SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The clock is ticking for San Francisco to submit a housing plan to the state or else they risk losing hundreds of millions of dollars in critical funding.
For more, stream KCBS Radio now.
The state-mandated plan is called the "housing element" and it requires each California city to submit a road map towards reaching the state's housing goals over the next eight years. The state has given cities until Jan. 31, 2023 to submit a plan.
For San Francisco, that means the city must determine how to build 82,000 housing units, both market rate and affordable, by 2031.
The stakes are high to get the housing plan approved.
"If San Francisco doesn't put together a legally sound housing plan, San Francisco is going to lose a huge amount of funding, for housing and for other needs," California State Senator Scott Wiener, who represents San Francisco, told KCBS radio last month.
"San Francisco will lose a large amount of money for affordable housing which would be very very harmful," he continued. "San Francisco would also lose public transportation money, which would just be terrible."
However, at a hearing on Tuesday night, San Francisco Supervisors voiced frustration over what they see as inaction from the state and Gov. Gavin Newsom to aid the city's efforts.
"Affordable housing units are every bit as expensive to build as market rate housing units, it's just the market will not produce them because the rents won’t pay for the cost," Supervisor Rafael Mandelman told KCBS Radio on Wednesday morning. He argued that the state has a lot to say about San Francisco's plan, but has offered little in identifying how the city will deliver the more than $1.5 billion required annually.
"We're seeing a failure at the state and federal level to come up with the resources for subsidized affordable housing at the scale that we needed and the need is great, urgent and now," he said.
Approximately 46,000 of the planned units are required to be affordable. Mandelman said without state assistance, the goals are unrealistic.
"The need is so much greater that I don't think there’s any local jurisdiction alone can be creating subsidized housing at the scale it needs to happen," he explained.
DOWNLOAD the Audacy App
SIGN UP and follow KCBS Radio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Related
