SF Chronicle: Game changer? Bay Area could get up to $20 billion for affordable housing

Final Budget Maintains Prior Housing Commitments with Additional Investments, Emphasizes Need for Deeper Strategy Ahead

June 30, 2023

The tops of two cranes with the blue sky in the background

CBS Bay Area: Work begins on controversial housing project in Marin County

August 9, 2023

As San Francisco and other cities face pressure from the state to build unprecedented levels of affordable housing, officials throughout the Bay Area are hatching a plan to help the construction with a windfall of money.

They aim to put a regional bond measure on the November 2024 ballot for as much as $20 billion — and possibly try to amend the state constitution to help it and similar measures pass. Because builders could use the money to qualify for other funding, it could unlock as much as an additional $30 billion.

Despite widespread acknowledgement that the need for affordable housing is dire, the measure’s fate is uncertain. Like other general-obligation bond measures in California, this one needs a super majority of “yes” votes, or two-thirds support, in order to pass.

“Lots of things got shaken up in the pandemic,” said Amie Fishman, executive director of Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California, which is trying to grow support for the measure. “And you see that when voters become nervous about economic outlook, there’s some amount of erosion” of support for policies like this, she said.