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S.F. eyes $125M annually for affordable housing, more than double current funding

By JOE RIVANO BARROS : missionlocal – excerpt

Melgar, Lurie also announce immediate $70 million injection to preserve housing

Existing affordable housing that needs protection. photo by zrants

Supervisor Myrna Melgar plans to introduce legislation Tuesday that would more than double San Francisco’s annual budget for affordable housing to some $125 million, part of a bargain she hammered out with Mayor Daniel Lurie.

Melgar said her proposal would vastly expand the city’s capacity to build affordable housing by allocating $125 million annually into the city’s Housing Trust Fund, up from the $52 million that goes into it today, while also extending the fund for another 30 years. That would be a total of at least $3.75 billion.

The increase would be funded by “allocating a portion of future property tax growth every year” to the fund, according to a press release sent by Melgar and Lurie.

“I cut a deal with the mayor,” Melgar said, to use property taxes “coming from the increase in the value of all properties in San Francisco” as a result of last year’s upzoning.

The proposal would take the increase in future property taxes and “put it aside” into the low-income housing fund, Melgar said.

“Housing is not getting built at the pace we need, and the consequences are all around us,” Mayor Lurie said in a statement. “Today, we’re jumpstarting affordable housing in San Francisco.”… (more)

It is good to hear someone mentioning the need to preserve the existing affordable housing as an immediate plan. Given the economic  reality that we are living in, it is naive to expect new housing will be built any time soon. That is no one’s fault, unless you want to blame the national condition we are living in, but, placing the blame does not solve the problem. Giving into reality and what is possible now does.

 

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Twin Peaks Showdown: Save the Land

Our May 19 zoom discussion is about the Twin Peaks Showdown -Save the Land. George Wooding, the President of the Mid-Town Terrace Homeowners Association and Bill Mandell will speak. Bill Mandell wants to donate undeveloped land at the gateway to Twin Peaks so it can remain open space and free from development.  Come here them speak about the neighborhood preservation campaign. We will also discuss CSFN recommendations on the upcoming propositions in the June election.

Twin Peaks Showdown: Save the Land

You are invited to a Zoom meeting onTuesday May 19, 2026 06:30 PM

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/lf0J0r4nRaCMRNYQvsFFlg

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

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California’s second-largest home insurer to raise rates this fall

By Megan Fan Munce : sfchronicle – excerpt
White picket fence photo by zrants
Farmers Insurance Group, the second-largest home insurer in California, is set to raise overall policy rates for homeowners by 1.5% this fall.
Its rate hike, approved Monday, will take effect for the insurers’ nearly 915,000 homeowners at their next renewal date following Sept. 15, 2026, according to a filing with the California Department of Insurance. While increases across the state will average out to 1.5%, Individual customers could see their rates rise by much more than 1.5% or may see their premiums decrease. Data on the exact range of rate changes or which areas may see the largest hikes wasn’t available on Monday.
Farmers covers approximately 11% of all insured homes in California, second only to State Farm General. As part of its filing, the insurer said it will up its home and auto bundling discount from 15% to 22% and increase the discounts homeowners can get for reducing their wildfire risk.
This is Farmers’ first filing under the Sustainable Insurance Strategy, a set of regulatory reforms finalized last year that altered the way insurance companies price wildfire risk. The request was first submitted last November for a 6.99% increase but was approved by regulators at just 1.5%…(more)
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Signature gatherers are out in force across S.F. Here’s why this year feels different

By Rachel Swan, Sara DiNatale : sfchronicle (audio)

In some parts of San Francisco, it’s virtually impossible to exit a grocery store without getting ambushed by people waving clipboards.

They are a familiar sight each election season, collecting signatures to put policy ideas before voters, lecturing anyone who will listen on why we need to fund buses or libraries, tax the rich and cut through the red tape. We’ve all heard versions of these speeches before, and we generally tolerate them, accepting ballot initiatives as an expression of the popular will. But this year the signature gatherers showed an unusual ferocity that crescendoed last week, when the state hit a suggested deadline for measures to qualify for November.

And still the gatherers refused to pack up. Now the focus has shifted to local and regional campaigns, including roughly a dozen would-be ballot measures circulating in San Francisco. People who wrap up petition drives in Southern California cities caravan to the Bay Area and quickly memorize scripts about the importance of bailing out BART and Muni, streamlining city contracts in San Francisco, and the proposed expansion of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s executive power. Voters can’t catch a break… (more)

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As S.F. pivots to mandatory drug treatment, DPH cuts counselor training at City College

by XUEER LU : Missionlocal – excerpt

End of free mental health training part of shift in CA towards housing, treating worst addiction cases

At his inauguration, Mayor Daniel Lurie promised to dedicate his time in office to tackling the city’s drug use and mental health crisis, even in the face of the city’s looming budget deficit.

In practice, cuts to programs that help tackle that crisis are coming anyway. Among them: City College’s Community Mental Health Certificate Program, a one of a kind 18-month program, training frontline mental health workers to use their lived experience for peer counseling with a chance to be licensed by the state.

The city’s Department of Public Health recently announced that its funding will end after its current five-year $2.15-million contract comes to an end. If it can’t find funding elsewhere, its last class will graduate in June 2027… (more)

Let me get this straight. SF just spent 14 million dollars on 25 sobering up chairs, but they are cutting 2.15 million to educate mental health workers. What are they going to do? Strap troubled people into the chairs? How long will they sit quietly while coming down? Who is running this outfit?

 

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A federal ‘naughty list’ is making some California condo sales nearly impossible

By Christian Leonard : sfchronicle – excerpt

The additional layer of checks adds yet another complication for the California condo market, which historically has been much softer than that for single-family homes.

Buying a condo is tricky enough. But a federal database of problematic condo buildings — which some lenders are calling a “blacklist” — is making it even harder to get a mortgage for some.

The database was created by Fannie Mae, a government-sponsored corporation that buys mortgages from lenders and sells them to investors as securities. The system frees up lenders’ funds for additional loans and lessens their risk, generally resulting in lower rates for buyers…

But not for every buyer. More than 700 California condominium complexes are flagged in Fannie Mae’s database as being “unavailable,” meaning the company won’t purchase loans for units there, according to data provided by condo law firm Alcock Marcus. The number of affected condos has skyrocketed in the past few years.

The impact of being on the list could be severe. A bank often won’t lend money for a condo that’s on that list, said Kevin Casey, a Bay Area loan officer with Guarantee Mortgage. That means the buyer has to either get a non-qualified mortgage, which is a riskier type of loan that comes with higher interest rates, or back out of the deal entirely….

Condo owners and sellers were already struggling to find insurance, with providers either leaving the state or significantly raising rates. Those insurance woes have also resulted in the Bay Area having some of the highest HOA fees in the country. And in the Walnut Creek retirement community of Rossmoor, most buyers have to pay in cash after Fannie and Freddie announced they would no longer back mortgages there unless it was funded for a complete loss. Rossmoor is one of 35 flagged condo complexes in Walnut Creek, according to the Mercury News.

Casey, the Guarantee Mortgage agent, said buyers who are considering bidding on a condo should make sure it’s in a well-run association, as that can determine how much time they spend navigating issues later in the deal.

You’re buying two things,” Casey said. “You’re buying what’s between the walls, and you’re buying the management company. So you have to spend … a good amount of time looking at that HOA.”… (more)

 

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Please Help the landowner of the four undeveloped lots at 1230 – 1240 Twin Peaks Blvd. donate his property

The lot owner would like to donate the property to either the city, the RPD and/or a nature conservatory.  He does not want to sell the property and have it developed for housing units.  He has asked the surrounding neighborhood, Midtown Terrace Home Owners Association (MTHOA) to take the lead in helping him donate his property.  To sign the “Donate the Land” petition contact: Midtownterrace.org

If the property were to be donated, it would remain in its natural state and probably be planted with California native plants.  The landowner would also donate $50,000 towards property maintenance.

This property is at the gateway of the Panorama Drive side of Twin Peaks Blvd.  If the donated lots were kept in a natural state, they would greatly compliment the entrance of the new Promenade that is being built on the top of Twin Peaks.

Twin Peaks is the second-highest natural point in San Francisco (922+ feet), surpassed only by Mount Davidson.  Unofficially the number two (2) tourist destination by volume, Twin Peaks is a premier, world-famous attraction renowned for offering the best 360-degree, panoramic views of the City and Bay.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE:If the landowner cannot donate his property, it will be sold to a developer. This will lead to prolonged construction, an unattractive building, public safety issues, parking problems, traffic congestion, noise, quality of life concerns for surrounding residents and increases in crime. Please Contact: MidtownTerrace.org and Myrna Melgar 415-554-6516 or MelgarStaff@sfgov.org

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S.F. supervisors, past and present, arrested at SFO anti-ICE protest

By  Marina Newman : missionlocal – excerpt

Board President Rafael Mandelman and congressional candidate Supervisor Connie Chan among those arrested at May Day protest.

San Francisco city officials, including Board President Rafael Mandelman and Supervisor Connie Chan, and a California state senator were arrested at San Francisco International Airport on Friday during a May Day protest against conditions for airport workers and federal immigration agents’ presence in airports across the country.

The airport workers’ union picketed for higher wages and fully funded healthcare. Activist groups who joined the protest on Friday decried Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s presence at airports…

Chan, Mandelman and other city and state officials, including state Sen. Josh Becker and former supervisor Jane Kim, blocked the street to the international terminal, holding a banner in support of the union…

At 1 p.m., approximately one hour after Chan and other city officials were arrested, the San Francisco Police Department released a statement saying that there are “no arrests or reports of injuries at this time.”…(more)

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New state bill aims to cancel medical debt for low-income Californians

: sfexaminer – excerpt (audio track) 

The state would purchase and forgive many Californians’ medical debt under a legislative proposal announced Monday.

Around 40% of Californians are struggling with some kind of medical debt regardless of whether or not they have some form of health insurance, said Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, who authored Assembly Bill 2123, during a press conference Monday.

“Many people do have coverage,” she said, but they “still end up with bills they can’t afford, high deductibles, copays, denied claims — [it] can leave families owing thousands of dollars, and they never expected [it] would happen.”…

The Medical Debt Relief Act of 2026 is based on an existing pilot program launched in Los Angeles County in 2024, where the Board of Supervisors invested $5 million to purchase debt for pennies on the dollar and erase it for people whose household incomes are at or below 400% of the federal poverty level, or have medical debt that equals 5% or more of their annual income…(more)