Budget Committee Hears Shift of Homeless Funds to Car Barn

by Paul Hogarth, 2007-01-25

The Board of Supervisors Budget Committee heard public testimony on January 23rd about the proposed $850,000 sale of City property in the Excelsior – and its proposed exemption from the Surplus Property Ordinance. Under current law, surplus property owned by the City must be developed for affordable housing – or else sold and have the proceeds go towards permanent solutions to homelessness.

Sponsored by Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval, the proposed land sale would divert $850,000 from affordable housing funds – and instead use the money to restore the historic Geneva Avenue Car Barn and install trees along Alemany Boulevard. Its practical effect would be to undermine the entire Surplus Property Ordinance – as any Supervisor could then request a similar exemption for property sold in their district.

The Budget Committee took no action and continued the item for two weeks. But five members of the public testified – all of them opposed. “I believe in the greening of our City and in historical preservation – but they pale almost in non-existence compared with the acute affordable housing problem in this city,” said Sister Bernie Galvin, a resident of District 11. “This is a brazen attempt to hijack $850,000 that is legislatively mandated for housing. It is a shameless robbery attempt that flies in the face of San Franciscans who believe in affordable housing.”

James Tracy, who serves on the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Surplus Property Ordinance, reminded the committee that the Ordinance was passed almost unanimously, with a wide coalition of faith-based and community-based organizations. “It spoke to the heart of San Francisco’s way to address the homelessness crisis in a non-divisive way,” he said, “which is important because, as you know, a lot of homelessness proposals at the time were very divisive.” But he added that the current proposal “spits in the face of community members who worked so hard on this campaign. We need to dedicate these revenues to housing.”

“There is no rationale for overriding the Surplus Property Ordinance,” said Amy Beinart, who worked at the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center. “Other resources must be found to restore the Geneva Avenue Car Barn. Funding sites for affordable housing is hugely difficult for this city.”

Other speakers expressed concern about the land sale itself, as the property will be sold to a private developer – who owns the adjacent property and hopes to build market-rate housing on the two plots of land. “We’re very concerned about the lack of input and community action,” said Excelsior resident Charlie Sciammas. “We need opportunities to leverage afforable housing from market-rate housing projects. Stronger community process and dialogue is needed.”

Supervisors did not comment on the public testimony, and voted to continue the item for two weeks. Phone calls made to the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Supervisor Sandoval were not returned as of press time.

Send feedback to paul@thclinic.org