Under Supervisor Jane Kim's proposed housing balance legislation, more commonly known as “metering,” any market-rate housing project in San Francisco's District 6 seeking approvals would need a separate conditional use approval by the Planning Commission if the ratio of affordable housing to market-rate housing in District 6 were below 30 percent at the time of application to the planning or building department. While the proposal intends to address the problem of housing un-affordability, SPUR’s analysis is that this ordinance is likely to backfire — resulting in less market-rate housing, not more affordable housing. The ordinance will make it extremely difficult to construct new residential market-rate development in the district, which puts more pressure on the existing housing stock (i.e, the same number of renters and buyers competing for a smaller number of homes) and further aggravates our housing affordability crisis.
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