Supervisor’s bill would let nonprofits sue SF for housing failure

Come and get it – and bring your lawyers.

That’s the message of San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston, who is introducing a bill to allow nonprofits to sue the city if it fails to meet its ambitious affordable housing goal, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

This week, state housing regulators gave a preliminary nod to San Francisco’s plan to build 82,000 homes in the next eight years. The state-mandated housing element includes plans to build 46,000 affordable units for low- to moderate-income households.

The progressive supervisor said he’s introducing the legislation to let nonprofits that advocate for low-income housing sue the city if the affordable goal isn’t met.

“We don’t take lightly creating the power for the city to be taken to court,” Preston said in a statement. “But as a legislative body, we cannot in good conscience approve plans that have no possibility of succeeding without also creating a consequence for failure and a remedy that forces the affordable housing we need.”

Preston has complained the state demands a massive influx of affordable housing without giving the city funds to help build it.

The new housing goal is a tall order for San Francisco, which only built half the affordable units required by its last eight-year mandate. Its latest agreed-upon goal is even steeper.

Preston said his legislation aims to give more teeth to the housing plan by imposing harsher consequences – beyond state fines, a loss of funding and local planning control – if the affordable production goals aren’t met.

Though it could put a gun to the city by encouraging legal action, he said he didn’t want the legislation to “financially punish the city.”

“The goal is to make good on our affordable housing commitments so working-class people can afford to live here,” Preston said.

Supervisors will take a final vote on the housing plan next week. It’s not yet clear if Preston’s separate bill to allow lawsuits would succeed.

— Dana Bartholomew