Shared Prosperity
Affordability Directives
In my State of the City Address, I set out a work plan that will move our City towards the goal of shared prosperity. The shared prosperity goal will focus on creating more homes for our working families, it will invest in education and our City’s transportation network, and it will ensure all San Francisco families, youth, children and communities benefit from our successful City.
1. Housing
Revenue
Bond Measure | This November, we will bring a general obligation bond measure to the ballot to help fund new and rehabilitated housing for San Francisco’s working families as well as our poorest residents – without raising property taxes on homeowners in our City. |
Private Sector Investment | This year, I will also propose a new investment fund that attracts private and philanthropic dollars for middle-class housing, affordable housing and a rebuild of our public housing sites, alongside bond and other matching public funds. |
Curbing Residential Real Estate Speculation
Small Sites Program | Through the Mayor's Office of Housing, we will implement the Small Sites program, as described in the 2014 Housing Working Group report, to help rent-controlled tenants buy their own buildings. |
Eviction Defense Funding | We will scale up successful eviction defense programs to help tenants fight all kinds of evictions. |
Catastrophic Circumstances Fund | Building off our existing programs, we will provide rent subsidies to certain tenants in specific circumstances when facing an eviction. |
Ellis Act Reform | My top State legislative priority once again is to partner with Senator Mark Leno and Assemblyman David Chiu to reform the Ellis Act in Sacramento and end speculative evictions in our City. |
Providing Middle Class Opportunities
Public Sites Program | If we are to remain a City welcoming to families and the middle class, we have to build more housing that they can afford. One of the best places to do just that is on land already owned by the City and other public agencies. We can use this public land for public good, and build the kind of housing that the market isn’t supplying enough of – housing affordable to middle class San Franciscans, sized for families, near parks and schools. As the City puts this important initiative in place, I invite our churches, universities and other community institutions to make their land part of this critical effort as well. And beyond that, I challenge the private development community to work with us to build housing for the middle class all over the city. |
Downpayment Assistance | Starting this year, and over the next 10 years, we will increase by $100 million the downpayment assistance program, helping up to 1,500 families buy a first home in San Francisco, after our employee pension system votes on this, a proposal Supervisor Malia Cohen and to Retirement Board have already been hard at work on for months. |
Navigation Tools for City Services
Online Tools | We will create online tools to help low-income and below-market renters find apartments they can afford, matching them with programs and counselors to assist them. |
2. Education
Universal Pre-K for All 4 Year Olds | Thanks to our hard work and the voters’ approval of Proposition C, in 2015 we will invest the funds necessary to finally clear the waitlist for all 4-year olds who need preschool, adding slots for more than 4,000 families over the next five years. |
Universal Afterschool & Summer School | But let’s not stop at Pre-School - let’s work together -my office, our Superintendent and Board of Education, as well as the Board of Supervisors to create universal afterschool and summer programming for all K-through-8 students, regardless of income, this year. More time in school and activities is better for kids, and better for parents. |
City College | This year, we will continue our work to save City College by working with students, the new Board of Trustees, Chancellor Brice Harris, and Chancellor Art Tyler on the path to reform. |
3. Transportation
LRV Expansion | This week I announced 40 new Light Rail vehicles for Muni increasing the light rail vehicle fleet to 215 cars – the most in our City’s history. This will make the Muni system faster and more reliable for its riders. |
Free Muni for Seniors & Disabled | Last year, and for the next three years, thanks to Google and the MTC, we funded free Muni for low-income young people in our City. And next week, I call upon the SFMTA to expand free Muni to low-income seniors and people with disabilities. And I also call on the private sector to step up again, to fund vital transit service for our City’s most vulnerable, low-income residents. |
Pedestrian Safety | Again, thanks to the voters, we will invest $500 million from last year’s bond into making our streets safer for pedestrians and bikers, and making sure our Muni system is safer and more reliable. We’ll accelerate our commitment to Vision Zero – to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries for all road users, whether you walk, bike, drive or ride the bus. This year, we will complete safety treatments along at least 13 miles of the high injury street network in San Francisco. |
Second Bart Tube | I will begin a regional conversation with my fellow Mayors in the East Bay, Supervisor Scott Wiener, and the BART Board about a second BART tube from Mission Bay to the East Bay. |
Major Expansion of Bike Share | I will join other regional governments and the private sector to support efforts to significantly expand bike share in the Bay Area. |
4. Women's Empowerment
City Employment Opportunities Equity Initiative | If we are going to meet the challenge of gender equality for the next generation, we need workplace policies that empower women. In San Francisco, we’ve made progress. Half of our City’s workforce are women, and they equal men in our management and professional careers. Outstanding women run major City departments – like our City Administrator, our Fire Chief and Public Health Director. But we can and must do better in areas like information technology, public safety and skilled crafts—great jobs with good salaries, but which are not traditionally thought of as “women’s careers.” This year at my direction, my Administration will identify and eliminate barriers that prevent women from achieving equity in City jobs with good salaries and career paths. The public sector must lead the way. And today, I call upon our City’s private sector companies to do the same, especially our technology sector, where gender parity and diversity are still lacking profoundly. |
Women’s Empowerment Summit | In 2014, I was proud to sign former Board President Chiu’s legislation expanding family leave, but we can do more. This year, with Mayor Schaaf, we will convene a Women’s Empowerment & Opportunity Summit to propose legislation, as well as public and private sector initiatives, to improve economic and social opportunities for women in our City and region. |
No More/Nada Mas | While we have seen setbacks in our efforts to prevent and protect against domestic violence, in 2015 we must continue our national leadership and say “NO MORE….NADA MAS.” We will fund programs to raise awareness and encourage victims to report their abuse. Because domestic violence is never your fault. |
Human Trafficking | San Francisco remains, disgracefully, among the cities with the most human trafficking in America. This year, we will prioritize anti-human trafficking initiatives, working closely with Supervisor Katy Tang, victims’ advocates, service providers, law enforcement and the Super Bowl 50 committee. |
5. Anti-Poverty
Project 500 | This year we will launch what I’m calling Project 500 – a laser-like focus of intensive resources, wrap-around services and case management across City departments and nonprofit providers for at least 500 of the most at-risk families, to give them meaningful pathways up and out of poverty and disrupt its intergenerational transfer. A real commitment to ending poverty means interrupting the transfer from parent to child, from generation to generation. It means better outcomes, and giving people pathways up and out to a better life for themselves and for their family. |
HOPE SF | We know that public housing – where predominantly people of color live – needs a complete re-envisioning. Along with Supervisor London Breed, my Administration has led an effort to transform federally owned public housing sites into vibrant, mixed-use communities. And in partnership with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, we are rehabilitating and rebuilding run-down public housing without displacing the residents who currently live there. |
Workforce Development | This year, we will craft a comprehensive workforce development strategy that still includes soft skills and job placements. But it’ll also consider the challenges that job seekers often suffer silently: a criminal record, childcare issues, Drivers License suspensions. If we want the long-term unemployed to land stable jobs, we have to address more of their barriers. We need to go to them, with the services they need to make that big leap from jobless to employed. And we have to help people of all ages – young and not so young – so that age isn’t a disqualifier when applying for a job. I’ll use the power of the Mayor’s office to have the private sector do more. We need their cooperation to develop skills-relevant training programs and eventually hire job-ready San Franciscans. |
Mobile Medicine | We will emphasize our focus on mobile medicine for those still living on the streets. |
500 Units – Streets to Homes | Now, this year, in addition to implementing Laura’s Law for the most severely mentally ill, we will bring a stepped-up commitment on homelessness with up to 500 new units of supportive housing. |
Navigation Center | We’re opening up a first-of-its-kind Navigation Center to better move people off the streets and into homes and services. |
Homeless Veterans | This year, we’ll be the first City in California to end chronic homelessness for veterans. |
LGBT Shelter Funding | Working with Supervisors Campos and Wiener, we will fully fund a special shelter for our LGBT homeless population. |
Minimum Wage Enforcement | We will ensure that the nation's most progressive minimum wage law, passed by voters last year, will be enforced fully. |
Environmental Equity | For San Francisco to reach new levels of environmental achievement, our solutions to climate change and environmental sustainability must be accessible and benefit all San Franciscans. All of our diverse communities and neighborhoods should share in the benefits of building a cleaner and greener City, regardless of income. Solar energy and electric vehicles, for example, must be for everyone, and not just the rich. In addition, to reach our climate goals, we need a new level of engagement from all of our neighborhoods and businesses. |
Zero Waste | We have to empower our residents of all incomes to be a part of the solution. We need climate programs that are home-grown. Zero-waste is a great example: we can get to 100 percent waste diversion, but only with broader participation from diverse communities. |
Conservation | We need to save more energy and water as our first priority. I will be calling on all parts of our business community and residents to join me in redoubling our efforts to reduce the energy and water we use in San Francisco. It’s good for the environment, and will create jobs. Furthermore, it will lower utility bills for some families who are struggling to get by. |
Electric Vehicles | As we continue to work to further reduce the need for people to drive cars, a key climate projection and environmental goal is to make sure those remaining cars are as clean as possible. EVs can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality in neighborhoods near major roadways. To keep the momentum going in making San Francisco EV-ready, we need to redouble our efforts to make EV charging and electric mobility options easily available to all of our residents, including lower-income families and neighborhoods. All communities should have opportunities to access EV infrastructure and carsharing near their homes – including apartments and other multifamily dwellings; at workplaces; and other destinations locations throughout the city. |