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After nearly a decade of efforts by the Mission Economic Development Agency to build teacher housing on the corner of 18th and Mission, the city quietly hit pause. Oscar Palma reports on a series of emails from last year that reveal MEDA’s inability to secure financing, and city housing officials’ rejection of MEDA’s requests for additional funds…
For nearly 20 years, the corner building at 18th and Mission has sat empty — and derelict. Not much remains of the structure, which was modernized in the 1930s with a sleek curved front, neon clock and large windows and that once housed the largest stove store on the West Coast. It has become a canvas for graffiti, wheatpasted advertisements and the backdrop for street vendors.
Then, in 2017, it became a symbol of some small hope: 63 below-market-rate condos for teachers were to be built on the lot, part of a push to make living in San Francisco affordable.
That project is now on hiatus. More than a year ago, after nearly a decade of trying, the city quietly hit pause on the Mission Economic Development Agency’s plans to build teacher housing. The city cited a lack of both funds and a feasible financing plan, according to emails obtained by Mission Local… (more)
Obviously SF priorities are elsewhere. The city has limited fund and they are less concerned with this project than they are with supporting the highly contested SFMTA and Rec and Park projects.
Housing, transit and parks are all in the same pot of fundable projects that seem ripe for turning into slush funds.