Name: S.F. still faces a housing crisis. Where do the Board of Supervisors candidates stand on fixing it?
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S.F. still faces a housing crisis. Where do the Board of Supervisors candidates stand on fixing it?

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This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateSeveral seats on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors are up for grabs this November amid one of the most tumultuous times in city history.Twenty-two candidates, four of whom are incumbents, are vying for the six open seats, though one is uncontested. Mayor London Breed is currently outnumbered by supervisors who don’t align with her politically, and the election could have a profound impact on whether she will have more allies or adversaries on the board.Many of the candidates have similar platforms of cleaning up the city’s dirty streets, addressing the record unemployment caused by the pandemic and making it easier for businesses to operate in the city. But they diverge over how San Francisco should address its crippling housing crisis — the common thread in many of the city’s woes.Political lines have long been drawn in San Francisco over housing: Those who would oppose projects that are not 100% affordable vs. those who insist market-rate housing is crucial to bring down the overall price of housing and fund affordable units.Those who would bristle at the idea of a taller, denser city vs. those who want to bring multi-family buildings into mostly single-family neighborhoods.Those who say neighborhoods should determine how much and what kind of housing they get vs. those who say the system gives too much power to that’s needed for the greater good.The Board of Supervisors is currently dominated by those who prefer buildings made up of 100% affordable housing and want to maintain neighborhood control over housing, even if that slows down the process. Though, . What is even considered “affordable” ranges widely to serve a variety of low- and middle-income residents, between those with no income to those who make 120% of the area’s median income.It’s an age-old debate in the city, but one that has taken on new meaning and urgency this year as the pandemic widens the gaping disparity between the rich and the poor. According to the planning department, of the 19,718 net new units of housing that have been built over the past five years, 23% have been affordable.The Chronicle asked all the candidates in the five contested elections — Supervisor Hillary Ronen of District 9 has no opponents — where they stand on three housing-related questions, regarding affordability requirements, density and bureaucracy. Here’s a summary of their answers by district.For years, politicians and activists around San Francisco have called for more housing in the Richmond District, a working-class neighborhood largely made up of renters and single-family homes. The last few supervisors of this district, which includes north of the Panhandle as well as the Richmond, have maintained that all new housing must be affordable.But the area has seen few new units of housing over the past five years — 184 units, 31 of which are affordable, according to the planning department.Connie Chan, a longtime public servant endorsed by outgoing Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer, agrees with her predecessors in that affordable housing must be prioritized. She supports building higher and denser in major transit corridors — like Geary Boulevard — but only if the additional units are affordable for low- and middle-income residents.She called affordable housing San Francisco’s “greatest need” and said that building more market-rate housing does not necessarily make housing more affordable in general.In contrast, Marjan Philhour, a former top aide to Mayor London Breed, said the only way out of San Francisco’s current housing crisis is to build more homes for all income levels. She would support higher and denser projects along transit corridors. She is also the only candidate in the race to support Breed’s plan to streamline approvals for housing projects that are either 100% affordable or exceed 25% affordability requirements.“For the last 20 years every District One Supervisor has told us that we should only build 100% affordable housing, and we’ve seen the disastrous results,” she said. “We have to move past this shortsighted approach because the results speak for themselves.”Similarly, David Lee, a professor at San Francisco State University, and another candidate, Andrew Majalya, said they would allow market-rate units in new projects.Sherman D’Silva, a manager at Shermsonia Cleaners, said he would support market-rate housing, as long as each new building was 30% affordable, higher than current requirements. Small business owner Veronica Shinzato said she would focus her energy on legalizing more accessory dwelling units, which are garages and in-law units that can be made into homes. Amanda Inocencio, another candidate, could not be reached for comment.District Three is a diverse collection of neighborhoods that includes North Beach, Telegraph Hill, Chinatown, the Financial District and Nob Hill. It is the densest district in the city, which has seen the addition of 598 housing units over the past five years, 218 of which have been affordable, according to the planning department.Current Supervisor Aaron Peskin has presided over the district for three full terms, the first two of which were from 2001 to 2009. While he is often considered a firebrand progressive, he has fallen on both sides of the housing debate.He the Eastern Neighborhoods Plan in 2009, which rezoned 20% of the city — but not in his district — for higher growth. In 2016, he in 2016 with former Supervisor Jane Kim to raise the affordability requirements in new projects to 25%. More recently, he also supported a project outside his district at Balboa Reservoir that was 50% affordable housing.On the other end, he was instrumental in killing a plan to raise height limits on the waterfront in 2013, opposed a state bill that would have allowed for denser housing along transit corridors and also opposed the mayor’s 2019 proposal to streamline housing projects that meet zoning requirements.Danny Sauter, president of North Beach Neighbors and a newcomer in San Francisco politics, offers a different approach: More housing of all kinds. He said he would prioritize market-rate housing that funds affordable housing, and units for middle-income families and workers.“There is no reasonable path to solving our housing crisis unless we allow market-rate housing to be built,” said Sauter, who is endorsed by the pro-housing group Yes in My Backyard.A third candidate, Spencer Simonsen, who works for tech company GoGo Technologies, said he would not support market-rate homes if they were “solely housing and investment property for millionaires or billionaires.” He also said he would support updating the city’s current zoning laws to allow for more density and taller buildings, and the mayor’s proposal to streamline approval for market rate housing.A fourth candidate, Stephen “Lulu” Schwartz, said, “We need a serious long-range plan that supports all housing needs.”This race is basically a repeat of last year — except, this time, Supervisor Dean Preston is the incumbent and former Supervisor Vallie Brown is the challenger.When it comes to housing, the two offer a sharp contrast. Preston, who beat Brown last year by a slim margin, prefers that only 100% affordable housing is built in his district. He would support building higher, denser and market-rate housing only if the city demands more community benefits in exchange.“As for 100% affordable projects, upzone away!” he said.He authored November’s Proposition I, a transfer tax that could generate an average of $196 million annually, which he said could fund affordable housing production. If passed, the money will go into the general fund, which means it’s not guaranteed to go toward affordable housing production — though the Board of Supervisors passed a non-binding resolution that said the money generated from the tax would be used only for affordable housing to help people who couldn’t pay rent due to COVID-19.Daniel Landry, former president of the Fillmore nonprofit the New Community Leadership Foundation, said he does not support building any market-rate housing.About Our NewsroomBrown, on the other hand, said the city “absolutely” needs more housing at all levels. To build more affordable housing, she suggested the city increase inclusionary rates in private developments, and expand a city program that buys rental buildings where the tenants are at risk of displacement to keep people in their homes.She also supported the mayor’s initiative to streamline housing production when she was on the board in 2019, and said she still supports it today. Preston does not.A fourth candidate, Nomvula O’Meara, did not respond to a request for comment.This battle to replace termed out Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee is perhaps the most contentious race this year. District Seven, which includes neighborhoods like Parkmerced, Parkside, Forest Hill and West Portal, is mostly made up of homeowners and families. It has seen the addition of 341 housing units over the past five years, 90 of which have been affordable.Vilaska Nguyen, a San Francisco public defender, said killing all market-rate housing is not the solution to the city’s crisis. But, he said, “one of the only ways” for San Francisco to stabilize the rental market is to build city-owned housing — an expensive plan that would likely cost the city billions of dollars and require substantial rezoning. He said he would not support rezoning the entire city, as “San Francisco wouldn't be San Francisco without the distinctive architectural character of our neighborhoods.”If elected, he said he would work on a 50-year municipal housing plan.On the other end of the housing debate are Myrna Melgar, former president of the Planning Commission; Joel Engardio, vice president of Stop Crime SF; and Ben Matranga, a small business owner, who said they would support mixed-income housing. They all also said they would support allowing taller and denser housing along transit corridors.“Putting five stories of housing along West Portal Avenue, Ocean Avenue and Taraval in District Seven would solve all those problems without harming single-family neighborhoods or west side character,” Engardio said.Emily Murase, a former school board member, and Stephen Martin-Pinto both said they would also support a mix of market-rate and affordable housing. Ken Piper, on the other hand, said he is not “in favor of any housing in D7 that is solely affordable.”This district, which includes the Outer Mission and the Excelsior, has seen the addition of 140 housing units over the past five years, 33 of which are affordable.When it comes to building more, the two main competitors — current Supervisor Ahsha Safaí and former Supervisor John Avalos — have different views.Safaí believes in a balance of affordable and market-rate housing. He helped create Home-SF, a program that grants more density in exchange for more affordable or below-market-rate units. The supervisor also helped update the city’s inclusionary housing policy, which asks private developers to set aside a certain percentage of their units as below-market-rate or affordable.More for youMeanwhile, Avalos said he would push for 100% affordable housing in the district. He also said he would accept more density only if it were affordable.Avalos, who was supervisor for two terms from 2009 to 2017, said the city could scale up its affordable housing investments through a public bank, which currently does not exist.A third candidate in this race, Marcelo Colussi, could not be reached for comment.Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: Twitter:About Our Newsroom

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateSeveral seats on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors are up for grabs this November amid one of the most tumultuous times in city history.Twenty-two candidates, four of whom are incumbents, are vying for the six open seats, though one is uncontested. Mayor London Breed is currently outnumbered by supervisors who don’t align with her politically, and the election could have a profound impact on whether she will have more allies or adversaries on the board.Many of the candidates have similar platforms of cleaning up the city’s...

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Trisha Thadani is a City Hall reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle. She previously covered work-based immigration and local startups for the paper’s business section.  Thadani graduated from Boston University with a degree in journalism. Before joining The Chronicle, she held internships at The Boston Globe, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and was a Statehouse correspondent for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

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Trisha Thadani

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S.F. still faces a housing crisis. Where do the Board of Supervisors candidates stand on fixing it?

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