One factor in San Francisco's housing crunch is the work by politically influential groups to stop development. We've said before that to ease the city's housing crisis, which adversely affects the working poor and middle class, there needs to be a combination of new construction at all price points and effective legislation to minimize evictions. Halting development is not a viable solution. Yet last month gay Supervisor David Campos and the Calle 24 Cultural District sent up a trial balloon for a moratorium of market-rate housing in the Mission district. Campos hasn't officially proposed legislation and we would urge him to reconsider such a drastic step.
Cities are constantly changing. After all, the Castro wasn't always gay. Eureka Valley, as the Castro is also known, was an enclave of Irish, German, and Scandinavian families. It wasn't until the late 1960s that the city's gay community shifted to the Castro. Instituting a moratorium on market-rate housing in one neighborhood won't stop the future; it will prevent people from living in one of San Francisco's most vibrant districts. While advocates of no-growth maintain that they're "not trying to keep people out," as longtime gay activist Erik Arguello recently told the San Francisco Chronicle, that's effectively what they're doing – not helping to solve the problem of competing for housing stock with young high-tech workers.
Rather than try to stifle development, these activists should be focusing on realistic, lasting solutions. So the housing crisis will not be easy to resolve but it will take many creative initiatives. For example, the San Francisco Community Land Trust is working with nonprofits to re-open Marty's Place, a residence in the Mission for people living with AIDS. Using the same model, the land trust could partner with other nonprofits to establish housing for the working poor and their families.
Another possible option is continuing at the state level. Gay state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) is trying again to close a loophole in the Ellis Act, a horrible state law that allows landlords to get out of the rental business by evicting tenants. Last year Leno offered a similar piece of legislation, which was defeated by one vote in the Assembly. Senate Bill 364 closes a loophole in the act by preventing speculators from buying rent-controlled buildings in San Francisco and immediately evicting long-term tenants.
Also at the state level, lesbian Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) has unveiled an affordable housing package that Assembly Democrats have crafted. The plan includes such items as establishing a permanent funding source for affordable housing by placing a small fee on real estate transaction documents; increasing the state's low income housing tax credit by $300 million; and using a portion of Proposition 47 funds to reduce recidivism through investment in rapid rehousing and housing supports for formerly incarcerated Californians.
Mayor Ed Lee is a sponsor of Leno's Ellis Act bill and a supporter of Atkins' affordable housing package. These types of legislation, combined with the building boom underway in the city, will do more to help create housing than a moratorium, which only suspends the present. There's a reason why businesses on a stretch of 24th Street are closing – it's because their customers are gone. Preventing market-rate housing from being built won't bring those customers back.