By Holden Weisman
Director of Policy & Advocacy, Habitat Greater San Francisco
Election season is already kicking into high gear, and there’s lots you can do to support affordable housing and make sure nonprofit, affordable homebuilders like Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco have the resources we need to build. For this advocacy update, we’ll get you prepared for November’s statewide and local San Francisco affordable housing ballot initiatives, and close out with a big thank you to our latest Coro California Fellow.
Affordable Housing and CalHome are on the November Ballot
I owe a big thank you to all of you who took action to make sure that CalHome received dedicated funding in the state Affordable Housing Bond. Now known as the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026, this initiative includes $600 million dollars solely for CalHome, and we at Habitat GSF couldn’t be happier! Of course, our work doesn’t stop there.
The next step is for us, the voters, to make this bond a reality. To officially secure these renewed funds for CalHome along with the rest of the powerful affordable housing and homelessness investments that would be supported through this $11.25 billion bond — it will next appear on the November ballot as statewide Proposition 1 — we need your support by voting in favor of the bond and saying, “Yes on Prop 1!” as loudly and to as many folks as possible.
With your yes vote for Prop 1, thousands of shovel-ready affordable homes will come off the shelf and finally be built with the funding they desperately need. And you can go even farther than only your vote. We encourage you to get involved with the Yes on Prop 1 campaign by encouraging your family and friends to vote for a more affordable housing future across California. You can also join the coalition of supporters as an individual endorser of Prop 1 to stay up to date on the latest campaign developments.
San Francisco is Ready to Invest in More Affordable Housing
For those of you in San Francisco, even more affordable housing funding is on the November ballot. Voters are being asked to support more affordable housing and homeownership production and preservation this November by substantially increasing the amount of money the city would be required to contribute to its existing affordable housing trust fund. If approved, nonprofit developers like Habitat GSF will have far more opportunities to partner with San Francisco to build, rehabilitate, and repair permanently affordable homes potentially with greater financial support allowing us to produce more homes for ownership, faster.
Proposed by District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, San Francisco voters will have the chance to greatly expand the city’s affordable housing trust fund through a charter amendment moved forward unanimously by the Board of Supervisors in July. The charter amendment will now appear on the November ballot as Proposition C – Contributions to the Housing Fund.
If approved, the charter amendment will officially lock-in the trust fund’s dedicated use for affordable housing and homeownership, including for the creation, acquisition, and rehabilitation of these homes. The charter amendment will significantly expand the city’s annual contribution to the fund gradually from the current $52 million to $125 million annually beginning in Fiscal Year 2028. The expiration date of the Housing Trust fund would also be extended from 2043 to 2058. Impressively, the charter amendment would also expand the trust fund without imposing new taxes. Rather, as San Francisco continues to grow especially following recent changes to upzone a large section of the city, a portion of new property tax growth will be set aside and channeled into the Housing Trust Fund.
Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco is proud to support this opportunity for San Francisco to dedicate the necessary resources to invest in real growth in affordable rental and ownership housing. We encourage all San Franciscans who want a more affordable future to vote in favor of Proposition C, the Housing Trust Fund charter amendment, in November!
Thank you, Armaan and Coro California!
Congratulations to Coro California’s Exploring Leadership Program summer graduates! Armaan Patel is pictured fourth from the right.
Habitat GSF was very grateful to host a Fellow from Coro California’s Exploring Leadership summer youth program. For two weeks in July we were joined by Armaan Patel, a rising sophomore at the International School of San Francisco who we tasked with diving deeply into San Francisco’s extensive housing data. Through his research and analysis, Armaan helped us find opportunities for us to work more closely with the Board of Supervisors to craft legislation that could make it easier to build more permanently affordable, deed-restricted homes for ownership across the city. Armaan’s work is already being used by our team in meeting with Supervisors. We can’t thank him and Coro California enough for his contribution to Habitat’s work, and we wish Armaan well on what’s sure to be a successful journey toward a future in public service!
With all of these campaigns and updates, you might not know where to start or what action is best for you. Let us know where we can help by reaching out to me with any questions you may have at hweisman@habitatgsf.org.
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