October 12, 2022 Eric Tuvel

November Ballot Measure Endorsements

To alleviate our severe housing shortage, displacement, and affordability crisis it’s essential to enact new policies that make it faster and easier to build more homes for residents of all income levels.

To that end, we’re pleased to share our November 8 ballot measure endorsements and encourage you to share with friends and colleagues!

San Francisco

Golden Gate Bridge

1. Proposition D – SUPPORT

Affordable Homes Now

What will it do?

Proposition D will make it faster and easier to build three types of affordable housing:

  • Multi-family housing where 100% of the residential units are subsidized at below-market rates
  • Multi-family housing for educators
  • Multi-family housing with at least 10 units which provides at least 15% more on-site subsidized affordable housing units than currently required

The measure will also require construction workers on eligible projects to be paid prevailing wages, provided with health care, and be given apprenticeship opportunities.

Why Vote Yes?

San Francisco’s severe affordable housing shortage is due in part to its lengthy approval process. Right now it takes an average of 4 – 7 years to approve one housing project. (Yes, years.) These delays drive up housing costs, making San Francisco even more unaffordable for teachers, firefighters, Muni drivers, nurses, and other essential workers. Prop D will help by accelerating the approval process to a few months if a project follows all city rules, making it faster and easier to build the housing San Francisco desperately needs.

2. Proposition E – OPPOSE

What will it do?

Prop E claims to be an affordable housing measure but its primary purpose is to sabotage pro-housing Prop D.

Why Vote No?

Prop E is the Board of Supervisors’ attempt to stop Prop D in the form of a bad-faith measure to confuse voters. Prop E purports to be a streamlining measure, but it includes financially unfeasible requirements and does not streamline the process for 100% affordable housing projects. Prop E will not build the housing San Francisco needs; Prop D will.

3. Proposition I – OPPOSE

What will it do?

Proposition I will remove the JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park and the Great Highway “weekend compromise” as safe, car-free spaces.

Why vote no?

Prop I will take JFK promenade and the Great Walkway away from people and return it to private cars, meaning more emissions, accidents, and injuries at the expense of San Francisco taxpayers.

4. Proposition J – SUPPORT

Keep JFK Permanent Open Space

What will it do?

Proposition J will turn the JFK Promenade into a permanent park, keeping it as open space for residents to safely enjoy recreational activities.

Why vote yes?

Golden Gate Park is a beautiful green open space and a popular location for San Francisco residents to go for walks, runs, and bike rides. Prop J will keep the JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park as a park for people rather than a street for personal cars.

5. Proposition C – OPPOSE

Homeless Oversight Commission

What will it do?

Proposition C will create a new Homelessness Oversight Commission that would be tasked with overseeing the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.

Why vote no?

Creating yet another commission is not the way San Francisco is going to solve one of its most pressing problems. A more effective approach would be for the City to work with state and federal partners to increase funding for new affordable housing and collaborate more extensively with Bay Area cities on region-wide solutions.

6. Proposition M – OPPOSE

What will it do?

Proposition M will impose a new tax on apartments that are vacant for longer than 6 months.

Why vote no?

There are several reasons why voters should vote No on Prop M.

First, the amount of revenue that Prop M supporters claim it will generate has been dramatically inflated. Second, its supporters claim it will impact 40,000 supposedly-vacant homes — a number that’s also been shown to be wildly overstated. 40,000 is not the number of long-term vacant units, as it includes units that are 1) actively on the rental market, 2) undergoing renovations, 3) uninhabitable. Third, Prop M exempts one and two-unit homes from the tax, despite the fact that they account for a vast number of SF’s vacant units.

If San Francisco residents want more affordable housing the solution is to build more affordable housing. Vote No on this performative measure.

Oakland

Fox theater Oakland

1. Measure U – SUPPORT

Affordable Housing and Infrastructure Bond

What will it do?

Measure U will raise an estimated $350 million for the construction and preservation of interim and permanent affordable housing.

Why vote yes?

Measure U would help foster a more equitable city by helping to build affordable housing for Oakland’s most vulnerable populations. As the Bay Area’s housing affordability crisis worsens, low-income residents and communities of color are affected the most. If approved, Measure U will provide critical funds to help protect these neighbors from the threat of displacement and homelessness.

2. Measure Q – SUPPORT

Article 34 Low-Income Housing

What will it do?

In 1950, California voters passed Proposition 10, which added Article 34 to the state constitution. Article 34 requires that cities get voter approval before they build ‘low-rent housing’ funded with public dollars.

Measure Q is asking voters permission to develop, construct or acquire up to 13,000 units of subsidized affordable housing.

Why vote yes?

To maintain and build equitable and diverse communities, it’s essential that cities provide as much affordable housing as possible. Voting yes on Q would directly benefit Oakland’s most vulnerable residents who are hit the hardest by the City’s housing affordability crisis.

3. Measure V (Oakland) – NO POSITION

Just Cause Eviction Protections

We encourage you to use SPUR’s voter guide to learn more about this measure.

Berkeley

Berkeley

1. Measure L – SUPPORT

Affordable Housing Bond Measure

What will it do?

Measure L is a bond measure that will raise an estimated $200 million for affordable housing in Berkeley.

Why vote yes?

Cities need more funding to build more affordable housing. Measure L will generate additional funds that will enable Berkeley to build more affordable homes for residents who need them most.

2. Measure N – SUPPORT

Article 34 Low-Income Housing

What will it do?

Article 34 requires that cities get voter approval before they build affordable housing funded with public dollars.

Measure N will authorize the development, construction, and acquisition of up to 3,000 additional low-rent housing units.

Why vote yes?

Measure N will help address Berkeley’s severe need for more low-income housing.

Peninsula

Peninsula

1. Measure V (Menlo Park) – OPPOSE

What will it do?

Prohibits upzoning for single-family homes.

Why vote no?

The most effective way to address the Bay Area’s housing shortage and affordability crisis is to build more dense, multi-family housing. By prohibiting the upzoning of single-family homes, Measure V will severely limit the number of new homes built in Menlo Park. Further, single-family zoning is exclusionary by design and has created inequitable, racially-segregated neighborhoods throughout the Bay Area.

We strongly oppose Measure V’s attempts to limit the amount of dense housing in Menlo Park.

2. Measure CC (San Mateo) – NO POSITION

What will it do?

Measure CC will increase the existing real property transfer tax rate for properties sold for $10 million or more.

Why are we not taking a position?

While the transfer tax will generate money for affordable housing, it will also make it more expensive to build mixed-income housing. As an organization that believes we need to build more housing for residents of all income levels, we’re taking no position on Measure CC.

3. Measure AA (South San Francisco) – SUPPORT

Article 34 Authorization Ordinance / Social Housing

What will it do?

Article 34 requires that cities get voter approval before they build affordable housing funded with public dollars. Measure AA will allow the City of South San Francisco to take control back from the State over the investment of city funds in creating affordable housing

Why vote yes?

A yes vote on Measure AA will eliminate the legal barriers to building affordable housing in South San Francisco.

4. Measure DD: (South San Francisco) – SUPPORT

Early Care and Education for All

What will it do?

$430 million bond measure meant to benefit the school district’s students and staff through facility upgrades this November. Under Measure DD, the City of South San Francisco will cover the costs of preschool and early care, without complicated means testing, for every child age 2.5 to 5 years old whose family lives or works in South City.

Measure DD will also fully fund South City’s trusted early care and education (ECE) programs—including Parks & Recreation programs, centers, in-home care providers, and family child care providers—so that they can sustainably expand enrollment, and pay their skilled workers fairly.

Why vote yes?

Measure DD addresses the affordable child care shortage in South City by creating a sustainable, high-quality public Preschool for All program.

Los Angeles

Los Angeles

1. Initiative Ordinance ULA – NO POSITION

Transfer Tax on Properties over $5 million

What will it do?

Initiative Ordinance ULA would increase the city transfer tax on property sales valued at more than $5 million. The money generated from that tax would go towards subsidizing the construction of affordable housing.

Why are we taking no position?

While the transfer tax will generate funds for affordable housing, it will also make building mixed-income housing more expensive. As an organization that advocates for building more housing for residents of all income levels, we’re taking no position on Measure ULA.

2. Initiative Ordinance LH – SUPPORT

Article 34

What will it do?

Article 34 requires that cities get voter approval before they build ‘low-rent housing’ funded with public dollars.

In 2008, Los Angeles voters approved a measure to allow for 3,500 units of affordable housing to be built in each City Council district. As the need for more affordable housing across California increases, LH would raise the affordable housing unit cap to 8,500 units per district.

Why vote yes?

A yes vote will help Los Angeles keep up with the demand for affordable housing in the city. This measure doesn’t provide funding for affordable housing, but it does ensure thousands of affordable homes can be built without unnecessary delays.

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