Mike Solana

We wrote Prop I to double the tax on the highest end real estate sales. The goal was to tax the rich to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for social housing (and also incentivize sellers to sell to the city or nonprofits for social housing by which they could avoid the tax).

In 2020, we unanimously passed an accompanying resolution and two ordinances directing the funds to rent relief and social housing. These votes were the first time the SF BOS went on record in support of social housing and we did so unanimously.

Another barrier to social housing: the state’s racist Article 34, brought to you by CA Realtors lobby. It bans public housing without a separate vote at the ballot. Laksh Basin and @sfberniecrats came to us with Prop K to authorize 10,000 units of social housing in SF.

Prop K was the most popular measure in the SF ballot in November. It passed with 73% of the vote. A truly unprecedented mandate for publicly owned housing to be part of the conversation. The message: the SF electorate is wide open to social housing.

Prop I was outspent 20-1 with the Chron editorial page predictably attacking it. The Real Estate lobby spent a fortune to lie about the measure. The Mayor demanded we remove it from the ballot. But our coalition was broad and strong. It passed with 58% of the vote.

We immediately began working to identify people with interest & expertise to fill the Housing Stability Fund Oversight Board. Yesterday, Rules Committee recommended members. The experience & expertise of the nominees is incredible. They now head to the full BOS next week.

Despite predictions that property sales would grind to a halt because of the recession and Prop I, the revenue has outpaced expectations. The Controller just doubled his projections of the revenue for this year.

My office has moved decisively to direct the Prop I funds for the intended purposes. Our $20 million budget supplemental will be at Budget Committee tomorrow. It directs $10m to MOHCD for social housing and $10m for covid rent relief. This is just the beginning.