San Francisco Says No More Condos For The Wealthy, Will Ban New Developments
San Francisco has become ground zero for class warfare as wealthy real estate developers snatch up cheap housing and kick out long time residents so they can build million dollar condos in a process called gentrification.
City Supervisor David Campos says he’s had enough, and today he’s going to introduce an ordinance to halt all market rate housing developments in the Mission District. That means no one will be able to build anything unless they’re building low-income housing.
In a press release, Campos said only one affordable housing development has been completed in the Mission and that was six years ago, in 2009.
“We need to build close to 2,500 affordable units for our working and middle class residents by 2020. The City currently has no realistic plan to do this. There is limited land left where we can build housing in the Mission. On this land, we should be building affordable housing for working people, our teachers, service and health workers, public safety officials, and others.”
Gentrification is a hot button issue in San Francisco, where high-paid tech workers from places like Google and Twitter have driven housing prices through the roof in recent years.
The influx of wealthy homebuyers has driven real estate developers to buy up cheap apartment buildings and kick out residents who have lived in the area their entire lives.
The price for a two-bedroom apartment in San Francisco jumped 40 percent last year to cost $4,580 a month. To buy that same two bedroom home would cost almost $800,000, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
There are nine private islands that cost less than an apartment in San Francisco, according to BuzzFeed.
The extreme housing prices has sparked a backlash in San Francisco, where residents continually rally to protest the Google buses, large extravagant private buses that shuttle tech workers from their SF Homes to the Mountain View campus.
Residents and activists have also taken to protesting the Ellis Act evictions that enable real estate developers to kick out long-time residents.
Supervisor Campos has long been an opponent of the Ellis Act and sponsored numerous bills designed to aid residents facing eviction.
How San Francisco deals with the continuing influx of wealthy workers and their effect on the real estate market could well determine the future of the city.
Once home to the Summer of Love, San Francisco now faces protests over police brutality and racism along with demonstrations from fast food workers and angry nudists.
Only time will tell what the character of the city by the bay will be like in the future.
[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
