It doesn’t have to be this way. Next week, Bay Area residents will weigh in on ballot measures that could tackle their untenable vacancy problem. People First San Francisco, a campaign led by the local Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), advocates a slate of three propositions – M, O, and H – as inequality antidotes, springboards for tenant and worker power.
Proposition M, an empty homes tax, would target units in larger buildings that are vacant for the majority of the year on a sliding scale – investing revenue in the creation, acquisition, and revitalization of affordable housing stock and in rental subsidies for elderly and low-income San Franciscans.
“No one lives in San Francisco and is not impacted by the homelessness crisis that we have here,” reflects Gwen McLaughlin, the field director for Proposition M. She recounted stories from volunteers, for whom “rental subsidies have been the difference between staying in or leaving San Francisco, or becoming homeless.” Intertwining immediate cash relief with the longer-term investment of housing acquisition has strengthened the proposition’s coalition, along with its mission to “maximize the use of existing housing stock.”
Proponents of the measure, which is modeled off a successful effort in Vancouver, BC, believe it will immediately result in the relisting of 4,500 units and eventually generate around $15-$37 million each year.
“We’re just asking that you pay your fair share for affordable housing,” says McLaughlin. “If you have the means to own multiple units and large properties in San Francisco, and you keep them empty and don’t collect rent on them, I am so confident that you are not going to be sent to the poor house with this tax.”
Instead, she continues, “you can avoid it by just simply renting out your unit, and you might have to lower the price, because no one’s going to pay that much for it.” (On-record opponents of the legislation, who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars against it, include landlord and real estate groups, anti-taxation PACs, and multimillionaire Republican socialite Dede Wilsey.) “But you’re choosing to contribute to a vacancy problem, so we’re asking you to help with homelessness prevention and with affordable housing.”
Alongside M, Proposition O would levy a new progressive property tax to revitalize San Francisco’s City College, a mobility engine for local students who can attend for free. Educating over 60,000 students, the community college offers technical and associates degree programs, ESL classes, emergency response training, and art. When People First organizer Sam Heft-Luthy speaks to potential voters, he recounts, “you say ‘City College’ and people start pouring out stories about how it saved their life.”
This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Bella DeVaan.
Bella DeVaan | Radio Free (2022-11-03T04:40:36+00:00) San Francisco Confronts Inequality at the Ballot Box. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2022/11/03/san-francisco-confronts-inequality-at-the-ballot-box/
Please log in to upload a file.
There are no updates yet.
Click the Upload button above to add an update.