SEIU 1021 members join SF Sup. Peskin to call for affordable workforce housing construction
Monday, August 5, SEIU 1021 members joined San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin at a press conference to call for immediate implementation of a recently-approved ordinance to fund acquisition and construction of affordable workforce and middle-income housing.
“I know firsthand how housing impacts the city workforce,” said SEIU 1021 Vice President of Organizing Brandon Dawkins at the press conference. ”Roughly 58% of our [San Francisco City and County] workforce does not live in San Francisco. I myself am personally impacted, as I also don’t live in San Francisco, the city I was born and raised in but now can’t afford to live in, and that I’m serving working in the Department of Public Health.
“It takes me up to 2.5 hours to get to work sometimes from East Contra Costa County. There are other members serving this city who live in places like Sacramento and Kern County. It’s insane that we have members serving this city who can’t afford to live here. I’m thankful that with Supervisor Peskin’s leadership, we’re able to work together to find solutions so that the workforce serving the city can actually live in the city.”
On July 23, the SF Board of Supervisors approved Sup. Peskin’s ordinance to create a revenue bond to fund new affordable housing for public employees and middle-income families. Such bonds are frequently used to fund city infrastructure like roads and public transit, but have not previously been used for housing construction in San Francisco.
The press conference was held next to a trash- and water-filled vacant lot surrounded by fencing — a project approved six years ago that should have created 127 units of housing
Currently, there are over 60,000 units’ worth of approved, shovel-ready projects that have been stalled or abandoned by developers due to increased interest rates and calculations that returns would not be high enough to justify the cost of development. The City’s bond financing could unblock those projects.
There are also whole condo buildings sitting empty that the City could acquire and turn into workforce housing, as well as office-to-housing conversions downtown.
“Fortunately I have family that own a house here in SF, so I’m couch surfing. I don’t have the problem of commuting, but I don’t have my own place to stay,” said SEIU 1021 Vice President of San Francisco Kristin Hardy at the press conference. ”I’m also one of the county employees that has applied for numerous BMR [below market rate] rentals and haven’t qualified due to my income—I either make too much or don’t make enough. The majority of our workforce has been gentrified out of our city.
“We’re designated as disaster service workers. We saw that during the pandemic, we had to be frontline workers whether we wanted to or not. We have people coming from Sacramento. If there’s an earthquake, we have to come in, we have to respond, wherever you live. Some of us have to do our work in person. The more workers we get back in San Francisco, the better services San Francisco can deliver to our community and our people.”