On February 13, a proposed moratorium on market-rate housing in the Mission District triggered the largest community outcry in favor of new housing we’ve seen in our 15 years of advocacy. It certainly grabbed the attention of Mayor Ed Lee, whose office is now working with Mission District Supervisor David Campos on alternatives to a housing moratorium.
Within a single week, over 500 local residents and merchants signed the SF Housing Action Coalition’s email petition to oppose this bad housing policy. They filled the inboxes of our Mayor, Supervisors and Planning Commission President with emails asking them to NOT support a market-rate housing moratorium. The San Francisco Business Times and San Francisco Chronicle covered the story saying that the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition has “tried to flood supervisors’ inboxes with letters of opposition” and that “Members and supporters have sent signed petitions and hundreds of emails opposing the changes”.
Thank you to everyone who wrote to express opposition to the moratorium! Because of the volume of emails, the parties have come to the table exploring pragmatic policy solutions, not moratoriums.
The SF Housing Action Coalition’s work continues. In the next few weeks we’ll see two important pieces of legislation that, if properly written, could encourage more middle-income housing and increase the production of low-income housing built by partnerships between market-rate and affordable housing builders. Help us strengthen our fight for smart housing policy by becoming a member of the SF Housing Action Coalition today. Take the next step – join the conversation to make San Francisco a place where we all can live, work and play!
Statements From A Few Who Signed the Petition
“I was recently pushed out of the mission by rising rents… and would love to move back, if only the housing supply could be increased to exceed the demand.”
“My Latino restaurant on 24th street and Folsom hires 12 Latino employees. Normally I am a huge supporter of David Campos… This time I am no supportive to the idea.”
“I am a 20 year resident of the Mission and a renter raising two kids here and I deeply oppose the idea of limiting development in the Mission. The idea will have the opposite effect of what it is trying to do–it will make housing more scarce and thus, obviously, more expensive.”
“Tensions rise against tech workers like myself in large part because housing has become completely unaffordable in the city. There needs to be more housing in San Francisco, period.”
Image credit: San Francisco Days
