Housing

State Senator Scott Wiener's transit housing bill, S.B. 827, was defeated by a six-to-four vote in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee yesterday. "While I’m disappointed that Senate Bill 827 won’t be moving forward this year, I’m heartened by the conversation it has started, both with those who support the bill and with critics of the bill," wrote Wiener, in a prepared statement about the vote. "The passion we have seen around this bill is driven by what we are all feeling--that California’s housing costs are unsustainable and our housing policies aren’t working. California needs to get at the heart of our housing shortage, not just work around the edges, or we will become a hollowed out state with no middle class."

Senator Scott Wiener has revised S.B. 827, the Transit-Rich Housing Bonus, his bill to allow more housing near public transportation.

"The land in this state is like a sponge--it soaks up all the creative ability of the people," said Kim-Mai Cutler, Operating Partner at Initialized Capital, and a tech journalist. The cost of rent and mortgages consumes all of peoples' work and creativity, without providing the things they need, such as "mass transit, schools, and universities--it’s frustrating for a younger generation," she added.

Over the summer, YIMBY--shorthand for 'Yes-In-My Backyard'--organizers from all over the nation gathered in Oakland to share strategies on how to advance their brand of pro-development urbanism. The 'YIMBYtown' conference brought over 200 attendees and an impressive roster of guest speakers.

The San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), during a lunchtime presentation yesterday, developed a blueprint to bring down Bay Area housing prices in five years, so that everyone who wants to live in the city can afford a home.

"Our planning process is broken," said San Francisco Planning Commissioner and SPUR SF director Christine Johnson, at a panel discussion last night in the Mission held by the YIMBY party of San Francisco. YIMBY's mission, for those who may not be familiar with the group, is to advocate for affordable and market-rate housing, with the goal of bringing down cost in the Bay Area.

Yesterday evening the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) held a panel discussion about efforts to provide housing for families. The presentation, held at their downtown SF location, also doubled as a rally supporting legislation from Supervisor Katy Tang of District 4 (Sunset/Parkside), called Home-SF, which aims to increase the amount of work-force and family housing in the city.

How can San Francisco keep families from moving away? That was the central question of a panel discussion this afternoon hosted by the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR). The panel included Susan Exline of the San Francisco Planning Department, Daniel Parolek, architect with Opticos Design, and San Francisco's District Seven Supervisor Norman Yee. The panel was lead by SPUR Board Member Doug Shoemaker.

Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that, if affirmed by the voters, would allow them to increase affordable housing requirements. Meanwhile, in Sacramento, lawmakers want to spend $1.3 billion on low-income housing. Both will help with the Bay Area housing crisis and it's great that San Francisco and California are working on the problem. But what about the Feds?