San Francisco officials advocate building city worker housing at vacant lot
SAN FRANCISCO -- City officials are hoping a vacant site filled with debris and water in downtown San Francisco will soon be transformed into housing for essential city workers.
On Monday, Supervisor President Aaron Peskin joined affordable housing advocates and members of the SEIU 1021 labor union next to the space at 350 Fifth St. to discuss the urgent need for middle-income housing that's below market rate.
Legislation spearheaded by Peskin that was approved last Thursday will hopefully help speed up the process to transform it into 127 units.
The developer of the property was foreclosed on, and the site is now owned by the lender. Although it has become a literal swamp, Peskin called for the lender to work with the city and develop it into workforce housing.
"In normal market conditions that we're in, this project would not be built for another five to seven years. With the availability of this cheaper interest financing, this project can start being built in the next year," Peskin said. "This property is literally and economically underwater. We can turn that around."
SEIU 1021 is the largest union in the city with about 16,000 members who perform essential services such as bus drivers, janitors, nurses and other city workers. 13,000 of those are under one contract.
There are 7,465 members out of the 13,000, roughly 58%, who work in San Francisco but cannot afford to live there, said SEIU 1021 Vice President of Organizing Brandon Dawkins. Dawkins, a San Francisco native, is also impacted by the unattainable rents for market-rate housing.
"I also don't live in San Francisco, the city that I was born and raised in but now can't even afford to live here. I'm serving this city, working for the Department of Public Health. It takes me up to two and a half hours to get to work sometimes from East Contra Costa County," he said.
As of August 2024, the average price to rent a two-bedroom unit in San Francisco is $4,000 and one-bedroom units cost about $2,900 to rent, according to Zillow housing data.
Some essential workers within the union make too much money to be eligible for low-income housing but not enough to afford market-rate homes and apartments in the city, said Kristin Hardy, vice president of SEIU 1021's San Francisco region.
Even nurses, which are some of the highest-paid members of the union, cannot afford to live in the city, Hardy said.
"We have nurses that actually live in Las Vegas and travel here to work, sleep on couches and then go back at the end of the week," Dawkins said. "That is insane."
The Workforce Housing and Affordable Middle-Income Revenue Bonds program, which the Board passed unanimously, allows for tax-exempt government-issued revenue bonds to help finance the acquisition and development of below market rate housing at lower interest rates. It will help construct housing at 15% below market rate designated for workers who earn 80% to 120% of the area median income.
Revenue bonds are typically used for city buildings and infrastructure projects like bridges and highways. But the new legislation has helped position workforce housing as a critical part of the city's infrastructure.
"It is as important to the vitality of this city as sewers, streets and schools. We need housing for our people who serve this city to be here," said Fernando Marti, a housing activist and former co-director of the Council of Community Housing Organizations, a coalition of affordable housing advocates.