April 1, 2019

Naomi Kelly

City Administrator

1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 362
San Francisco, CA 94102

Dear City Administrator Kelly;

One Of the biggest challenges our City faces is housing affordability. We need tO build more
housing, particularly affordable housing to keep our communities stable. With the average rent
of a one bedroom apartment at approximately $3,790 and the average sales price for a home at
nearly $1.4 million, housing affordability and instability impacts all of our communities. In
2015, withover 74% support, voters passed a $3 1 0 million affordable housing bond which is
?nancing the creation Of 1,392 new homes. This includes transforming and rebuilding over 500
units of dilapidated public housing, building or preserving over 600 affordable housing units for
low?income families and seniors, and providing 275 homeownership and rental opportunities for
middle-income households including San Francisco Unified School District educators and their
families. However, with diminishing federal funds, increased construction costs, and a reduction
in local affordable housing funds, more resources are needed.

That is why we are Co-Chairing an effort to place an affordable housing bond on this
November?s ballot. By bringing together a diverse group Of housing experts, affordable housing
leaders, community advocates, neighborhood leaders, and other stakeholders to craft both the
,bond?s language and expenditure plan, we believe we can design an affordable housing bond
which helps address the housing needs of our city, while also being ?scally responsible.

Since we enacted the Capital Plan, which reviews and prioritizes all Of our City?s long?term
capital needs, and instituted the. general obligation bond policy Of not issuing new bonds which
would result in increasing property taxes above 2006 levels, the voters have rewarded our fiscal
prudence by approving nearly $4 billion in bond funding. This vital funding source has aided the
City in improving the resiliency and vibrancy of our parks, streets, transportation network,
hospitals, emergency service buildings, and infrastructure.

Prior to the fiscal constraints and planning process in the Capital Plan, it was common for bonds
to fail, including two affordable housing bonds, a streets and sidewalk improvement bond, and
cultural center bond all in the early 20003. We want to maintain that important ?scal constraint
because we have earned the trust of voters, but we also know our city?s affordable housing needs
exceed the $300 million currently allocated in the draft Capital Plan for an affordable housing
bond. The City Controller recently updated property taX projections for the City, which results in

1 DR. CARLTON B. GOODLETT PLACE, ROOM 200
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94102-4681
TELEPHONE: (415) 554-6141

additional bonding capacity of $200 million available for programming through the City?s capital
planning process. With this additional capacity we can both address the critical need for more
affordable housing and maintain our commitment to voters to maintain property tax levels. We
are asking you to apply this additional bond capacity and increase the upcoming November 2019
affordable housing bond in the draft Capital Plan to $500 million. Additionally, as our Controller
continues to update property tax projections we remain committed to allocating additional
bonding capacity to affordable housing.

Thank you for your stewardship of our Capital Plan.



London N. Breed

Ma or

 

President, Board Supervisors

cc: Capital Flaming Committee Members