In Just three weeks, more than 15,000 San Francisco residents signed petitions to put Proposition I on the November ballot. Proposition I would temporarily stop luxury development in the Mission District so that the community can develop a plan for more affordable housing.
San Francisco is not building the housing it needs. Instead, we are seeing developments where the rent for a new two-bedroom unit can range from $6,000 to $9,800. The two-bedroom condominiums just built at 20th and Valencia streets are now on the market for between $1.7 and $2.5 million. Housing such as this is out of reach for most the city’s residents. Worse yet, luxury housing creates a ripple effect in the neighborhood, which raises rents, leads to evictions and displaces small businesses. The Latino population in the Mission has already been cut by one third, and that trend is continuing.
There are currently as many luxury units planned for the Mission as were built in the past 7 years, and fewer than 12 percent of all these units are affordable to a family of four earning less than $122,300.
Developers will continue to build luxury projects because they can make tens of millions of dollars on each large development. That’s why they will spend millions of dollars to defeat Proposition I and will use lies and scare tactics to do so.
Proposition I is vital to the survival of the Mission. We need help from Mission residents as well as all San Franciscans who feel that their neighborhood could be next.
You can help by putting up a house sign, by working on voter registration, by helping drop off literature, or by calling family and friends and reminding them to vote ”yes” on Proposition I. Visit our website at www.savethemission.org to volunteer or contribute financially.
J. Scott Weaver is a long time housing and tenant activist and attorney and works with the Save the Mission campaign and the San Francisco Tenants Union. He is on the Board of Directors of Accíon Latina.