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Supervisors hear competing housing proposals as wide public turnout urges more affordable units
Summary
On July 17 the Rules Committee heard Supervisor Jane Kim's Housing Balance Act (30% affordability goal and Planning Commission conditional review) and the mayor's Build Housing Now plan; public testimony was overwhelmingly pro-balance while city housing staff and the mayor urged funding and cautioned against adding conditional-use hurdles that could slow production.
The San Francisco Rules Committee devoted much of its July 17 session to two competing housing proposals aimed at stemming displacement and raising the city's affordable-housing output.
Supervisor Jane Kim presented the Community Housing Balance Act, an initiative ordinance that would establish a rolling 10-year citywide housing balance and require additional Planning Commission review (a conditional-use authorization) when affordable production falls below a 30 percent threshold. Kim said the goal is to ensure that a majority of new housing is affordable to households earning up to about $81,000 for individuals (roughly 60 percent of households) and to provide a transparent, neighborhood-level accountability mechanism when the city falls short.
"We have to hold ourselves accountable to the people of San Francisco in maintaining it," Kim said, arguing the code change would not ban development but would make affordability a formal factor in planning review.
April VanRassiano and other staff walked the committee through the measure's mechanics: an annually updated housing-balance count, exemptions for…
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