Ramona Avenue, near 15th Street. Photo by Esther Reyes

SF Gate reports that the mayor is ready to up the loan for some first-time buyers to $200K for a down payment.

“Our city’s middle class is deeply affected by the housing crunch – they make too much to qualify for our traditional affordable housing, but not enough to afford much of the new market-rate construction,” Lee said recently in announcing his plan to double the down-payment help.

Housing officials say Lee’s decision to double the maximum amount for which residents can qualify – and double the annual contribution that money is drawn from to $2 million – is a big step in the right direction. The loans don’t need to be repaid until a borrower sells or refinances. READ MORE.

Or go here to apply.

Follow Us

I’ve been a Mission resident since 1998 and a professor emeritus at Berkeley’s J-school since 2019. I got my start in newspapers at the Albuquerque Tribune in the city where I was born and raised. Like many local news outlets, The Tribune no longer exists. I left daily newspapers after working at The New York Times for the business, foreign and city desks. Lucky for all of us, it is still here.

As an old friend once pointed out, local has long been in my bones. My Master’s Project at Columbia, later published in New York Magazine, was on New York City’s experiment in community boards.

As founder and an editor at ML, I've been trying to figure out how to make my interest in local news sustainable. If Mission Local is a model, the answer might be that you - the readers - reward steady and smart content. As a thank you for that support we work every day to make our content even better.

Join the Conversation

2 Comments

  1. This is a great idea and far better than throwing welfare and subsidies at people. Rather, help them to help themselves.

    Interesting that the featured lady bought a home in a nice part of SF for 375K. Her monthly mortgage will probably be just a grand a month, approximately, after the tax breaks.

    Shows that housing and home ownership don’t have to be expensive in SF.

    0
    0
    votes. Sign in to vote
    1. Sorry, it wasn’t even 375K but 354K. I’m sure it’s tiny but she is now on the property ladder, and not even age thirty yet.

      0
      0
      votes. Sign in to vote
Leave a comment
Please keep your comments short and civil. Do not leave multiple comments under multiple names on one article. We will zap comments that fail to adhere to these short and easy-to-follow rules.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *