Last December, the City’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee submitted its draft reparations plan.
The Board of Supervisors will review and discuss the committee’s draft policy recommendations in a public meeting. This in advance of a final version of the plan, which the committee is due to submit in June.
When the committee first unveiled the draft report, nearly all of the news coverage focused on its suggestion to pay $5 million to each eligible African American San Franciscan. But the report includes a number of recommendations outside the scope of direct payments.
The San Francisco Public Press reports that many of these focus on changing housing policies to make homeownership more attainable.
According to the Bay Area Equity Atlas, African American households have the lowest homeownership rate in the City.
The draft report recommends giving housing subsidies and loan guarantees to residents who qualify for reparations. It also suggests changes to the below-market-rate ownership program that would allow participants to pass along housing to descendants or rent out their properties.
The report also recommends that the city establish and fund a African American-led community land trust to include properties along commercial corridors in African American cultural districts.
