Massive Housing Bond Dropped From Bay Area Ballots

SAN FRANCISCO — A $20 billion bond designed to inject funding into affordable housing developments across the Bay Area will not appear on November ballots after local leaders moved Wednesday to drop the measure.

In June, the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority greenlit placing the largest housing bond in state history before voters in all nine counties, aiming to build new subsidized housing and preserve existing units in one of the nation's priciest metro areas.

The bond would have raised property taxes by nearly $19 per $100,000 of assessed value - or about $265 for a $1.4 million home. According to the Press Democrat, 80 percent of the funds would directly support affordable housing, with the dollar amounts determined by how much each county paid into the tax.

Nearly two months later, BAHFA board members voted unanimously Wednesday morning to abandon the effort on the last day ballot measures can legally be removed ahead of the November election.

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However, a separate measure on the November ballot, Proposition 5, seeks to amend the state constitution to lower the threshold from 66.67 percent to 55 percent for bonds that fund housing and public infrastructure.

In a statement shared after the vote, the board said it determined the best path forward was to wait until after voters have the chance to weigh in on Prop. 5 to pursue a regional housing measure.

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"The BAHFA Board has always understood that it would be a steep climb to establish this source of funding," the statement reads in part. "Recent developments have led the Board to conclude that the wise choice is to look ahead to another election season for a regional housing measure when there is more certainty and the voters have weighed in affirmatively on Proposition 5."