Could Social Housing Solve Everything?
Housing is one of the most important tools we have to address the issues plaguing San Francisco. An increasingly strong body of evidence supports the idea of social housing. What is it and when can we have some here in SF?
The Problems We’re Facing
Evictions on the rise, a turbulent and grossly expensive rental market, old ghosts of gentrification gray rising again. Things are bad in the Bay Area. The AI bubble may be bursting as we speak, and while that would be a shade of schadenfreude for some of us, it could exacerbate the issues we’re seeing on the streets.
Is there any hope left? From doom loop to boom loop, San Francisco is a taut rubber band on a sling shot and we’re firing at the moon. But the moonshot of solving some of our more intractable issues might just be possible with a little something called social housing.
Tanked by… Libs?
In a wide-ranging interview last week on the State of the Left here in San Francisco, former Supervisor Dean Preston explains that many of the exciting ideas coming out of the Mamdani campaign in New York City have been tried in San Francisco.
“You can go idea by idea on the platforms of folks like Mamdani and other Democratic socialists and see that those are similar to policies that have been advanced here, some of which we’ve already won here,” Preston says. So what’s stalled them? Preston explains, “The old liberal forces, usually from the mayor’s office, have had ways to prevent it from coming to fruition.”
Keeping the Soul of the City Alive
Preston says social housing is a great example of this dynamic. “It’s fundamentally socialist idea of trying to really scale up, in a major way, a housing program that’s housing that is off the speculative market, that’s actually affordable for people, provides permanent affordability and freedom from evictions.”
Experts agree that this kind of social housing can stabilize communities and help not just the working class – the benefits trickle up to those at the top, too, through preserving arts, culture, and other intangible resources that make up the soul of a city as dynamic as San Francisco.
If it’s so great, why aren’t we already doing it?
Preston says, “It’s not suffering from a lack of putting that idea out there. And in fact, we passed the tax that would fund them.” But the problem, according to Preston, is that, “We had a mayor who was tight with the real estate industry who refused to spend the fund on social housing, even though the board of supervisors unanimously directed it.”
Still, Preston dreams big. He envisions “really ramping up a social housing program, not like a few hundred units or a few thousand units.” It’s a bold idea, one that would involve building and / or acquiring tens of thousands of units, but he says it will immediately “create a more stable working class that can stay in San Francisco.”
A Bold Vision
Some argue that the left has no bold vision, but Preston pushes back on that. “It’s been not only a full vision, but also something that we did a lot of the hard work of finding the money for.” The primary mechanism was to tax the rich to fund it, a 2018 initiative called Prop C that was just gutted in the Mayor’s recent budget to fund his policing agenda. Another example is Prop M, a 2022 initiative to tax those who keep their secondary vacation homes in San Francisco empty as property investments rather than renting them (also called the Vacancy Tax). “I think it’s just a lack of the political power to fully deliver on a vision that has been articulated and that, in fact, San Francisco voters have voted for over and over.”
Housing First is an approach that has immediate tangible benefits across different levels of income. For example, Preston explains, San Francisco tried the approach during the pandemic by using federal money to move people into hotels. “And we were the only county in the state where homelessness was decreased. That was absolutely working. That is a vision for how to address homelessness.” Unfortunately, he says, “It’s very different from the more conservative current mayor’s approach, which is using police and sweeps and just making, like the DA says, making homeless people, quote unquote, more uncomfortable.”
So who is at fault? Taxing the rich and using evidence-based strategies is increasingly popular, and San Francisco is reputed to be liberal. That might just be the problem. “In San Francisco, our problem is usually not Republicans blocking that. It’s usually more conservative Democrats who undermine those kind of programs.” Why? Preston explains that many of them want to “please billionaire donors that don’t want to be taxed.” And donations aren’t democracy.
What’s Next?
Kyle Smeallie is the policy director for the San Francisco Community Land Trust. “A community land trust is an organization that creates affordable housing by identifying properties that are put on the private market where there are long-term residents who may be at risk of displacement if their buildings are bought by speculators,” Smeallie explains.
This video explainer does a killer job at helping us visualize what Smeallie’s work is all about.
“We step in, we buy the buildings, and we make them permanently affordable. It’s a really cost-effective and important way to make sure communities can stay rooted in San Francisco.”
Affordable for Whom?
Smeallie’s organization uses a particular definition of the word “affordable.” He explains, “Affordable is based on what’s called area median income and that basically is a metric that averages out how much money people make in The City.” The SFCLT aims for their properties to average 80% of that amount. “It’s for people who are teachers, who are in-home care workers, who are nurses… People who may not have the ability to afford market rate.”
What’s Market Rate?
Market rate is one of those tricky terms that can confuse a well-intentioned reader. It means however much people are willing to pay at the market for housing; it can (and often does) translate into extremely expensive, especially in today’s increasingly speculative market.
Smeallie says, “Social housing is housing that’s owned or operated by an entity that does not have a profit motive… It provides strong protections for residents against eviction. It’s off the private market.” These protections aren’t just financial. Smeallie says, “It provides avenues for residents to be engaged and involved in the self-determination of their housing. It’s housing that is designed for people, not for profit.”
What the Housing Market is Like
Right now, the housing market is what Smeallie calls “a tool for developers to make as much money as they can.” But social housing is a reimagining of how we approach housing. This helps communities to stay rooted in the long-term as the market fluctuates. Smeallie explains that the Community Land Trust, which has been doing social housing since the 1960s, is the “proof of concept” of this model. It’s just missing one key thing: Investment.
There are a few ways folks can support this kind of work on the ground level. “We have a burgeoning membership program. We also have a cool event coming up at the Roxy theater on September 17. It’s a film screening and panel discussion connecting our work to some of the organizing efforts happening across the country.” You can find details for that event here.
State Bill 555
There’s also an exciting discussion happening at the state level on what social housing could look like called State Bill 555. It’s a two year study process for the state to look at different models of social housing and to figure out sort of what might be appropriate. They’ll be giving recommendations to the state legislature at the end of 2026. Smeallie says, “That’ll be a really critical time for folks to mobilize on the ground. To stand up and say this is the housing future we want in California.”
Rezoning and History
There’s a significant rezoning plan up for approval by our electeds later this fall in October that will pave the way for more market rate housing, particularly on the West Side. It’s already causing strain on the small business community, with SF Heritage pleading with history nerds to speak up before it’s too late. In their newsletter, they explain, “If the proposed upzoning of properties sparks the construction boom the city and state hope for, then thousands of eligible but undesignated historic sites will be at risk. Many of the city’s more than 400 legacy businesses could also face displacement.”
The protectors of our complex history aren’t the only ones concerned. Smeallie says it’s also worrying to the Community Land Trust. He explains that the rezoning isn’t the concern, but rather the lack of investment in the affordable housing side of the equation. There’s very little on ramping up public investment.
Here’s the lowdown: When you look at rezoning you’re really talking about creating more developable capacity on certain pieces of land. If you go from being allowed to build a duplex, for example, that’s two units on a parcel, to building a large apartment complex with four or six or ten units, it immediately and significantly increases the value of that land. This creates an economic incentive for a property owner who has a rent control tenant to evict them and create 10 more units.
What’s the Problem?
So what’s the problem with that? It’s more housing, isn’t it? But remember, because of Costa-Hawkins, those 10 units are at market rate. They’re not rent control housing. Smeallie explains, “That’s one of the specific things that we’re deeply concerned about. They’re removing protections to prevent the demolition of rent control housing.”
Ideally, this is where the Community Land Trust would come in. “If they were doing this responsibly, they’d be looking at significant public investment so that we could be intervening and acquiring some of these properties to offset some of the short term displacement trends, but we’re not seeing that.”
Does this have anything to do with the San Francisco Housing Authority, whose director just stepped down? Yes and no. Smeallie says, “They’ve managed federally funded properties. They had a major restructure about 10 years ago.” During that time, the Housing Authority lost control and created communication gaps that resulted in terrible property management. It’s unfortunately perpetuating some stigma associated with the idea of housing that’s supported by the public. A lot of people also confuse programs like Section 8 with social housing and affordable housing, complicating matters further.
The Bottom Line
“The bottom line is that no matter what you pay [in] rent you deserve a healthy and stable home,” Smeallie insists. “That should be a basic standard for every single person regardless of how much they pay.”
The future of social housing could be really exciting. The labor movement could push for a living wage on new housing, and there could even be more green collar jobs and job training. “The environmental impacts of demolishing housing and then building new is significant,” Smeallie says. Preservation and rehab also costs a quarter of what it costs to build new. “It isn’t either or. We need all. But when we look at a time where everyone acknowledges there’s limited budgets, investing in community land trust preservation is a really smart way to use public dollars.”
Howdy! My name is Katy Atchison and I'm an Associate Editor for Broke-Ass Stuart.
I want to take the time to say thank you for supporting independent news media by reading BrokeAssstuart.com. Supporting independent news sources like Broke-Ass Stuart is vital to supporting our community because it amplifies the voices of a wide variety of diverse opinions. You also help support small businesses and local artists by sharing stories from Broke-Ass Stuart.
Because you're one of our supporters, I wanted to send over a pro-tip.
Our bi-weekly newsletter is a great way to get round ups of Broke-Ass Stuart stories, learn about new businesses in The Bay Area, find out about fun local events and be first in line for giveaways.
If you’d like to get our newsletter, signup right here, it takes 5 seconds.
