Welcome to Mission Local’s “Meet the Candidates” series, in which District 9 supervisorial hopefuls respond to a question in 100 words or fewer.
You can see all previous questions here.
Question: Should SF be intent on creating affordable housing or all housing and should districts absorb the need for new housing equally?
Jackie Fielder
Former educator at San Francisco State University, co-founder of the San Francisco Public Bank Coalition. Democratic Socialist. Tenant.
Fielder lived in District 9 Sept. 2017 to June 2018, Oct. 2019 to Aug. 2020 and April 2021 to present.
“SF should create housing at all income levels, striving for 100% affordability wherever possible. The State mandates 57% of our new housing be affordable to people of extremely low to moderate incomes, which is what I’ll fight for.
However, the market will never build enough affordable housing, even in economic booms, because it’s not as profitable. City government must ensure continuous construction, especially in downturns such as these. Establishing a public bank with low- and no-interest loans and utilizing revenue bonds for patient capital investment is crucial. We need a robust housing finance infrastructure to address these challenges effectively.”
Jaime Gutierrez
Transit supervisor for SFMTA/MUNI. Tenant.
Gutierrez has lived in D9 since 1967.
“Housing is a basic fundamental human right that should be regulated by local, state and federal governments. San Francisco should involve itself in the business of creating adequate housing that is not only affordable, but must be environmentally conscious in its construction and maintenance.
It should create a sense of community and safety for its residents. Housing involves planning, financing, permitting, materials, and quality craftsmanship. Housing, like food and shelter is a need for survival. By this definition, housing must be affordable. Therefore, I shall champion policies that aid with securing housing.”
Roberto Hernandez
CEO, Cultura y Arte Nativa de Las Americas (CANA). Homeowner.
Hernandez was born in the Mission in June 1956 and has not left.
“District 9 is special because people all over the world want to live here — yet many families struggle to stay in their homes. I’ve prioritized affordable housing throughout my career because despite years of promises from City Hall, we haven’t built enough, especially on SF’s west side.
But the crisis has reached a point where we must urgently devise creative solutions to benefit all residents seeking housing, including mixed-income for the missing middle that helps fund our affordable housing program. We need first-time-homebuyer programs because ownership creates stability for future generations. And I want our housing built by union members.”
Michael Petrelis
AIDS and LGBTQ activist.
Petrelis has lived on Clinton Park since May 1996, which became part of District 9 in April 2022.
Petrelis wrote in to say, “I’m skipping sending a reply this week, as is rather obvious.”
Stephen Torres
LGBTQ activist, producer and journalist. Tenant.
Torres lived in District 9 Summer 2001 to Fall 2003 and returned in the Summer 2010.
“Our city requires intention and actual planning. To thrive equitably, we need to prioritize affordable and deeply affordable housing.
Under the previous Housing Element, we exceeded our market-rate goals while falling short on affordable housing by 8,000 units. Meanwhile, working families have been forced out of our city.
Trickle-down economics didn’t work in the ’80s, and trickle-down housing won’t work now. To borrow from the current supervisor, it is possible to be both pro-housing and pro-neighborhood.”
Julian Bermudez
Works in and directs his family business, Rancho Grande Appliance. Tenant.
Bermudez moved to the Mission in 2011, left for college, back in 2019, left for Army and returned in late 2022.
“Creating Affordable Housing First. The solution to our housing crisis is rent control. Rent regulation is the fastest way to see our city change overnight and to put money back into everyone’s pockets. When I am doing jobs around the city, it’s common to be told by a tenant that their rent rises even though there haven’t been any updates to the building or even regular upkeep. I have a three-step plan to rehabilitate our renting market and possibly revitalize the housing market.
First, I plan to replace property taxes with a “land use” tax to help property owners with affordable or below-market-rate housing. Read more.”
h brown
Retired special education teacher. Tenant.
Brown has lived in his current address for nine years, redistricted into District 9 in April 2022
“Build for the people living on the streets first.
Only way to do that is through federally subsidized housing like in the old days.
City should be land banking every Veritas property in foreclosure.
Buy whatever property SFUSD is about to sell and land bank that too.
Land bank Laguna Honda for certain and fast.
Buy the giant failed department stores and landbank them, too.
Build no higher than 45′, which is tallest SFFD ladder that can operate manually in rubble.
For Maximum Density go ahead and Land Bank 45′ dwellings under the ground.
Build a statue of Henry George !”
Trevor Chandler
Former director of government and public policy at Citizen, a public safety app. Substitute teacher at SFUSD. Tenant.
Chandler has lived in D9 since July 2021.
“Building the 41,000 units of affordable housing mandated by the Housing Element will require an all-of-the-above strategy pursuing both mixed and 100% affordable housing. It’s why I support eliminating fees on 100% affordable housing and modernizing our broken permitting process.
I also support enforcing Neighborhood Preference to ensure affordable units are prioritized in immediate area market-rate units so we can fight gentrification.
We can build the housing we desperately need while protecting our neighborhoods, but we must move beyond the stale ideological fights that led us to this crisis in the first place.”
Candidates are rotated alphabetically. Answers may be lightly edited for formatting, spelling, and grammar. If you have questions for the candidates, please let Mission Local know at lydia.chavez@missionlocal.com.
Read the rest of the series here. Illustrations for the series by Neil Ballard.
You can register to vote via the sf.gov website.