League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	San Francisco County, CA November 4, 2008 Election
	Proposition B Establishing Affordable Housing Fund City of San Francisco Charter Amendment - Majority Approval Required Fail: 166,299 / 47.81% Yes votes ...... 181,534 / 52.19% No votes See Also: Index of all Propositions

Arguments For Proposition B

Arguments Against Proposition B

Vote YES on Proposition B to build thousands of affordable housing units with public oversight and no new taxes! AFFORDABLE HOUSING WITHOUT RAISING TAXES Affordable housing continues to be one of the top issues facing San Francisco. Proposition B will provide a regular source of funds to build thousands of new housing units without raising taxes. This local investment will leverage over a billion dollars in federal and state monies. A CHANCE FOR WORKING FAMILIES At least half of the new affordable units will be at least 2 bedrooms and target working families like teachers, healthcare workers, housekeepers and janitors. HOUSING FOR SENIORS Seniors on a fixed income rely on affordable housing, so they can live in the City they helped build with the dignity they deserve. A REAL SOLUTION TO HOMELESSNESS There's lots of talk about homelessness, but the number of people on the street remains the same. Homelessness can not be solved without building new affordable housing. Proposition B will house our homeless without putting new people on the street. ACCOUNTABILITY & COMMUNITY INPUT This measure is the result of an extensive community process and is supported by dozens of community groups. It will provide greater transparency and public input in the City's administration of affordable housing dollars. INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF SAN FRANCISCO With a majority of San Francisco families struggling to stay here, we are losing much of our City's diversity. Proposition B is an investment for the next generation to have a chance to live and thrive in this great city! Vote YES on Proposition B! Tom Ammiano Chris Daly Bevan Dufty Sophie Maxwell Jake McGoldrick Ross Mirkarimi Aaron Peskin Gerardo Sandoval Rebuttal to Arguments For Proposition B's proponents have one thing right: we absolutely need to invest in the future of San Francisco. But creating new earmarks does nothing for the future of our City. Carving $2.7 billion out of San Francisco's budget, as this measure would do, and setting it aside for a single program leaves the City little ability to respond to future needs. In fact, Proposition B will put the City's future in question by holding a significant portion of citywide funding hostage. To claim that this measure would provide affordable housing without raising taxes is irresponsible. To find funds to support Proposition B without raising taxes, city officials would be forced to divert funds from the City's already stretched budget. Proposition B offers no solutions for San Francisco's working families. These families depend on the services and salaries that this measure would cut. Moreover, our City's dedicated public servants — teachers, police officers and firefighters — would not qualify for affordable housing under Proposition B. Proposition B promises big things for San Francisco's working families, but all it delivers is more deficit spending, more cuts to City services and no new affordable housing for those who need it. Every decision we make with our City's budget has consequences. Proposition B is no different. Join me in supporting responsible spending that truly protects San Francisco's future — Vote NO on Proposition B. Mayor Gavin Newsom Supervisor Sean Elsbernd Supervisor Carmen Chu Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier

PROTECT OUR CITY BUDGET FROM THIS $2.7 BILLION MONEY GRAB. We are facing serious financial challenges in San Francisco. Last year our deficit reached $338 million. Next year's deficit is projected to reach $250 million. We simply cannot afford to create any new set-asides that take funds away from our City's dwindling discretionary fund. The majority of our budget is already spoken for by set-asides and other required spending — new set-asides like Proposition B will only further tie our hands in responding to the City's needs. Mandating that $2.7 billion be spent on affordable housing for the next 15 years means we will have to make drastic cuts in vital city services. Jobs will be lost and residents will go without important services. Affordable housing is important but is not our City's only obligation. Proposition B will leave local leaders unable to respond when critical needs emerge because the budget will be constrained. Our challenges and priorities in 5-10 years will likely be different than they are today. Additionally, this narrow prescription leaves out most San Francisco families especially the working middle class. And it doesn't account for some of the most creative solutions we have crafted, including requiring private developers to chip in by developing over 5,500 new affordable homes in Hunter's Point Shipyard and Treasure Island alone. And when services are cut or taxes raised to bridge the budget gap that Proposition B creates, San Francisco's most vulnerable will feel the crunch. That doesn't make our City more affordable for anyone. Intelligent budgeting and responsible fiscal and social policy are critical to the stability of our City. Approving new spending mandates limits our ability to achieve all of the City's priorities. Gavin Newsom, Mayor Sean Elsbernd, Superv isor Michela Alioto-Pier, Supervisor Carmen Chu, Supervisor Rebuttal to Arguments Against A Prudent Investment in Our Civic Future Mayor Newsom claims that we simply cannot afford to commit funds for affordable housing for San Franciscans, that Proposition B commitment to fund housing affordable to families, seniors, people with AIDs and provide assistance to first time homeowners is a budget breaker. He claims that the $2.7 billion committed by B over the next 15 years is too much while failing to point out that it would be less than 2% of the City budget over that same period. He fails to point out that our senior population is growing at historic levels, the AIDs catastrophe shows no signs of let-up and that San Francisco continues to lose families at a higher rate than any City in the nation. Over the last five years we have built less than 35% of the affordable housing the Newsom Administration committed to the State to build. Read B and see how it earmarks money from the steeply rising assessed value of real estate- still rising even now- for the production of affordable housing. B would specifically protect critically needed health and human services through the establishment of a "baseline" budget the Mayor could not cut. And it would provide new public oversight on the spending of all affordable housing money. Like a family that cares about it's future we must set aside what we need to keep us whole each year. Affordable housing keeps our civic family whole. The Campaign for a San Francisco Housing Fund