor's Housing Working Group and the city's response to a 2014 civil grand jury report on housing. Sophie Hayward (Mayor—s Office of Housing) and Rebecca Foster summarized the working group—s recommendations: prioritize preservation and neighborhood stabilization, increase public revenue and launch a public-private affordable housing fund, pilot mixed-income projects and expand down-payment assistance eligibility up to 120% AMI, and implement process improvements to speed approvals.

Officials said the Dahlia database (a Salesforce-based affordable-housing listings and application system) is in testing and expected to roll out in early 2015, and that a phase-one website redesign for accessibility has completed. The mayor's office reported progress toward the 30,000-unit target, noting roughly 4,000 completed units to date (about 24% affordable in the reported portfolio) and a planned funded pipeline intended to produce 10,000 affordable units by 2020. Rebecca Foster and staff said final annual reporting and more specific pipeline and rehabilitation numbers would be circulated to the committee when available.

Supervisors pressed program details: Committee members asked how many of the 4,000 completed units were rehabilitations, how to accelerate use of publicly owned sites for affordable and mixed-income projects, what incentives will speed development, and how long-term maintenance and rehabilitation for existing public housing stock will be funded. The committee agreed to continue oversight and hold future hearings as the working group moves to implementation and legislative steps.