Wealthy residents and businesses team up to halt affordable housing.

Photo above - Steve McQueen pursues bad guys in San Francisco in the 1968 film Bullitt. Fast forward to 2025 - police can't afford to live there anymore.

I was going to devote today’s column to some local town council which rejected the demolition of a rotting vacant home to make way for a new 3 story/3 family residence. Council members said the architect's rendering was “unaesthetic”. I know – stop laughing. This is NIMBYism at its stealthiest, right?

Then this (link below) dropped into my lap: a citywide plan for 82,000 affordable housing units in San Francisco might go back to the drawing board. Two political activist groups – masquerading as non-profits to avoid paying taxes – have launched lawsuits. They call themselves “San Francisco Neighborhoods United” and “Small Business Forward”. I swear I am NOT making this up.

82,000 new homes and apartments is A LOT. I’m not assuming this will move thousands of homeless people off San Francisco’s sidewalks, but affordable housing would be a boon to the workers who supply wealthier residents with uber rides, burgers, and day care for toddlers. I have no idea what these 82,000 unit s would rent for though. And they weren’t all going to be built in a day, anyway.

Still, you have to admire the chutzpah of the I got mine crowd. A zoning change to raise the maximum building height by 20 feet in certain neighborhoods is certain to obstruct someone’s penthouse view of the bays, right? And if affordable housing nestles up too close against the more chi-chi clothing stores and restaurants, who knows WHAT kind of mayhem could result?

Here's an idea: if there’s a lawyer reading this . . . can we force those so-called non-profits to release a true and complete list of who is donating that money to stop affordable housing in city court? I’d love a list of names. I could even write a smart-alecky column about it.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/exclusive-lawsuit-challenges-sf-mayor-s-housing-plan-sending-family-zoning-to-court/ar-AA1TTnEC?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=6960ff5b27254aeaa6c72d6feeadbb51&ei=46


Exclusive: Lawsuit challenges SF mayor's housing plan, sending 'Family Zoning' to court