San Francisco seniors who rent homes are “disproportionately lower income” according to a 2018 Planning Department report. A measure on the city’s fall ballot is meant to help them.
Prop G would set aside a small cut of the city’s budget each year – at least $8.25 million – to help cover some or all housing costs for seniors making up to $1,500 a month. That income level is well below San Francisco’s $8,700 median monthly income for a one-person household.
An annual outlay of $8.25 million is about 0.05 percent of the city’s current $14.6 billion budget, its largest ever. It’s less money than last year’s budget for the Asian Art Museum or for the mayor’s staff.
For those concerned about spending during a budget deficit, the measure makes a small concession. After the first year, if the projected deficit in any year exceeds $250 million, the Prop G funding would drop by about half, to a minimum of $4 million.
Good governance groups often balk at budget set-asides because they decrease lawmakers’ flexibility. The city charter itself has warnings: “While these Set-Asides often promote laudable public purposes, collectively they impair the capacity of the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors to carry out one of the most important functions they are elected to perform.” (Imagine trying to knit a sweater where much of the yarn has already been designated for the sleeves.)
Yes On G spokesperson Meg Heisler says the set-aside is so small compared to the size of the budget that it’s unlikely to gum up the budget process. A constellation of backers have sidelined any budget qualms that may exist.
Every member of the Board of Supervisors voted to put Prop G on the ballot, and it has the backing of Mayor London Breed and an array of affordable housing developers and advocates. “A just society takes care of our grandmas and grandpas,” Sup. Aaron Peskin said when introducing the measure in May.
Peskin, termed out of his supervisor seat this year, is running for mayor.
Affordable housing – even for seniors – often meets neighborhood opposition across the city, including a church’s attempt to build on its property that was delayed nearly a decade.
In 2021, the Mayor’s Office of Housing & Community Development estimated that of more than 22,600 “city-funded affordable homes” in SF, nearly 60 percent housed at least one resident aged 62 or older.
And more than 2,500 included at least one disabled resident. “Of those seniors living in renter households, about half are rent burdened and about a quarter are severely rent burdened,” according to the 2018 Planning report.
Writing in favor of the measure, Malcolm Yeung, spokesperson for the Chinatown Community Development Center, calls G an investment in “a stable future for the San Franciscans who need it most.”
Chinatown, which is in Peskin’s district, could benefit from the measure greatly. SF Planning data estimates 93 percent of Chinatown homes are rental units, and more than 50 percent of Chinatown households include someone over the age of 60.
No guaranteed source
Using city funds and grants, the city already subsidizes a limited number of rental units for extremely low-income seniors, as the text of Prop G notes. But there is no guaranteed source of funding.
If voters approve Prop G, the city would automatically commit “at least” $8.25 million then bump it up by as much as 3 percent each year until it expires in 2046. Peskin’s office projects the program could cover up to 2,200 households.
Controller George Wagner estimates that the total cost to the city over the 20-year life of the fund would range from $161 million to $222 million.
The sole formal opponent is Republican tech executive Larry Marso, a perennial critic of city spending. Marso has submitted ballot arguments against five voter measures in November.
In his official argument against Prop G, Marso calls it “a short-term fix” and warns that the city will have to make cuts elsewhere to subsidize homes. Instead, he says, SF should make renters less vulnerable by increasing the housing supply, and he notes that the city “recently passed a substantial housing bond.” (He does not note that he campaigned against that bond, which authorized borrowing $300 million to boost affordable housing. Marso did not return requests for comment.)
SF is far behind on the housing goals laid out in the plan the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved in early 2023. It calls for 82,000 new homes this decade, more than half of them affordable. Economic doldrums are a big factor in the lag, and lawmakers are floating new policies they hope will ramp up housing production.
Prop G does not propose or finance new housing, it’s only to help cover rent for existing tenants. But Sam Moss, executive director of affordable housing developer Mission Housing and a Prop G supporter, tells The Frisc the measure’s subsidies could add incentives to entice developers into the senior housing market.
Prop G spokesperson Heisler agrees and says the city’s annual guarantee of rent coverage could help “lenders and builders feel confident.”