SF Residents and Cultural Leaders Rally at City Hall for Affordable Housing in Every District

PRESS RELEASE FOR Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Citywide coalition rallies behind racial and social equity at

Board of Supervisors hearing on SF’s Housing Element

Essential workers, seniors, low-income communities of color, and people with disabilities are calling on Board to adopt the Citywide People’s Plan

SAN FRANCISCO – As average rents in San Francisco climb to over $4,000 per month and the city continues to fall farther and farther behind on meeting residents’ affordable housing needs, tenants, community organizers, seniors, and essential workers rallied today at the Civic Center Plaza across from City Hall. San Francisco residents are calling on the Board of Supervisors to adopt the Citywide People’s Plan for Equity in Land Use as the foundation for San Francisco’s 2023-2031 Housing Element.

Hundreds of San Franciscans from low-income, American Indian, Black, and other communities of color are calling on the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors to put affordable housing at the heart of a plan to address racial and social inequality and make amends for decades of displacement. While the Housing Element states that it is “centered in racial and social equity”, it relies on a market-based strategy that attempts to strip communities’ rights to self-determination. The Citywide People’s Plan provides a genuine pathway to realize racial, social and economic equity and the state-mandated production goal of over 46,000 affordable housing units for households with low and moderate incomes.

For the first time, community, neighborhood and cultural districts’ plans and recommendations from throughout San Francisco have been compiled into one document by the Race & Equity in all Planning Coalition (REP-SF). The Citywide People’s Plan calls on San Francisco to build affordable housing in every district through:

• a massive increase in affordable housing funding and city staffing to move projects to development and construction as quickly as possible;

• expedited and time-limited project approval processes that retain meaningful public input;

• accelerating proven community solutions that exist in neighborhoods throughout the city; and 

• strong protections for tenants against displacement in the face of demolitions.

REP-SF is made up of three dozen community-based and grassroots organizations from all over San Francisco. REP-SF works to ensure a future with diverse communities, stable and affordable housing, and equitable access to resources and opportunities. The Action Plan in the Citywide People’s Plan represents the collective expertise and experience of REP-SF’s membership, and the breadth of constituencies and communities united in putting forth bold and innovative solutions that center racial and social equity. Creating the Action Plan engaged the entire REP-SF Coalition through a rigorous, inclusive, and intentional process.

“This year is our chance to build a city where everyone can make rent, raise our families, and nurture healthy communities,'' says Dyan Ruiz with the Race & Equity in all Planning Coalition (REP-SF). “The People’s Plan was created by residents and housing experts, not politicians or developers. By prioritizing homes in every district that are affordable for the majority of San Franciscans, from essential workers and teachers to families already struggling to make ends meet, our city can live up to our best ideals of community well-being and inclusion.”

“The Planning Department itself has shared that in San Francisco, American Indian and Alaska Native people are 17 times more likely to be unhoused compared to the rest of the population,” said Arianna Antone-Ramirez, who is with American Indian Cultural Center, a citizen of the Tohono O’odham Nation, and was born and raised in the Mission. “In my lifetime, I have seen family after family, community member after community member move out because they simply cannot afford to live here. We stand with the REP Coalition in demanding a Housing Element that focuses on true racial, social, and economic equity, and prioritizes affordable housing based on what  we the people of San Francisco define as affordable.” 

“We live in a city where high rents are pushing families out on the streets and out of San Francisco. We have been seeing an increase in eviction notices, and when luxury projects come into our neighborhood rents go up all around. When a building is being sold, tenants are being told that if they do not accept a buyout offer or do not move out, the new landlord will raise their rents or Ellis Act them,” said Alicia Bustos Sandoval from Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco and who was born and raised in the city. “The People’s Plan will put tenants first and prioritize affordable housing to low-income, vulnerable communities who are currently turned away.” 

On the Heels of Community Rally, San Franciscans Join BOS Meeting

Following the rally, community members are joining the Board of Supervisors hearing on the Housing Element to provide public comment on how the city can build on the work of housing and community experts in neighborhoods like SOMA, the Mission, Chinatown, and Excelsior and prioritize affordable housing with reliable, ongoing funding, expedited approval processes that retain public input, and scalable land use plans. 

The Housing Element establishes San Francisco’s housing policies for the next eight years. For the past eight years, San Francisco has built more than 150% of its market rate housing goal and only 30% of its affordable housing goal. The result is that San Francisco renters and owners of nearly all income groups, except for the highest income households, are spending more and more of their paychecks on housing while the most marginalized communities are barely hanging on to their homes. Earlier this year, San Francisco’s Planning Department affirmed that this will be the first housing plan in our city’s history to prioritize social and racial equity. 

“We have so much deep community expertise in neighborhoods like the SOMA, and over the years, we’ve found proven, community-led solutions to the housing affordability crisis we face,” said Angelica Cabande, South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN). “The People’s Plan lays out how San Francisco can accelerate affordable housing projects like the ones we’ve helped create with SOMA and Mission tenants and increase affordable housing in every district and neighborhood.” 

“After two decades of so-called ‘Redevelopment’ that demolished Black neighborhoods and replaced tens of thousands of people’s homes with new and unaffordable buildings, the Black population in San Francisco has continued to plummet,” said Ericka Scott, San Francisco African American Arts & Cultural District. “I grew up in the Fillmore and because of the displacement of Black people, generations behind me have no place to call their own. We are treated as strangers in our community. Bayview Hunters Point is becoming very similar to the Fillmore. There need to be more resources allocated to neighborhoods that need it the most, and only then can we even begin to envision San Francisco being affordable to our Black population. These projects need to be developed through the lens of community.” 

“I am born and raised in the Bay, and live in the West Side of San Francisco as a community organizer,” said Amalia Macias-Laventure, West Side Tenants Association. “We do not need more market-rate housing in San Francisco, we need deeply affordable housing. Otherwise this is a repeat of Redevelopment and urban renewal, where we saw our most vulnerable communities targeted with displacement. Listen to the community! We’re out here giving the answers to build a San Francisco where our community stays our community because they can build a life without fear of eviction, displacement, or being priced out.” 

The State of California and Association of Bay Area Governments have assigned a mandate that San Francisco must ratify a set of housing policies in its 2023-2031 Housing Element that will result in 82,069 new housing units with 46,598 (57%) of those being affordable to households that have low to moderate incomes.To create an equitable housing production plan and build over 5,800 affordable units each year, the Citywide People’s Plan lays out real solutions such as buying sites in every district, expanding City and community capacity, and funding streams at every level of government. Achieving these affordable housing goals, and securing the resources needed to achieve them must be the priority of San Francisco’s housing policies in order to build a city that is truly based on racial, social and economic equity.