District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar and Mayor Daniel Lurie announced a vision on Tuesday to support affordable housing initiatives for decades to come.
The charter amendment, which will be on the Nov. 2026 ballot following Board of Supervisors approval, is designed to increase and renew the city’s Housing Trust Fund, a 2012 voter-backed initiative used to finance the construction, acquisition, and preservation of affordable housing across San Francisco, until it reaches $125 million before continuing to grow by 2058. The fund currently provides $52 million each year, increasing each year at the rate of increase in the city’s overall general fund discretionary revenue, through 2043.
Melgar called the affordable housing shortage San Francisco’s “biggest crisis,” noting that it prevents families from setting roots, young people from staying, workers from living close to their job, and our neighborhoods from remaining diverse. Lurie also shared similar sentiments, adding the need to take “bold action.”
“It represents an investment in the billions for future for generations of San Franciscans, who will have a more affordable, just, and sustainable city,” Lurie said in a statement.
To accomplish their ambitious vision, a ballot measure must be passed by voters to increase the city’s annual contribution to the Housing Trust fund by allocating a portion of future property tax growth each year until the desired threshold is hit and then allowing it to grow at the same rate as general fund discretionary revenue at up to 3% per year, through 2058.
There are also fiscal guardrails in place, including the ability to freeze or reduce the annual appropriation in budget years with large budget deficits or during a recession.
In addition, Melgar and Lurie announced an extra $70 million revenue bond to be issued next year that specifically goes towards affordable housing preservation through reinvestment in existing deed-restricted affordable housing buildings and the acquisition and conversion of private rental housing to permanently affordable housing through the city’s Small Sites program.
Melgar has worked on other affordable housing initiatives with the mayor before, including passing the Family Zoning Plan and tackling RV and vehicular homelessness throughout the city.
Melgar, Lurie, and Supervisors Matt Dorsey, Stephen Sherill and Daniel Sauter also introduced an ordinance to update the city’s inclusionary housing requirements and development impact fee requirements that align with recommendations from housing experts and with support from affordable housing providers, tenant-rights advocates, and labor leaders.
Updates include lowering the required amount of affordable housing provided on-site to 5% for projects with 25 or more units and offering alternatives like paying an in-lieu fee to the city’s affordable housing fund, dedicating land to the city, or building off-site affordable units that equal 10% of the project’s total units. Projects with fewer than 25 units would be exempt from this requirement.
“This is not a one-time fix, it is a foundation,” said District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton, who’s also backing the initiatives, in a statement. “When we invest in affordable housing production and preservation at this scale, we are investing in the stability of the families and communities that make San Francisco what it is.”
