BLA Urges SF to Increase Affordable Housing through Significant Funding & Policy Solutions
PRESS RELEASE for Monday, June 8, 2026
San Francisco, CA – Today at City Hall, Supervisor Chyanne Chen (D11) held a critical hearing on affordable housing at the Board of Supervisors’ Land Use Committee. The Board’s Budget & Legislative Analyst (BLA) presented the findings of its new report, commissioned by Supervisor Chen, on the City’s progress towards its affordable housing goals. Members of the Race & Equity in all Planning Coalition (REP-SF) spoke during public comment to provide critical context and insight into the funding and policy solutions that the BLA’s report recommends San Francisco pursue to significantly increase access to affordable housing.
The BLA report presents several success stories from cities and counties across the country that are already implementing innovative strategies for resource generation and development of affordable housing and new models of social housing. San Francisco must follow their lead by pursuing both new funding streams and new tools to create the affordable housing and social housing opportunities we desperately need.
“We are grateful to Supervisor Chen and the District 11 Office for commissioning this BLA report and for pushing the City to engage in meaningful policy discussions around the need to significantly increase access to affordable housing,” said Jeantelle Laberinto, community organizer with the REP-SF Coalition. “The BLA report is significant in its presentation of policy and funding solutions for San Francisco to pursue right now to put the City on the right track. San Francisco can and must implement multiple strategies to increase access to affordable housing and meet the needs of our communities.”
The Board of Supervisors must take action to increase accountability. We need an accessible way for San Francisco to track and report progress toward meeting its RHNA goals and implementing the equity-related policy actions in the Housing Element, including those focused on affordable housing production and preservation, and tenant anti-displacement.
“At SOMCAN, we help our community members apply for affordable housing on DAHLIA. One of our families has been on the waitlist for over six years. They eventually found an SRO (Single Room Occupancy) to live in, but they don't have their own bathroom or kitchen. They also looked into private listings, but cannot afford it even though they all work full-time. The City needs to prioritize more affordable housing so that families like them don't have to wait over six years or longer to find housing,” said Zachary Frial, community organizer with the South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN), a member of the REP-SF Coalition.
“Many of our immigrant communities and multi-generational families are living in overcrowded conditions. City leaders need to fund and build family-sized affordable housing that keeps working families in the city. The City needs to prioritize the essential communities that keep San Francisco running,” says Reina Tello, community organizer with People Organizing to Demand Environmental & Economic Rights (PODER), a member of the REP-SF Coalition.
“Too many small business workers struggle to make rent. Most earn $30,000 to 80,000 per year, meaning that monthly rents of $2,000 or less are what is affordable. The City’s worsening affordability crisis, where a 1-bedroom costs $3,800 per month, pushes working folks out of the city and into unsafe living conditions. It’s a moral and economic failure that the wealthiest city is failing to house all of its residents, including its small business workers,” said Christin Evans, co-founder of Small Business Forward, a member of the REP-SF Coalition.
Mayor Lurie and Supervisor Melgar recently introduced the proposed ballot measure language to increase and extend the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to the Board. While this could be a step in the right direction, it does not go nearly far enough. The proposed Trust Fund ballot measure must be approved by the voters. Even if voters do approve expanding and extending the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the increased Affordable Housing Trust Fund will only provide a small fraction (less than 6%) of the $2 billion a year for the next six years (for a total of $12 billion) that the BLA says the City needs in order to meet its RHNA goals. The City needs to do much more and implement multiple strategies to reach this level of funding. If the City relies on the augmentation of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund as its only strategy for increasing funding for affordable housing, if voters approve it, instead of taking 6 years to meet our current affordable housing goals, it will take more than 115 years – longer than a century – to build 47,000 new affordable units.
The Mayor and Supervisor Melgar also introduced legislation to reduce the obligations that market-rate developers have to provide some amount of “below market rate” / inclusionary housing. Inclusionary was already reduced in 2023, and it didn't result in any increase in market-rate housing development. We already know how a further reduction in inclusionary will play out because we've seen it before. It will not benefit working people or people being priced out of San Francisco.
We urge the City to pursue both new funding streams and new tools to create the affordable housing and social housing opportunities that we desperately need, as described in the BLA’s report.
###
