Rules panel hears charter amendment to create housing and development commission; departments warn of delays

A first-draft charter amendment that would create a Housing and Development Commission to oversee the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development drew hours of testimony at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Rules Committee on June 30.

Sunny Angulo, representing Supervisor Eric Peskin, said the measure is a “good‑government” proposal intended to provide oversight and transparency for departments that administer budgets “in the hundreds of millions.” She said the charter change would require the commission to review proposed development agreements and conveyance of certain surplus city property, and to adopt rules for competitive selections of affordable‑housing expenditures. Angulo cited an example in which about $4 million of Invest in Neighborhoods funding passed through internal scoring processes, saying that raised questions about openness.

City department leaders pushed back. Todd Ruffo, director of OEWD, told the committee the proposal could slow OEWD grant awards by “at least three months” and complicate federally mandated workforce board responsibilities. "This proposal would delay our ability to grant these dollars out by at least 3 months," Ruffo said, adding that OEWD distributes more than $20 million a year in grants and coordinates work with many boards and commissions. Olsen Lee, director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, said adding a commission would risk increasing project costs and reducing the city’s ability to close outside financing on schedule, which he warned would result in fewer affordable housing units.

Supervisors and members of the public debated trade‑offs between added public scrutiny and possible project delays. Supporters — including neighborhood and housing advocates — urged stronger, consistent oversight and community access. Opponents including SPUR, business groups and many community‑based organizations warned the commission would duplicate existing review processes, add staff and meeting costs, and slow the pipeline of projects and grants that serve small nonprofits.

Committee members took a set of sponsor amendments intended to narrow the commission’s purview; Supervisor Eric Marr moved, and the committee adopted, a change removing most Department of Real Estate functions from the commission’s scope except surplus‑property functions. The item was continued for further revision and scheduled to return in early July.

Outcome: the committee approved sponsor amendments and continued the item to the rules committee meeting in early July for further edits and review.

What’s next: Committee staff and the sponsor will refine the charter language to address carve‑outs for workforce board authority and other technical concerns before the item returns to Rules.