SF: Activists promise November ballot measure to guarantee taxes for housing
an Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood said this week that he and Mayor Daniel Lurie were “pausing” their controversial effort to halve San Francisco’s transfer taxes on large-property transactions, citing the municipal budget deficit and other reasons.
But while the tax-cut plan went on ice, activists kept gathering signatures for a competing November ballot initiative that would preserve the high-end transfer taxes and earmark the proceeds for housing programs — including rent-relief — something they say voters intended with 2020’s Proposition I, which doubled transfer taxes on transactions of $10 million or more.
“We’re full-steam ahead on signature-gathering,” said Scott Feeney, co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America’s local social-housing working group. “It’s going really quickly, and we’re getting great responses from voters. People are really convinced of the need to fund affordable housing.”
Feeney confidently predicted proponents would submit the signatures needed to qualify their Affordable Housing Guarantee Act initiative by the July 6 deadline. A fair housing committee established to support the campaign has been supplementing volunteer crews with paid signature-gatherers. A website was also operating.
https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/politics/ballot-measure-could-lock-some-transfer-tax-cash-for-housing/article_457d965b-1142-4746-8d6c-b28d3163b4e5.html