Supervisors, mayor reach agreement on November housing bond

“Our affordable housing crisis is today,” said Supervisor Mark Farrell, chairman of the Budget & Finance Committee.

“This housing crisis demands our continued coordinated action and leadership,” he said in a statement.

[...] it’s also a victory for the board’s progressive bloc, which got Lee to boost the size of the bond after insisting for months that $250 million was the most he could ask for without raising taxes.

The mayor also agreed to spend another $25 million for affordable housing by borrowing against the San Francisco Housing Trust Fund, a dedicated funding stream for affordable housing and down payment assistance.

The deal also specifies how the bond money will be allocated if voters pass the measure: $80 million will go to public housing, $150 million to low-income housing and $80 million to middle-income housing.

[...] the proposed budget changes will give the public defender an additional $700,000 to hire two attorneys and two paralegals to focus specifically on pretrial release for criminal defendants, including bail hearings.

Jennifer Friedenbach, director of the Coalition on Homelessness, said she sought $1 million to pay for additional lawyers to represent tenants facing eviction.