Is Mayor Daniel Lurie Listening to ALL his Constituents?
We believe that this condominium project which is proposed for 2588 Mission Street should be 100 percent affordable housing. We encourage a strong turnout for the final planning meeting that is scheduled for April 2025. Shelter is a human right!
“As much as market-based solutions are touted, they do not work for the most vulnerable among us, because building supportive or truly affordable housing is not and never will be profitable.”
~Kate Wagner, an excerpt from her article entitled, “We’re not Prepared,” which appeared on page 10 of the April 2025 edition of The Nation magazine.
The subject of this article is affordable housing in the City of San Francisco. I have been studying this issue for a few years and have had my own personal experience with finding housing and losing it within the City of San Francisco.
I firmly believe that with the right amount of political will, innovation, and cooperation, we, as a community, can create viable affordable housing options within the City and County of San Francisco.
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN SPECIFIC DISTRICTS WITHIN SAN FRANCISCO
With the help of my partner and colleague, Gale Washington, I have been conducting research on the topic of affordable housing for a few months. There is no possible way that I could address or tackle every subject related to this topic in one article. There will have to be numerous articles in this series.
We began by reaching out to members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and we specifically asked them what they were doing in order to promote and support affordable housing projects in their respective districts. Ironically, our first response came from District 1 Supervisor, Connie Chan.
District 1 includes Inner Richmond, Central Richmond, Outer Richmond, Vista del Mar, Seacliff, Lake District, Presidio Terrace, Lone Mountain, Golden Gate Park, Lincoln Park, and the University of San Francisco.
On December 3, 2024, Destination Freedom Media Group (DFMG) received an email from Supervisor Chan regarding the 4200 Geary Blvd Project.
Here’s what we received: Affordable Housing Applications Open “Applications for the senior affordable housing located at 383 6th Avenue (4200 Geary) are now being accepted! This long awaited project brings 98 units of much needed affordable housing for our seniors, with emphasis on neighborhood seniors and veterans. Applications are open through the City’s affordable housing website (https://housing.sfgov.org/) DAHLIA through Wednesday, December 11, 2024 at 5pm, and the virtual lottery will take place on December 31, 2024 at 11 am.
We want to thank Supervisor Chan for her attentiveness and responses to our emails. We have some follow-up questions regarding the 4200 Geary Project and will publish Supervisor Chan’s answers in the near future. Our questions for Supervisor Chan are as follows:
- Was the 4200 Geary affordable housing project successful?
- How many neighborhood seniors and/or veterans were actually housed in the available housing places?
- How many of the 98 units, if any, are still available?
And lastly,
- If community members are interested in applying for the remaining units, whom do they contact?
The next member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors who responded to our affordable housing question was Supervisor Joel Engardio of District 4.
District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio pictured in his office at City Hall. January 22, 2025.
Photo by Kelly Waldron.
District 4 in San Francisco is known as “The Sunset.” It consists of everything west of 19th Avenue to the ocean, from Golden Gate Park to Lake Merced Boulevard. It includes The Sunset, Outer Sunset, Parkside, Pine Lake Park, Lakeshore, and Merced Manor Neighborhoods. Source: https://sfbos.org/supervisor-engardio-district-4.
On Tuesday, March 18, 2025 Supervisor Engardio sent the following email to my partner and colleague, Gale Washington, regarding affordable housing in his district.
“Hi Gale, I have three affordable housing projects in my district:
- Teacher Housing on 43rd Avenue was recently completed
- 100-percent affordable housing for families and formerly homeless on Irving Street is under construction
- 100-percent affordable housing for seniors and formerly homeless on Great Highway is being planned.
Both 100-percent affordable housing projects have faced intense opposition and I fully support both. See news article about the fierce opposition to this much needed housing:
https://sfstandard.com/2025/01/14/great-highway-housing-project-sunset-meeting/”
We at DFMG sincerely thank Supervisor Engardio for sharing his thoughts on this important topic. I do have a request to make of the residents who actually live in District 4 and who are familiar with these referenced 100-percent affordable housing projects. I’d like a few community members to leave comments to this article on the Davis Vanguard website and explain exactly why members of the community are against these particular affordable housing projects. I don’t want to assume anything. I have read an article recently that was published a couple of years ago which said that when it came to building housing, the City of San Francisco was the most conservative city in California. In order to solve our housing crisis, we’re going to have to embrace change and possibly rethink our perceptions of formerly-homeless and low-income human beings.
Our independent nonprofit news organization also received a call from a staff member at the office of San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Jackie Fielder.
Supervisor Fielder represents District 9 which includes the Mission District, Bernal Heights, the Portola, and the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District.
The most contentious and controversial affordable housing issue in District 9 is the proposed market-rate condominium project at 2588 Mission Street. DFMG received the following comment from Supervisor Fielder’s office in response to our questions about 2588 Mission: “The Supervisor (Fielder) is in touch with the community advocates to try to find a solution that is amicable to everyone.” We thank Preston Kilgore from Supervisor Fielder’s office for also spending some time on the phone with us in an off-the-record conversation.
Since we were told that Supervisor Fielder is in touch with community advocates in regard to the proposed project at 2588 Mission, we decided to re-publish a quote from an article that appeared in the February 15, 2025 edition of The Street Sheet. The article written by Lukas Illa is entitled, “’La Muerte’” in the Mission Rears its Head Again at Planning.” The piece recounted the events and comments that occurred at a February 6, 2025 San Francisco Planning Commission hearing. The hearing was held in order to review the proposal “…of 181 new market-rate condo units (at 2588 Mission), of which only 19 are affordable housing units barely meeting the minimum required under state law.”
After reviewing the article a couple times, I believe the strongest argument came from Larissa Pedroncelli of the activist group, “United to Save the Mission.”
“About Us
“United to Save the Mission is a coalition of community groups and individuals that protects vulnerable communities against gentrifying forces and narratives and fighting for the Mission neighborhood by leveraging our intersectionality and honoring our interdependence to one another.
“We support and celebrate the livelihoods of American Indian and Latinx cultures, LGBTQ+, working class and immigrant residents, artists, organizing spaces, community-serving businesses, nonprofits, industrial spaces, and unhoused neighbors struggling through the trauma of houselessness.”
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaveTheMission/
There were hundreds in attendance at the February 6, 2025 planning commission hearing and Ms. Pedroncelli said the following, “It is the responsibility of this city to aggressively pursue the rights of protected classes – formerly housed, renting businesses, holding jobs at this site, and to ensure that any project proposed here is serving the protected classes of this community to uphold their legal obligation to affirmatively further fair housing.”
The final approval for 2588 Mission Street is scheduled for April 2025. We’ll be watching very closely.
Before I move on, I have to ask our readers: “Haven’t our sisters and brothers in the Mission District been through enough these past couple months? This market-rate project in the Mission surely looks like in-your-face gentrification to me. We at DFMG stand in strong solidarity with the Latinx community.”
By the way, for those who didn’t know, I love reading The Street Sheet. It is my go-to source for authentic and accurate information regarding homelessness and the housing crisis in San Francisco and beyond.
MISPLACED PRIORITIES AND BROKEN PROMISES
San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton has criticized Mayor Daniel Lurie over changing plans for a homeless shelter in the Bayview neighborhood.
Lea Suzuki/S.F. Chronicle
District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton did not respond to our request for comment on the affordable housing issue. However, Supervisor Walton has been very busy fighting for our people in the Bayview-Hunters Point community.
District 10 includes Potrero Hill, Central Waterfront, Dogpatch, Bayview-Hunters Point, Bayview Heights, India Basin, Silver Terrace, Candlestick Point, Visitacion Valley, Little Hollywood, Sunnydale, and McLaren Park.
Supervisor Walton has an issue with Mayor Daniel Lurie’s decision to expand shelter beds in Bayview while ignoring the community’s request and need for safe RV parking. I am actually intimately familiar with this need because of my former employment as a case manager at Hope House and Mother Brown’s at 2111 Jennings. For those who live and work in Bayview-Hunters Point, we constantly see RVs parked in industrial areas and other places simply because there’s no safe place for them to go.
An article written by J.D. Harris of the San Francisco Chronicle on March 28, 2025 illustrates Shamann’s frustration and bolsters his point.
‘Disingenuous’: S.F. lawmaker blasts Mayor Lurie over Bayview homeless shelter plans
In the article, Shamann said, “It looks like they’re saying, ‘We don’t care about the Bayview community. We will do whatever we want and not listen to constituents and not listen to leadership,’ Walton told the Chronicle on Friday. ‘It’s just sad that this is the way this new administration seems they want to operate.”’
I agree with Shamann Walton 1000% on this topic, and here’s why. I’m still watching very closely what Mayor Daniel Lurie is doing to address homelessness in the City. Once again, I want to reference an article that was re-published in The Street Sheet and written by a colleague of mine by the name of Lauren Hepler of CalMatters. In order to really understand my thinking and the reality on the ground, I encourage you to read this article entitled, “‘A VOLUNTEER JAIL’: INSIDE THE SCANDALS AND ABUSE PUSHING CALIFORNIA’S HOMELESS OUT OF SHELTERS”
Shelter beds are not the end all/cure all. We need supportive permanent housing options along with a concrete plan to transition families from shelters to permanent housing. Yessica Hernandez was more specific in her article entitled, “Families Demand Affordable Housing Solutions in Bold Protest Rally,” February 25, 2025 edition of The Street Sheet.
Yessica said, “Among the key demands, protestors urge the City to establish a transparent process for families seeking shelter extensions, including providing adequate support and clear information. They also called for the expansion of permanent housing options by adding 125 five-year subsidies to the 125 already slated for release in March, as well as 50 flex-pool subsidies, which would provide more families with a chance to transition from shelter to stable housing.”
And, you see, this is what it is all about. People who are struggling to find a home in San Francisco don’t want to keep living in a shelter, they want a home of their own. I don’t know whether Mayor Daniel Lurie is committed to providing these types of opportunities to everyone. He definitely seems committed to serving his more affluent constituents. Mayor Lurie may not be listening to ALL of us, but I am certainly listening to what he says. In the December issue of the San Francisco Bayview National Black Newspaper, newspaper editor Kevin Epps quoted Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie as follows: “’Bayview is essential to our city. It’s one of the beating hearts of San Francisco. I’ve been in the community for the past 20 years. I was here a lot during the election, and I’ll be here a lot as the next Mayor of San Francisco. My priorities are public safety, making sure our small businesses can thrive, and streamlining the permitting process so we can get Third Street revived and up and running. I plan to make it easier for our small businesses here, not harder,’ Lurie declared. ‘You have an ally in City Hall in me.’”
I have this to say to Mayor Daniel Lurie and his staff: “I hear you when you say that we have an ally in City Hall. I also see that affordable housing and permanent supportive housing is not listed among your priorities. I am humbly requesting that you re-think your urban planning strategies.”
I end this article by requesting that everyone reading this piece consider supporting a new piece of legislation that is proposed by East Bay Assemblymember, Buffy Wicks, and California State Senator, Christopher Cabaldon, Yolo County. Their proposal seeks to place a $10 billion bond for affordable housing programs on the June 2026 ballot.
“If approved, the measure would authorize bonds to build low-income rental housing and supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness across the Golden State, among other purposes.”
Lastly, “Wicks, an open Democrat, said in a statement. ‘Even in a tight fiscal climate, we must act with urgency.’”
Today, March 31, 2025, this piece is in honor and memory of an iconic leader,
“A true American hero, Cesar Chavez was a civil rights, Latino and farm labor leader; a genuinely religious and spiritual figure; a community organizer and social entrepreneur; a champion of militant nonviolent social change; and a crusader for the environment and consumer rights.”
Malik Washington is a freelance journalist and Director at Destination: Freedom and Destination Freedom Media Group.
“People who are struggling to find a home in San Francisco don’t want to keep living in a shelter, they want a home of their own. I don’t know whether Mayor Daniel Lurie is committed to providing these types of opportunities to everyone.”
(To “everyone”? That’s not a goal that should even be attempted. You’re apparently referring to people who don’t live in San Francisco, have no money, and yet are asking the mayor to accommodate them in one of the most-expensive locales in the country. How does THAT make any sense whatsoever?)
“Teacher Housing on 43rd Avenue was recently completed”
(Why is this group – which San Francisco and California in general needs “fewer of” – being specifically accommodated? San Francisco is experiencing severe declining school enrollment. And it’s yet another district that’s refusing to face the music, when they experienced backlash regarding school closures. This is definitely a case where you NEED someone like Elon Musk to make decisions.)
Ron, this is Malik Washington. First of all, Ron, the name of the article is “Affordable Housing is an Achievable Goal in SAN FRANCISCO. It is my firm belief that food, shelter, and healthcare are human rights that should be extended and provided for everyone no matter what their economic or social status. Did you really have the audacity to recommend that Elon Musk TOUCH ANYTHING having to do with the City of San Francisco? I also want to reference a fact from Lauren Hepler’s article that I mentioned in my piece. From 2018 to 2024, 2,007 human beings died in shelters within the State of California. Increasing shelter beds IS NOT the end all/cure all. In reference to our teachers in San Francisco, they are not nearly paid the salaries that they deserve. Providing them with the option of affordable housing is the least we can do to honor their service to our children, and I applaud Supervisor Joel Engardio for thinking outside the box. Thank you for your comments. Please keep reading the Vanguard
Yes – I’m aware that it has to do with San Francisco.
I’m not opposed to society providing a basic level of care (food, shelter, and healthcare) to anyone who needs it. But places like San Francisco are among the least-logical (most expensive and impacted) places to provide it. As such, those type of services don’t have to be located there.
As far as teachers are concerned, the number of them actually needed has nothing to do with their salary. But yes, someone “like” Musk needs to take on that system (statewide), since those with a vested interest (e.g., employees of school districts, parents) don’t have society’s best interests in mind.
Schools exist to serve communities, not the other-way around.
Allow me to explain that comment, further.
Unlike the Federal government, there’s actually direct evidence that school systems are oversized as enrollment declines.