Report: San Francisco Spinning Its Wheels on Affordable Housing

Over the last decade, San Francisco has been losing rent-controlled apartments almost as fast as it's been creating new affordable units.

The city's Housing Balance Report -- a report card of sorts from the San Francisco Planning Department -- shows the city gained 6,559 affordable units between 2005 and 2014.  But at the same time, landlords have taken some 5,470 rent-controlled apartments off the market, largely due to Ellis Act evictions and owner move-ins.

The report highlights the vast differences between city neighborhoods when it comes to affordable housing production.

Over the past decade, the report says, 3,307 units of affordable housing have been created in District 6, which includes the South of Market and Rincon Hill neighborhoods, where construction is booming. By contrast, District 2, which includes Pacific Heights and the Marina, gained only 37 new affordable units.

Supervisor Katy Tang represents District 4, where just 15 affordable units were built over the course of a decade. She says that's largely due to the fact that the district's Sunset and Parkside neighborhoods are dominated by small, single-family homes, and many property owners want to keep it that way.

"There's a high contrast between some of the people who don't want to welcome new people into our neighborhoods, and the people who see that there is a housing challenge and we need to do more to solve this problem," Tang says.

Tang is backing a plan to build about 1,000 affordable units along the area's main transit corridors. To preserve neighborhood character, she says, the new apartments would not exceed the area's current height limits.

"We are not going to be seeing any high-rises anytime soon," she says. "However, let's do our part to build and create new housing units on the west side of town."

To further increase her district's housing supply, Tang is also considering proposing legislation allowing property owners to build detached "in-law" units in their backyards.

"We're trying to figure out every way possible to see how we can rise to the occasion and help with our housing challenge," she says.