Committee receives biannual Housing Balance Report and urges better tracking of buyouts and displacement

The Land Use & Transportation Committee accepted presentation of the biannual Housing Balance Report No. 8 on April 15 and agreed to forward the report to the full Board with recommendation. Teresa Ojeda, principal planner in citywide policy planning, said the report implements Planning Code section 103 and tracks net affordable housing stock by counting new production, acquisitions, rehabs and RAD replacements while subtracting units removed from protected status.

Daisy Kwan, legislative aide to Supervisor Mar, told supervisors District 4’s cumulative housing balance was negative roughly 260.7 percent and urged more attention to geographic balance, capacity building and site acquisition to increase affordable housing in underperforming districts. Ojeda explained the report’s projection methodology and said the projected housing balance stood at 22 percent for the reporting period.

Supervisors raised concerns about how owner move-ins, tenant buyouts and other removals from protected status are counted. Chair Aaron Peskin and several members said buyouts are likely undercounted and asked whether buyout declarations and Building Inspection filings could be cross-referenced to capture losses of rent-controlled stock. Robert Collins, executive director of the Rent Board, gave the board context on owner move-in rules and noted reporting limitations: the Rent Board tracks buyout agreements and pre-buyout notices but does not always capture the underlying reason for a buyout.

Amy Chan of the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development said the city is on track toward mayoral production goals and described preservation efforts such as the small sites program and new ERAF-funded acquisition dollars. After discussion, Supervisor Matt Haney moved to send the Housing Balance Report resolution to the full Board with recommendation; the committee took the motion without objection.