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Crosscurrents

Explaining San Francisco's affordable housing bonus program

San Francisco Planning Department / resized and cropped.
The blue highlighted areas show the residential and commercial corridors being considered for the Affordable Housing Bonus Program. Image source: http://bit.ly/1HUfoBN

San Francisco's lead housing policy planner Kearstin Dischinger speaks with KALW's Ben Trefny about the proposed Affordable Housing Bonus Program.

The legislation – proposed by Mayor Ed Lee and District 4 Supervisor Katy Tang – would, in part, incentivize developers to build 30 percent affordable housing by allowing them to build two stories higher than is currently allowed in residential mixed use districts.

KEARSTIN DISCHINGER: We all value our rent control housing stock. There are instances where the trade-off is bad: two rent control units being demolished for three market rate units is a bad trade-off for the city. So we want to make sure that we're not allowing that, but if we can provide 30 new affordable units at the cost of two rent control units, we're clearly winning as a city.

Click the audio player above to hear the interview. For a condensed version, click here.  

To learn more about the Affordable Housing Bonus Program, click here.

I joined KALW in 2004. As Executive News Editor and then News Director, I helped our news department win numerous regional and national awards for long- and short-form journalism. I've also helped create numerous training programs — for teenagers, incarcerated people, and early-career journalists — and have taught hundreds of audio producers. I served as interim Executive Director for nearly two years. My work is currently focused on creating original live events, programming, and building partnerships with like-minded organizations.