2024 California Primary Endorsements for San Francisco

2024 California Primary Endorsements for San Francisco

Vote pro-housing in the Presidential Primary Election and San Francisco Local Races on March 5, 2024

Cheat Sheet

Explanations for endorsements are below.

Endorsement Explanations

California State Assembly

matt-haney-2022

CA State Assembly District 17

Matt Haney

Since arriving in Sacramento, Assemblymember Matt Haney has immediately gotten to work to champion housing. In addition to strong votes, he carried an important bill, AB 1114, to close loopholes abused by San Francisco to delay housing. Haney has also worked on office-to-housing conversions and prioritized limiting the cost burdens for renters, bringing his perspective as one of the few renters and chairing the California Legislative Renters’ Caucus.

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Catherine Stefani 2024

California State Assembly District 19

Catherine Stefani

One might assume that the Supervisor representing wealthy neighborhoods like Pacific Heights and the Marina would be a NIMBY against housing. However, we are excited to endorse Supervisor Catherine Stefani who far exceeds expectations. While she may not be the loudest pro-housing voice, Supervisor Stefani stands for the rule of law and consistent standards applied to housing. Although the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is majority anti-housing, Catherine Stefani has bravely voted for housing projects and against baseless appeals. She voted in support of headline housing projects like 469 Stevenson Street (the Nordstrom parking lot project) and 1151 Washington Street.

We expect Catherine Stefani to continue her pro-housing goals in the Assembly, a body that is much more supportive of housing. She explicitly supports more housing in her Assembly District. She also writes unambiguously in our questionnaire “we need to prioritize building all types of housing in exclusionary communities.” Further, she writes “I am also committed to ensuring that cities and counties across the state do their fair share in terms of building housing, and if they don’t, hold them accountable through closing loopholes within the Housing Accountability Act. “

We encourage Supervisor Stefani to sponsor legislation in the Assembly that aligns with her good-governance ethos, such as strengthening the Housing Accountability Act where it may conflict with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
  • Northern Neighbors
  • Grow the Richmond
  • Southside Forward

California State Senate

scott-wiener-1

CA State Senate District 11

Scott Wiener

Scott Wiener continues to be an exemplary leader on housing. He has passed numerous bills in the recent session, including SB423, extending and expanding upon one of the most productive affordable housing bills of the past decade, SB35, as well as SB4 (YIGBY), which will allow for affordable housing on religious properties, opening up tens of thousands of acres for new housing. We are also now seeing the dividends of his early work to strengthen state law and put teeth into the RHNA process by strengthening the Housing Element process, meaning jurisdictions all over California have to build the housing they say they will or face consequences from the state.

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
  • Peninsula for Everyone

Local Ballot Measures

Prop A March 2024 DIY image

✅ Yes

Proposition A: Affordable Housing Bonds

Proposition A is a $300 milllion housing bond that is going before the voters in March. This is an important tool to help fund 1,500 affordable homes in San Francisco over the next several years.

The funding will go to support working families in San Francisco. It will help the city take another to hitting our RHNA goals by creating more funding for much-needed affordable housing.

This is a unifying measure that brings San Franciscans together, and it's important that we come together as this requires 2/3rds to pass.

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Proposition C: Real Estate Transfer Tax Exemption and Office Space Allocation

✅ Yes

Proposition C: Real Estate Transfer Tax Exemption and Office Space Allocation

TL;DR: Vote Yes on Prop C, which will encourage up to 5 million square feet of office space, by the start of 2030, to be converted into housing, by exempting the post-conversion sale from the usual transfer tax of up to 6%. The full 5 million square feet would be equivalent to around 5,000 one and two-bedroom apartment homes.

Why support it: reducing fees on new homes encourage building them: some projects that would otherwise fail to pencil out financially might be built if Prop C passes. Specifically bringing housing to downtown SF, a jobs center, will help reduce car dependence and make the neighborhood more vibrant. Finally, the transfer tax is itself poorly structured, and this reduces its burden on our city.

Dig deeper: San Francisco’s Transfer Tax is a sales tax that applies to property sales, including both residential and commercial property, and including the initial sale upon construction of a new property. For example, a $1M condo is subject to a $7,500 tax, 0.75%, upon sale, and a $100M building pays a 6% rate, which would be $6M.

Wonky criticism of the non-marginal transfer tax structure

Unlike most taxes, the transfer tax is not assessed at the margin, a problem which was exacerbated by Dean Preston’s Prop I (2020), which changed the rate bump at $10M from 0.5% (2.25% to 2.75%) to 3.25% (2.25% to 5.5% at that $10M threshold). This means that a $10M property sale owes more than twice as much transfer tax as a $9,999,999 sale price, and that sale prices between $10M and $10.325M are economically irrational.

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY

Democratic County Central Committee AD 17

Emma Heiken

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 17

Emma Heiken

Emma has worked in San Francisco in a variety of capacities to bring more housing abundance to the City

Yes In My Back Yard is a walk, not just a talk.
Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Lily Ho

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 17

Lily Ho

Our housing shortage due to decades of lack of growth has lead to homelessness, shrinking middle class, families leaving San Francisco, and ongoing staff shortages. We have the opportunity to remove barriers and it's time for leaders to take the breaks off of development bans.
Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Nancy Tung

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 17

Nancy Tung

I believe there is too much bureaucracy around building housing and that we need more of every type in order to have an economically thriving city. The fracas around 469 Stevenson particularly highlighted the obstacles and subsequent outside pressure needed to get more housing built.
Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Michael Lai

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 17

Michael Lai

I support the YIMBY platform for housing. State level electeds like Scott Wiener and Buffy Wicks have driven a lot of strong pro housing legislation the last few years, and the addition of Rob Bonta and new Assembly Speaker Rob Rivas will accelerate this. However, at the city level a NIMBY board of supervisors holds this back. We need to win the DCCC to get a YIMBY board of supervisors. Before running for office, I ran an early education startup that created an innovative model where we provided subsidized housing to early childhood educators and turned living rooms into licensed daycares, so we could pay teachers more and allow them to live in the communities they serve.
Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Laurance Lem Lee

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 17

Laurance Lem Lee

YIMBYs have done incredible work over the past few years to help make it easier to build housing at all levels in San Francisco and California, thank you! Yet the work continues, through supporting pro-housing people at every level, from department heads, to the DCCC, to other electeds.
Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Peter Ho Lik Lee

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 17

Peter Ho Lik Lee

We need to elect YIMBY friendly officials and the DCCC is a key step in the right direction.
Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Trevor Chandler

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 17

Trevor Chandler

For too long rich neighborhoods have been able to use their influence to prevent doing their part in building the housing our City needs, like when Nob Hill was able to stop just 10 new units of housing or the fact that the Sunset has only built 12 units of affordable housing in the last decade.
Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Carrie Elise Barnes

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 17

Carrie Elise Barnes

I am passionate about building more housing, leveling the playing field for women, and ensuring that San Francisco is a safe and vibrant city. I have maintained for a long time that our current housing crisis is a demand-induced scarcity model. There are of course many factors fueling the housing shortage, but the bottomline is that demand is outstripping supply. Some of the supply issues are a result of our byzantine permitting process and antiquated zoning laws, however it often feels like a lack of political will fuels the slow production of homes. This is why I’m running for the DCCC – I know it’s possible for San Francisco to be a pro-growth, dense vibrant city, and I would like to support candidates and policies that work towards that same goal.
Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Lyn Werbach

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 17

Lyn Werbach

I am running for the DCCC in part because I deeply believe San Francisco needs more housing in each of our neighborhoods, including subsidized affordable housing and market rate housing. We need zoning reforms and transit-oriented development as well as strong tenant protections to help San Francisco thrive.
Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Joe Sangirardi

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 17

Joe Sangirardi

Housing and transit are my biggest issues, along with good-government. I believe that we need ALL sorts of housing and yes, I do believe that eventually if we rezoned appropriately, the housing market could fix it self and make housing affordable, but I don't think that will happen quickly enough to help the acute unaffordability crisis we have now, which is why we should protect or figure out how to build new rent controlled homes.
Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Luis A. Zamora

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 17

Luis A. Zamora

Ensuring housing as a fundamental right is our shared responsibility. Let's lead by example and promote inclusivity by constructing homes that cater to the needs of EVERYONE in our community!
Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
matt-dorsey

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 17

Matt Dorsey

Matt Dorsey has been a housing champion on the Board of Supervisors since his election in 2022. We are excited to see him bring that same vision to the local Democratic Party leadership

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
bilal-mahmood-ad-17

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 17

Bilal Mahmood

The best climate policy is housing policy.
Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY

Democratic County Central Committee AD 19

Parag Gupta 2

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 19

Parag Gupta

Parag is a YIMBY Action board member and serves as the Chief Program Officer at Mercy Housing, one of the largest and most impactful nonprofit affordable housing developers in the country. At Mercy, Parag leads the strategy and execution for building affordable housing in California.

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Jade Tu

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 19

Jade Tu

A native San Franciscan and lifelong resident of the Sunset, Jade knows that building more housing will address the root cause of so many of San Francisco’s issues. She supports middle-density housing and striking an achievable balance between the housing needs of the city and her community.

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Mike Chen

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 19

Mike Chen

Mike is a SF YIMBY lead and power volunteer. He has been a crucial member of the movement for years, and regularly advocates for building housing in San Francisco by supporting day-to-day chapter operations, campaigning actively for YIMBY-endorsed candidates and ballot measures, and joining movement-wide activities like YIMBY Lobby Day in Sacramento.

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Dan Calamuci

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 19

Dan Calamuci

Dan believes we need to dramatically increase the supply of housing at all levels of affordability across all neighborhoods in San Francisco. He believes we should prioritize affordable housing, particularly for our most vulnerable communities, but also believes we just need more housing - period!

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Lanier Coles

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 19

Lanier Coles

Lanier lives in District 2 and wants more 6-8 story buildings along both Lombard and Geary streets, and dense housing built ASAP at the former CPMC hospital on California street. She wants to continue to hold the Board of Supervisors accountable for their housing votes in order to ensure San Francisco meets its RHNA goals.

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Sara Barz

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 19

Sara Barz

Sara wants to build more housing for all people and is ready to take on NIMBY elected officials! In her time as a YIMBY, she has supported a number of different housing development projects, including 3333 California, 1151 Washington, 2550 Irving, 730 Stanyan, 469 Stevenson, 3832 18th Street, and the adaptive reuse project at Sacramento and Webster.

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Catherine Stefani 2024

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 19

Catherine Stefani

Catherine has been a reliable YIMBY vote on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as District 2 Supervisor for the past six years. Her votes have consistently demonstrated her record as a YIMBY.

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
marjanphilhour

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 19

Marjan Philhour

Marjan has been a strong advocate for affordable housing and has supported policies that promote equitable access to housing for years. She’s also been a vocal supporter of mixed-income housing developments that foster diverse and inclusive neighborhoods to ensure everyone has a safe and affordable place to call home.

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY
Brian Quan

San Francisco County Democratic County Central Committee Assembly District 19

Brian Quan

Brian co-leads the Richmond District hyperlocal YIMBY group, Grow the Richmond. He also champions housing development on San Francisco’s Westside, and campaigned to support 2550 Irving in the Sunset District, and participated in 2023 YIMBY Lobby Day in Sacramento.

Endorsing chapters
  • San Francisco YIMBY

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Official members are eligible to vote in our endorsements process, influencing the positions we take during elections.