San Francisco mayor approves $32 million for homes for teachers as city deals with homelessness crisis
Eden Villalovas
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San Francisco’s plans to build affordable housing for teachers are accelerating after decades of obstructions. The city has also allocated millions this year to housing and shelters for the homeless in an attempt to curb a severe homelessness crisis.
Mayor London Breed selected two projects on Tuesday to divide $32 million in newly released city funds. Multiple organizations were in the running to receive assistance, and applications closed in April.
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One project will consist of a 63-unit housing development at 2205 Mission St., and the other will be a 75-unit housing development located at 750 Golden Gate Ave., according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
City talks to tackle the lack of affordable housing for teachers were in the works for years. In 2017, Mayor Ed Lee made those visions a reality, pledging $44 million to build the project. In 2019, voters passed Proposition E, which enabled construction on public lots to speed up housing production.
The city began the construction of the first affordable housing project for educators in 2022, providing 134 units and spending $105 million on the project for district employees in the Outer Sunset neighborhood in San Francisco.
The projects were selected amid rising rents and a shortage of affordable housing in San Francisco. Breed’s proposed budget ramps up spending to tackle the homelessness crisis, part of a broader plan to curb the number of people living on city streets within five years. That plan includes creating 545 new permanent housing placements, almost 600 new shelter beds, and 825 prevention and problem-solving placements.
The city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing’s current budget for fiscal 2024 is $636 million, with Breed’s new budget sitting at $692.6 million.
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The average starting salary for a teacher in California is slightly more than $51,000 a year, according to the California Department of Education. Entry-level teachers in San Francisco average roughly $58,000 a year. Last year, Breed allocated $60 million to an initiative to raise early childhood educators’ salaries by approximately $8,000 to $30,000 annually. The initiative is part of tax funds acquired under the voter-passed Proposition C in 2018, which was held up until recently.
In the San Francisco metro area, which has one of the most expensive rental markets in the nation, the average asking rent increased by 9.5% at the end of 2022 compared to the previous year, according to an economic research firm.