Statement Regarding Metropolitan Transportation Commission Vote to Remove Bay Area Affordable Housing Bond from November Ballot

On Wednesday morning, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission voted to remove the long-planned and widely supported $20 billion regional affordable housing bond (BAHFA) measure from the November 2024 ballot. San Francisco alone would have received $2.4 billion for affordable housing units. A bond of this size could have made a dramatic difference in housing affordability and homelessness. 

It is inconceivable that this happened. The lack of transparency around the decision to pull this from the ballot is deeply concerning. This campaign had numerous high priced consultants, broad support, and a path to victory. We need some answers and accountability to ensure that something of this magnitude and importance is not botched in the future.

In the meantime, this November we can lay the groundwork for a future housing bond by passing Prop 5, a statewide ballot measure that would lower the supermajority threshold for infrastructure and affordable housing bonds from two-thirds to 55%. Requiring a two-thirds vote to pass these kinds of bonds is an outdated requirement that serves to give a veto power to a minority of more conservative voters over crucial public investments.

This demise of the BAHFA bond creates additional urgency for political leaders and advocates to utilize every existing opportunity to fund affordable housing locally. We must not abandon the bold vision that the bond offered of scaling up affordable housing preservation and protection, including underfunded strategies like municipal housing, community land trusts, and limited equity co-ops. We must recommit to our goals for truly affordable housing that San Franciscans need– 46,000 units as required in our Housing Element. We can’t rely on the market to solve our City’s housing affordability crisis. The wealth generated in our local economy must support the working class who have literally built this City. 

City leaders should unequivocally commit to using all Prop I funds every year for social housing, utilizing the Faircloth-to-RAD program to leverage federal funds to create 3,668 deeply affordable homes, defending crucial taxes on the wealthy including Prop. I and Prop. C, using debt financing tools that can be passed at the Board to create workforce housing, and lobbying relentlessly for state affordable housing funds. At the same time, our City must launch an emergency large-scale Street-to-Home program focused on filling vacant homes.

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