Y Combinator Entrepreneurs Unable to Find Housing in San Francisco

Progressives spent 2016-2024 slathering on hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes on new housing per unit until moderates won back control in late 2024.

It isn’t the ZIRP era anymore unfortunately. Construction and financing costs are way higher than they were a decade ago. Time to roll it back and make it easier to build.

@bilalmahmood Thank you for your work on this - we need it.

@bilalmahmood It’s rather dishonest to say that the counter measure (housing guarantee act) is a “poison pill” when it in fact exempts new housing construction from the tax. It is also directly dedicating the transfer tax revenues to social housing which is what is most needed now.

@bilalmahmood Plenty of housing available but none affordable to most! You voted for Lurie’s upzoning bill which will allow displacement of tens of thousands of tenants currently living in rent controlled apartments to make way for luxury towers. We need social housing not luxury towers!

@bilalmahmood Cut IZ to 0% and temporarily reduce the city contributions to the housing trust fund to $0 as well. Then, with the budget savings, abolish transfer taxes and gross receipts taxes while also bringing muni service to pre pandemic levels.

That measure redirects city funds without a commensurate source of revenue to fill the hole it will create. It will also remove the ability of the Board to reform transfer tax in the future. And it detracts from the more responsibly written affordable housing measure already going to the ballot with the Housing Trust Fund, which has deficit controls and every affordable housing organization is actually supporting.

@bilalmahmood "poison pill counter measures by NIMBYs" and it literally provides funding for affordable housing while exempting new housing construction

@bilalmahmood Where's the affordable housing on Parcel K, Bilal?

@PippengerHarlo @bilalmahmood A narrow 5-year window is not nearly as beneficial of an exemption as say, the 15 years under discussion with the ULA reform package.

Does little to de-risk the potential of delivering in a down market, and is completely useless to non merchant developers.

What is odd & intellectually dishonest is the implicit framing that the only option for housing is in San Francisco. While yes, there should be more deregulation to encourage development in SF, there is plenty of housing in the East Bay.

During dot-com 1.0 (2000's) apartments were also expensive & scarce. So back then like many people, I compromised & found a place in Richmond near Point Pinole & drove over the Bay Bridge. BART near Richmond was not a good option because the parking garage was often full & the station was unpleasant. Now it should be more convenient because of work from home options.

@bilalmahmood Two things: 1) Cost to build "affordable housing" is ~2x regular. Driven by regs & prevailing wage req. 2) Even if all new housing were high-end, cost for lower end would go down because wealthier would upgrade into high end,increasing capacity at the lower end

@bilalmahmood Wait just a second

@theoluna007 @bilalmahmood There is not plenty of housing available. We need housing at all levels

@bilalmahmood Have you considered not being a sanctuary city? that would solve the problem a little faster

@bilalmahmood I see posts like this all the time but nothing actually ever gets built.

@PippengerHarlo @bilalmahmood Apparently, DSA when crafting housing legislation:

@bilalmahmood @ris_hav Which is it, do we want to cut all this revenue entirely or we can’t spend the money on housing because the money is needed elsewhere?

Why not add exemptions to the tax for new housing and continue to tax office sales and spend the money on housing?

@bilalmahmood I appreciate your work here!

@bilalmahmood we need social housing. only social housing. straight up soviet amounts of it. anything else is a capitulation to luxury developers.

@bilalmahmood "Affordable housing" is just progressive wish casting that ossifies the city. Anyone. Talking about it will only make things worse.