Developments in Development is a “weekly” column recapping real estate, housing, planning, zoning and construction news.
Turns out New York City and San Francisco, for all their differences, have remarkably similar housing crises. At least that’s my take on this New York Review of Books piece sent my way by a reader this week.
Clearly opinionated throughout, Michael Greenberg nonetheless paints a very familiar picture. Scale aside (unless you compare the whole Bay Area to NYC, which might be a better approximation size-wise), the situation is remarkably similar – old affordable units becoming high-rent as the burden of low-income renters is shifted onto city service providers. Add to that mix, a staggering need for below-market-rate units as a glut of market-rate condos swells. Oh, one big difference though: New York operates under a basically unattainable mandate that every person who needs a bed be provided one.
Back closer to home, grim pictures continue to emerge. Public housing is in trouble – a recent audit showed that the Housing Authority has serious accounting problems, including that bank reconciliations were either not completed or contained multiple errors. The Chronicle has the scoop.
Meanwhile, in the world of privately-built and city-administered affordable housing, the developer of the 300-plus unit at 1979 Mission Street development (at 16th) is reportedly mulling the prospect of designating some units for teachers. Plaza 16 continues to oppose anything but 100 percent below market rate. Meanwhile business owners have been invited to a social event to support the project at a meeting next Thursday.
And while we’re on the topic of inclusionary housing, the developers of the below-market-rate portion of the 2000 Bryant Street project will hold a meeting to discuss their plans on Wednesday evening at the Mission Language and Vocational School on 19th Street, from 6-7 p.m.
Finally, you might have heard of the residents who just learned their street was bought by a private owner. In response, Curbed asked, do you know if you live on a privately owned street? They provided this list to find the answer.
If you don’t feel like scrolling to check my work, the only ones I found in the Mission are parts of public housing projects (Kamille Court and Treat Way inside Bernal Dwellings, Maxwell Court and Rosa Parks Lane in Valencia Gardens) and an access road for San Francisco General Hospital.