With the City facing $130 million in surplus revenues, Supervisor Chris Daly has proposed a $28 million budget supplemental to acquire, construct and rehabilitate housing – with half the units targeted at those making less than $27,000 a year. Over the weekend, Mayor Gavin Newsom said that he opposed the housing supplemental – while at the same time urging the City to “do more” to get more affordable housing units. With a Mayoral-Board showdown looming on the horizon, over 100 housing activists and three Supervisors held a pep rally on the steps of City Hall yesterday to support the $28 million package. The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on it today.

“We’re here to call on legislators to think about families living in poor situations in San Francisco,” said Silvia Alazar of the Coalition on Homelessness through a Spanish interpreter. “It’s about making more families eligible to get the affordable housing. We’re tired of politicians talk about how much they care about families, but not doing enough to prevent these families from leaving San Francisco.”

The Budget Supplemental is historic because half the units targeted would go towards families, senior and the disabled who make less than 30% of the area median income (AMI) – or about $27,000 a year. While San Francisco has built a lot of “affordable” housing over the years through its inclusionary housing ordinance, the vast majority are for those making 60% of AMI ($54,000-a-year), which is not enough for most working-class San Franciscans.

Emceed by the energetic Reverend Norman Fong, the rally brought out a truly diverse coalition of activists. Speakers included representatives from Senior Action Network, the S.F. Youth Commission, ACORN, POWER, the San Francisco Organizing Project, the Central City SRO Collaborative, Coleman Advocates for Youth, the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, the Community Tenants’ Association, the Housing Rights Committee, and the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition.

“We are all here to demand a better living situation for families in San Francisco,” said Cesar Garcia of La Voz Latina, “because the cost of living in San Francisco is too high for families. Latino families often work 2-3 jobs just to pay the rent. That is why we cannot allow up to two families living in a studio. As human beings, we have the right to more just housing.”

“I live in a small studio apartment with my husband and 8-year-old daughter,” said Rosario Ramirez of Coleman Advocates. “My husband and I both work 40 hours a week, but we still can’t afford a two-bedroom apartment in this City. I want my daughter to stay here in San Francisco. We have to do it together.”

Stephanie Hughes of ACORN spoke about the current living conditions at the Alice Griffith Housing Project, where kitchens have holes in the ceiling and children play around raw sewage. “Our children, our parents – we need more money for housing,” she said. “We need to secure the housing we have right now.” Besides the money allocated to acquire new housing, the Supplemental allocates $4 million to make repairs at public housing developments – and $1 million in specialized services for its residents.

Daly’s supplemental has been co-sponsored by Tom Ammiano, Ross Mirkarimi and Bevan Dufty. Mirkarimi postponed a committee meeting that he chairs to attend the rally, and Jake McGoldrick talked about how the City must “put a welcome mat for the poor and the working class.” But Sophie Maxwell, whose district includes the Alice Griffith homes, did not attend – but she will have the chance to support these tenants today by voting for the Supplemental.

Of course, $28 million won’t even begin to solve the affordable housing crisis in the City – a fact that some of the speakers acknowledged. “Even though it’s not enough,” said Angela Chu of the Chinatown SRO Collaborative, “it is a few inches forward. We have hundreds of families throughout the City living in overcrowded SRO’s. We urge the passage of the Budget to give our children the chance to live.”

“If we don’t build affordable housing, nobody will,” said Joseph Smooke of the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center. “The Chronicle just reported that a house got sold in San Francisco for $250,000 more than the asking price. The City is practicing Fifth Grade economics of ‘supply-and-demand,’ but 6000 units have been built in recent years – and the price isn’t going down.”

While the Supplemental sets aside $15 million for the “acquisition, construction and rehabilitation” of affordable housing units to serve various populations, there is no mandated breakdown between “construction” and “rehabilitation.” This means that some of the funds will go towards renovating already-existing housing and make it accessible for low-income people. With the sky-high cost of San Francisco real estate, it’s also uncertain how much property will be acquired and how much new housing will be built.

But the overarching consensus was that more money for affordable housing is desperately needed, and that these funds will provide opportunities for many working-class families, seniors and the disabled to get housing, fund more supportive housing for the homeless, and make critical repairs for public housing tenants. $2.5 million is also allocated in the Supplemental to help tenants buy their homes as limited-equity co-ops, with the assistance of the ROOTS non-profit.

To conclude the rally, Chris Daly spoke about how the most effective tactic we can use to make San Francisco family-friendly is to make sure that families can afford it. He noted that last year, under almost identical economic conditions, the City passed a $54 million budget supplemental – with $20 million to affordable housing. “Our surplus has grown to $130 million,” he said. “That’s money ready to be drawn.”

Daly ended by squarely addressing the Mayor’s statements on Supplemental – where he empathized the need to do more, while refusing to support the proposal. “If the Mayor is going to talk about addressing the exodus of families from San Francisco” he said, “he must support this housing supplemental. If we are okay with hypocrisy, let’s not move this item forward. But if we are not okay with hypocrisy, then we must act to pass this supplemental. And we must act to do more, because even that is not enough!!”

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