My Housing Record

In recent weeks, housing has been on the brain as San Franciscans debate Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Family Zoning Plan. Since my name has come up in some of these conversations, I’d like to take the opportunity to explain a bit more about my work to build more homes – especially affordable homes – to lower costs for families in every part of this amazing City. I’d also like to correct the record on some significant misinformation – some of it being spread via A.I. – about what exactly my housing laws do and why I do this work.

The first thing you should know is that the laws I have passed have already helped build more than 3,000 subsidized affordable homes in San Francisco, available to families, individuals, seniors, teachers and veterans for as little as $500 per month or less. I fought for and passed these laws because the cost of housing is pushing too many people – especially working-class people, seniors and our next generation of young people – out of San Francisco. These homes allow multiple generations of San Franciscans to stay together in their neighborhoods and enjoy the greatest city in the world at an affordable price.

While some have accused me of being a “water boy” for private developers, the truth is that nearly all the homes built in San Francisco under the laws I’ve authored have been below market rate (BMR), affordable homes built by nonprofit developers. In San Francisco, my most-used housing law is SB-35/423, which streamlines and accelerates the permitting and approvals for new homes. That law has been used to build 29 housing projects in San Francisco that are 100% BMR, affordable homes built mostly by nonprofit developers – more than three times the number of market rate housing built by private developers. This data is publicly available on the San Francisco Planning Department’s website, and you can check it out on its Housing Dashboard.

With a record like that, the private developers may need to find a new “water boy!”

Improving affordability for you and your family is the first, second, third, fourth and fifth reason for my housing work.

While I support building all kinds of housing – both below market rate and market rate –to alleviate our severe housing shortage, the idea that my housing work doesn’t focuson affordability is laughable. I do this work exclusively because housing in San Francisco is off-the-charts expensive, and we need to stabilize costs and bring them down.

My streamlining law has turned the process of permitting affordable homes from a yearslong ordeal to a matter of months, allowing us to deliver more affordable homes even faster. The streamlined process cuts significant costs that allow scarce housing dollars to stretch further to build more homes, more efficiently. Some people call that radical, but to me it’s simply good government.

Affordable Homes for Multiple Generations on the West Side

The laws I’ve authored and state funding I have championed are already benefitting the westside neighborhoods through hundreds of new affordable homes:

• In the Richmond, we just celebrated the opening of the first new affordable housing project in many years at 4200 Geary Blvd./383 Sixth Ave. – 98 affordable homes for seniors and veterans.

• In the Sunset, 90 affordable homes at 2550 Irving St. will support working-class families earning between $28,000 and $106,550 per household, with priority given to families that already live in the Sunset.

• In the Sunset, 135 affordable homes at 1351 42nd Ave. will prioritize teachers, school employees and their families.

I’m especially proud that many of these homes allow multiple generations of San Franciscans to stay together, whether by sharing homes with two or three bedrooms, or by providing an affordable option for elders to stay in the same neighborhood as their kids and grandkids. One of the most heartbreaking consequences of our housing crisis is watching young people and the next generation be forced to move away from their parents and the City they love because of a lack of affordable housing. In all my housing work, I keep a strong focus on creating opportunities for multiple generations to stay together in San Francisco.

While far more work remains to be done to tackle our housing crisis, I’m proud to have played a role in getting these important projects off the ground.

Fighting for Affordable Housing in Congress

We urgently need to deliver more affordable homes to San Franciscans, and I’m runningfor Congress to use the full power of the federal government to build the affordable homes we need to lower costs for families in San Francisco.

In Congress, I will fight for a massive investment in affordable housing, so that in the coming years and decades we can continue developing thousands more affordable homes to lower costs across the City. I will tie these investments to good government process reforms for permitting, building on the success of SB-35 to ensure that our public dollars are spent efficiently rather than getting gummed up in bureaucratic nightmares we’ve seen all too often from our government.

This effort would bring major resources home to San Francisco to boost housing affordability to the next level. I look forward to discussing this and other critically important issues facing the west side in the coming months as I seek to earn your vote in the election next June.

Scott Wiener represents San Francisco and northern San Mateo County in the California State Senate. He chairs the Senate Budget Committee and co-chairs the California Legislative Jewish Caucus. He previously chaired the Senate Housing Committee and the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus. He can be reached at 415-557-1300.