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zrants's avatar

As I understand it, the mayor refuses to write checks for housing projects the Board of Supervisors supports, including one in District 5. She is not very enthusiastic about purchasing and preserving existing affordable units or maintaining those that tenants reside in. This is where the tension between the Board and the Mayor became obvious. The public starts to feel like we are in Washington DC in a ship without a rudder.

The voters look at the vast empty commercial spaces downtown and think those should be converted to housing now. Any new housing will take years to build. Fill those first. Turn some into shelters. We understand there are thousands of empty housing units as well. Many are going into foreclosure or will very soon. Why doesn’t the city purchase them to keep them affordable?

We understand the affordable housing bonds may only be used to build new “affordable” units. None of the funds may be used for temporary shelter, conversions, or to maintain existing housing. It has to be cheaper to fix an elevator than to tear down a building and rebuild it from scratch.

What about the waste that is created when you tear down a building? We must now worry about recycling bottles and plastic bags. There is a lot more waste created when buildings are demolished.

The last but not least, there is also a matter of timing in this whirlwind economy. Where do you get the most bang for your bucks when the interest rates are through the roof, there are labor shortages, supply chains are disrupted, and fuel costs are at an all time high?

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