Dean Preston’s Housing Record
Facts vs. Disinformation
Total Homes Approved
Affordable Homes Approved
86% of approved homes were affordable
Housing Funds Approved
Dean Preston's Housing Record by the Numbers
25,685
Affordable homes approved since taking office
86% of all homes approved by Preston have been affordable
$5,530,858,552
Funds approved for affordable housing since taking office
Source: Vote-by-vote breakdown of all housing funding measures
Who is Dean?
Dean Preston represents District 5 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. A tenant attorney prior to being elected in 2019, Dean has fought against displacement and for affordable housing for more than 20 years. Dean wrote the nation’s strongest right to counsel law for tenants facing eviction, which has prevented thousands of tenants from losing their homes. Since taking office, Dean has led the way on pandemic eviction protections, writing over a dozen separate bills to stop Covid-related displacement, and spearheading efforts to get unsheltered residents into Shelter-In-Place hotels. He has been the leading voice on the Board to create 100% affordable housing, and through his November 2020 Prop I ballot measure, has single-handedly brought in more than a quarter billion dollars intended for affordable housing.
For more, visit deanprestonsf.com
What is Dean Preston's record on housing?
Supervisor Preston has a strong record of fighting against displacement, and has done more in his first term in office to create more affordable housing than any Supervisor in recent history. Below is a list of some of Supervisor Preston housing achievements.
Guaranteeing a Right to Counsel for Tenants Facing Eviction
Prior to being elected Supervisor, in 2018 Dean wrote the groundbreaking Prop F ballot measure that established the Right to Counsel program in San Francisco. The program guarantees that every renter facing eviction has access to free legal counsel, and is recognized nationally as one of the strongest programs of its kind in the country. Data shows this is a powerful and cost-effective program at preventing displacement and homelessness, with two-thirds of tenants receiving full representation able to stay in their homes. In addition to helping write and pass the ballot measure, Supervisor Preston has consistently championed the program in the budget process, and achieved full funding in 2022.
Piloting Shelter-in-Place Hotels, Starting with the Oasis Inn
In March 2020, as the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic came into focus, Preston’s office was alarmed at the slow response from the city to move residents from congregate shelters, including a family shelter and a women’s shelter in the Fillmore, into more safe living situations. In collaboration with community partners, Supervisor Preston launched a GoFundMe campaign, raising more than $25,000 in 24 hours, and eventually bringing in more than $100,000. In partnership with the Providence Foundation, within days dozens of residents – many over 60 or with underlying health issues, women escaping abusive relationships, and families with children – filled the vacant rooms at the Oasis Inn, a nearby tourist hotel that had seen business evaporate due to COVID. This District 5 pilot of moving people from congregate shelters to vacant tourist hotels became the model for the city’s shelter-in-place hotel program. The city would eventually take over coordinating the Oasis Inn, along with dozens of other hotels citywide, housing thousands of homeless people during the pandemic. Two years later, when the Oasis was about to be sold and the hotel closed, Preston and activists led an extensive campaign that culminated in St. Anthony’s Foundation purchasing the hotel to operate it, with Providence Foundation and City funding, as a permanent shelter for women and families.
Taxing Wealthy Real Estate Investors to Fund Affordable Housing
Across the political spectrum in San Francisco, nearly everyone agrees that the City needs more affordable housing – the problem is, we don’t have enough money to pay for it. Supervisor Preston took this problem head on, writing a ballot measure in November 2020 to double the tax rate on real estate transactions valued at $10 million or more, with the revenue intended to pay for rent relief and affordable housing. Despite an aggressive $5 million opposition campaign, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition I, earning 58% of the vote. Since taking effect, the measure has raised more than a quarter billion dollars. In addition to raising a significant amount of funding, Prop I has also inspired other cities to reexamine their transfer tax system, including Los Angeles’s successful United to House LA effort.
Stopping Pandemic-related Displacement by Funding Rent Relief
Supervisor Preston stepped up during the pandemic to prevent the public health crisis from becoming an displacement crisis, writing more than a dozen bills to prevent evictions. But a major question remained – how would tenants address months, sometimes more, of accumulated back rent? In response, Supervisor Preston designed Prop I, and trailing legislation passed by the Board of Supervisors, to allocate a portion of the proceeds to fund Covid-related rent relief programs. Despite receiving relief funds from the federal government, city estimates showed the residential back rent was significantly higher than funds made available through federal or state programs. Supervisor Preston made sure San Francisco had more local funding available to prevent displacement, first passing a bill in March 2021 to add $10 million to the local program, and then following up with a $32 million addition during budget negotiations that year, all made possible from Preson’s Prop I ballot measure. By banning evictions and raising more local funds than any other city in California, a study from the Public Policy Institute of California showed San Francisco with the lowest pandemic-related eviction rate statewide.
Creating the First Dedicated Funds for Housing Preservation, Community Land Trusts
After seeing a sharp increase in multi-family residential buildings being put on the private market and sold to speculators, Supervisor Preston created an Emergency Acquisition Plan for the city to acquire buildings and convert to permanently affordable, social housing. Using funds generated from Prop I, the plan proposed a $64 million allocation to the city’s small sites program, the first dedicated proposal of funds to this program in city history. Following a major push from housing justice advocates, labor leaders, and long-time residents at risk of displacement, the Board of Supervisors approved the plan in November 2021. A year and a half later, the city reported that more than 100 homes across seven different buildings in San Francisco were preserved by this historic investment, according to a letter from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development in response to an official inquiry from Supervisor Preston. The saved properties include a multi-family residence in SOMA with six long-term families, an SRO with 64 homes badly in need of repair, a North Beach apartment building where tenants have lived for 30-plus years.
Groundbreaking Spending Package on Affordable Housing in 2022 Budget
As part of the 2022 budget negotiations, the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor agreed to a groundbreaking spending package proposed by Preston for affordable housing, predicated on the significant revenue from Preston’s Prop I ballot measure. The package includes a bond measure and direct investments from the budget process, totaling $112 million for affordable housing site acquisition, new construction, and life-safety repairs in existing affordable housing. Specifically, the bond measure included:
$40 million to acquire land for development of 100% affordable housing
$30 million for site acquisition for non-profit community facilities
$20 million for capital improvements/repairs to public housing and HUD subsidized co-ops,
$12 million for affordable educator housing
$10 million for elevator repairs in Single Room Occupancy Hotels (SROs)
This package allowed the city to acquire in June 2023 five new affordable housing sites which will deliver more than 550 new affordable homes for San Franciscans, including 650 Divisadero Street in District 5. In addition, the city announced in July 2023 that the funds made available for educator housing would help pay for two new teacher-focused projects, a 63-unit development at 2205 Mission Street and the 75-unit project at 750 Golden Gate Avenue.
Breaking Ground on Long-Promised Affordable Housing in the Haight
In 2017, the City purchased the former McDonald’s site at 730 Stanyan Street to build affordable housing. Despite interim use proposals from community groups, the property sat vacant for years. After taking office, Supervisor Preston saw an opportunity to create a Safe Sleeping Site at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and pushed the city to pilot what ended up being one of the most successful spaces where homeless people could safely stay with access to services and assistance. Although the City shut down the temporary Safe Sleeping Site later in the pandemic, Supervisor Preston remained a steadfast champion to maximize the affordable units on site. In June 2023, Supervisor Preston joined city leaders to break ground on the 100% affordable project at 730 Stanyan. This project will bring 160 affordable units to the Upper Haight, including units for low to moderate-income families, families who have experienced homelessness, and Transitional Age Youth (TAY).
Acquiring 835 Turk Street for Permanent Supportive Housing
Following advocacy from Supervisor Preston, in February 2022 the city purchased 835 Turk Street, formerly known as the Gotham Hotel, for permanent supportive housing. In September 2021, Supervisor Preston sent a letter to Homelessness and Supportive Housing Director Shireen McSpadden demanding the city acquire 835 Turk. Preston followed up with a letter on October 4, 2021 reiterating the demand. After agreeing to move forward, the City formally acquired the site in February 2022, co-sponsored by Supervisor Preston. In September, the city celebrated the opening of the site, which provides 114 large units all with private bathrooms for formerly homeless individuals.
Fighting for Affordable Housing at DMV Field Office
The DMV Field Office in Fell Street is the perfect opportunity site for affordable housing. With a lot size just shy of 100,000 square feet, the DMV site is one the few large-scale sites suitable for housing in the geographic center of San Francisco, and would serve as a critical site for the pursuit of geographic equity in the production of affordable housing citywide. In addition, as state-owned property, the site provides a cost-effective opportunity for large-scale affordable housing development without the upfront cost of acquiring the land. In November 2022, Supervisor Preston authored and passed a resolution urging the state to prioritize affordable housing on the DMV site, calling on the Department of Motor Vehicles to work with state and local elected leaders to make a permanently-affordable project happen. Following introduction, Assemblymember Ting convened a meeting with Preston and representatives from state agencies, including the DMV and the Department of General Services. The state agencies initially pointed to existing plans at the DMV site to demolish and rebuild the DMV field office while preserving the surface parking, which have been funded and approved. With a strong push from Ting and Preston, DMV and DGS agreed to consider housing on the site. In January 2023, the state released a Request for Information (RFI) for housing developers to create plans for housing on site, and in September, the state released a call for developers to submit proposals for affordable housing. This is a major step toward creating upwards of 400 affordable homes on this state-owned site.
Authorizing 10,000 Units of Municipal Housing
Supervisor Preston authored a ballot measure to authorize 10,000 units of social housing, including government-owned housing, which won with a commanding 74% of voter approval in 2020. Proposition K opens the door for San Francisco to create municipal housing for low-income people and provides the path around an anti-public housing state law. Supervisor Preston believes that government at all levels needs to get in the business of acquiring and building housing that is affordable to low-income and working class residents.
Activating Empty Homes
Nearly one out of every ten residential units in San Francisco – more than 40,000 homes – are unoccupied, according to a Budget and Legislative Analyst report published in January 2022. In response, Supervisor Preston teamed up with the Democratic Socialists of America San Francisco Chapter and Faith in Action Bay Area to propose an Empty Homes Tax ballot measure. Despite a major spending campaign against, in November 2022, the Empty Homes Tax cruised to victory with a double digit, 55% to 45% win. The measure, which takes effect January 2024, will apply a tax to owners of buildings of three units or more, where a residential unit has been vacant for more than six months in a given year. The tax rate is higher for larger units, and it increases the longer a home is kept vacant. While the primary goal of the measure is to fill empty homes, the new tax revenue will be split between rental subsidies for low-income seniors and a fund to acquire vacant properties to convert them to affordable housing. Similar efforts in Vancouver have shown that a tax on vacant residential units encourages owners to list their previously-unoccupied units on the market and fill them with occupants.
Fighting Disinformation
Despite Supervisor Preston’s record on affordable housing (or perhaps because of it), in November 2021, SF YIMBY leaders concocted a disinformation report with false claims about housing purportedly “blocked” by Supervisor Preston, claiming he is a so-called “NIMBY.” The “report” can only be described as a political hit piece. Unfortunately, a San Francisco Chronicle columnist covered the report without questioning it or investigating the assertions. It’s been cited by other media and nonstop by YIMBYs and conservative critics online, with no critical eye as to its accuracy, ever since. This website is an attempt to set the record straight. Facts matter.
What’s Really Going On?
Preston has voted for nearly all housing – market rate and affordable – that’s been before the Board of Supervisors. He has also been consistent in explaining his view that new market rate housing in San Francisco’s expensive market does not provide housing affordable to anyone but the wealthy and real estate investors, and he does not see any evidence that the housing “trickles down” to most working people in the City. Rather than engage on this issue – whether new market rate housing provides homes for those who aren’t rich – YIMBY organizations simply lie about his record, casting him as someone voting to stop new market rate housing. His actual record tells a different story: a Supervisor who fights for affordable units and community benefit fees as part of market rate housing projects, and who has already voted in favor of nearly 30,000 units of housing, while opposing virtually none. Dean Preston’s consistent championing to house the poor and working class tenants is seen as a threat to the interests of the wealthy.
Who is YIMBY?
YIMBY, an acronym for “Yes in My Backyard,” positions itself as a grassroots movement, when it fact is better understood as an astroturf campaign for real estate developers and the upper class that benefits directly from luxury housing. Founded in response to public backlash against the largest tech companies contribution to gentrification in the Bay Area, SF YIMBY and a constellation of YIMBY organizations are bankrolled in large part by developers, real estate lobbyists, landlord’s attorneys and tech executives. Their agenda is positioned as simply “pro-housing,” but the policies they push are a repackaged version of the deregulation, trickle-down Reaganomics agenda. Every rule that seeks to ensure social benefit from housing development – affordable housing requirements, for example – are tools that “block” more housing under the YIMBY framework. While there is no doubt that some members genuinely believe that their agenda may result in more housing affordability, with deep ties to right-wing think-tanks and the likes of the Koch brothers, YIMBY leadership is pushing a political agenda to defeat anyone who questions their “the market will fix it” mantra. The issue they won’t address is, fix it for whom?
What is their “report”?
In November 2021, SF YIMBY members published a website, presenting itself as an academic report, full of misinformation about Supervisor Preston’s track record. They completely ignore Preston’s extensive housing accomplishments. They claim that by seeking amendments to a state bill – a bill that was not up for vote by the Board of Supervisors – that is somehow the same as “blocking” all of the housing theoretically allowed had that bill passed; that by listening to community demands for additional study on gentrification impacts, he somehow “blocked” every conceivable units on a proposed rezoning plan; and that by demanding more concrete affordable housing commitments for a major expansion of the USCF campus, it is the same as opposing “the expansion of a public hospital during a pandemic.” The site also continues to list the project at 650 Divisadero Street as somehow being “opposed” by Preston, despite the fact that his successful efforts to raise affordable housing funds are what is making the 100% affordable project there possible.
At the time of publication, nearly two years ago, the authors claimed this was the first of many, and that the “authors will look at the housing records of each supervisor, and this column will cover each one,” a claim printed without question from former columnist Heather Knight. To date, there haven’t been any other reports, because this was simply a smear on Supervisor Preston and his focus on fighting for the poor and vulnerable.
Below we will take their report, point by point, and show why their claims are one-sided at best, and more often the product of blatant disinformation against a political adversary. Preston has consistently fought for affordable housing and tenant rights for over two decades, and has been critical of astroturf YIMBY organizations and the trickle down housing “movement,” and a thorn in the side of their real estate and billionaire backers, which apparently was the reason he was targeted with the hit piece on his housing record.
Taking on the Disinformation “Report”
650 Divisadero Street
CLAIM: 128 homes opposed FALSE
FACT: Preston led the effort to make this site 100% affordable housing.
Long before Preston took office, he expressed concerns about the lack of affordability for this predominantly market-rate proposal after the City rezoned the land for greater density without increasing affordability requirements, a departure from past upzoning efforts elsewhere in the City. In reality, Supervisor Preston actually led the fight to pass an ordinance correcting the error and requiring more affordable housing at the rezoned Divisadero parcels.
But this, perhaps more than any other claim, shows the motives at play. Because the Supervisor fought for and won major funding for affordable housing, the site is being acquired by the city and will soon be developed for 100% affordable housing. Had SF YIMBY won the day, this site would have remained an empty lot for many years given that the market rate project – even though fully entitled – wasn’t moving forward. Instead, because community activists demanded more affordable housing and Preston wrote a ballot measure to generate the funding, 650 Divisadero will now be nearly 100 units of permanently affordable housing for working class and formerly homeless people. The fact that this “report” still lists this successful struggle to build affordable housing as a top example of Supervisor Preston’s “blocking” housing says everything you need to know about the lack of truthfulness and what they really care about, and it isn’t housing for working people and their families.
Opposing SB 35, The Streamlined Affordable Housing Act
CLAIM: 3,841 homes opposed FALSE
FACT: Preston had no vote in this state law.
Again, long before Preston took office, as Executive Director of a statewide tenant coalition, he expressed concerns – put forward by affordable housing and tenant groups across California – about the bill, and particularly the provisions that cut out community voices from the development process as it pertained to market rate housing development. Yet this report twists these concerns as somehow the same as “opposing” all theoretical housing potentially made possible by the state law. Advocating for changes to a state bill – again, before even being an elected official – is hardly the same as stopping development.
400 Divisadero Street
CLAIM: 321 homes opposed FALSE
FACT: Preston is leading the fight to make this site 100% Affordable Housing.
Much like the original proposal at 650 Divisadero, prior to taking office, Supervisor Preston expressed concerns about the lack of affordable housing in the mostly-market rate proposal at 400 Divisadero Street, a former gas station on a large corner lot. Preston and a coalition of neighbors wanted more affordable housing onsite. The project was approved and fully entitled, but later abandoned by the developer after the pandemic hit.
As Supervisor, Preston has done everything in his power to make this site 100% affordable housing, including a landmark budget agreement to earmark $40m to acquire sites for affordable housing like 400 Divisadero.
Supervisor Preston raised the money with Prop I to acquire this site for affordable housing, secured an agreement with the Mayor’s office in the budget negotiations, and then was blindsided by the Mayor’s office reneging on the deal, causing an affordable housing nonprofit to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.
The only reason there is no housing development at 400 Divisadero is the YIMBY-backed Mayor’s inexplicable decision to block affordable housing there. While Preston fights to get housing built on this site, instead of holding their supposedly “pro-housing” Mayor accountable for her ongoing refusal to acquire the site for affordable housing, Preston’s opponents falsely attack him as opposed. This demonstrates the cheap politics at play, actually getting affordable housing built takes a back seat to smearing their progressive enemies.
Opposing HOME-SF, SF's Affordable Housing Density Program
CLAIM: 524 homes opposed FALSE
FACT: Preston has never voted on this law.
To make this strange assertion, the “report” relies on a 2016 letter (years before Preston took office) submitted by Affordable Divis, a community organizing group of which Preston was a member, to the Planning Commission as the basis of their claim. Again, it’s beyond absurd to characterize positions on rezoning laws, and attempts to improve community benefits and affordability in such laws, as opposition to each and every home that theoretically might ever be built under that law. Preston has a housing record while in office, and he’s never cast a vote one way or the other on HOME-SF.
UCSF Hospital Expansion
CLAIM: 2,450 homes opposed FALSE
FACT: Preston supported both the hospital and more housing on this site.
A major plan to expand the UCSF campus saw neighbors in the area demanding agreements, particularly for more affordable housing. Despite the plan not needing city approval, Supervisor Preston authored a resolution to delay by one meeting an initial review by UC Regents while calling for more affordable units, more transit investment, and an enforceability provision in a Memorandum of Understanding. UC leadership itself conceded that this one meeting pause to allow for mediation would have no impact on the construction timeline.
In the end, UCSF improved its affordability commitment in response to public pressure, a huge win for working class people. But of course, the “report” includes none of the important background, and instead claims that Preston opposed “a public hospital during a pandemic.” That couldn’t be further from the truth, as Preston explained in a Medium post at the time.
730 Stanyan Street
CLAIM: 78 homes opposed FALSE
FACT: Patently false assertion, Preston’s work led to 160 homes being built on this site.
Like the claim that Preston somehow stood in the way of housing at 650 Divisadero, when in fact Preston has been a clear champion for the affordable development from the start, the claim that Preston has impeded progress at 730 Stanyan is a lie. They claim, outrageously, that “When a local NIMBY group asked the City to limit how much subsidized housing was built at 730 Stanyan, Preston told them that he would defer to them about what should be built there,” which is just patently wrong. Early on in his tenure as Supervisor, Preston made clear he supports maximizing the affordable housing on site there. Preston has pushed hard for housing on this site and celebrated the groundbreaking on June 28, 2023. So rather than being an example of “78 homes blocked,” thanks to Preston’s tenacious advocacy, it’s actually “160 homes being built” all of which will be affordable, including homes for formerly homeless folks.
Opposing SB 50
CLAIM: 19,885 homes opposed FALSE
FACT: Preston advocated for amendments on this state bill, and had no vote in the matter.
Once again, this “report” equates seeking amendments – to a state bill not even before the Board of Supervisors – as the same as opposition to housing. In December 2019, the Board voted on a resolution requesting amendments to the state bill, which Preston supported. That’s the entire basis of their claim that he opposed nearly 20,000 homes.
2670 Geary Street
CLAIM: 196 homes opposed FALSE
FACT: Preston’s only vote on 2670 Geary was to maintain the on-site affordable housing agreed to by the developer.
Preston did not vote against, nor take a position on, the development project or the rezoning of this site that occurred before he joined the Board. After the developer was given significant concessions in exchange for agreeing to include affordable units on site as part of this market rate development, Preston voted against legislation brought by the developers to amend the previously passed legislation to get out of their obligation to provide onsite affordable housing. Preston’s vote was for maintaining the onsite affordable housing that was required as a condition for upzoning. He did not oppose any housing units at this site.
Blocking homeless housing in Japantown
CLAIM: 131 homes blocked FALSE
FACT: Hotel owners backed out of this deal, and Preston won permanent supportive housing in two nearby hotels instead.
Preston demanded that impacted hotel workers and Japantown leaders be at the table to make a plan for this hotel which is just one of two in Japantown. Instead, the Mayor's office botched outreach, blindsided the community, and the owner later pulled out of the deal. Meanwhile, Preston advocated for the city to acquire two other hotels for permanent supportive housing a handful of blocks away which would net even more units. In February 2022, the City approved acquisition of the nearby Gotham Hotel, which adds 114 units of permanent supportive housing. Preston also successfully advocated for acquisition of the nearby 58-unit Oasis Inn which is now permanently a family emergency shelter. You won’t see any of that in the YIMBY “report.”
450 O'Farrell Street
CLAIM: 411 homes blocked FALSE
FACT: The unanimous Board of Supervisors voted for this site to remain family housing instead of Tech dorms. It remain approved.
This was an appeal regarding whether to allow the developer to shift from family housing to tech dorms, all within the same development building envelope. By a vote of 11-0, including Preston, the Board refused to allow the change. The original project as previously approved can proceed.
Replacing a parking lot with housing at 469 Stevenson
CLAIM: 875 homes blocked FALSE
FACT: This project has been approved after further review for earthquake safety.
Eight Supervisors, including Preston, granted a CEQA appeal based on seismic safety concerns and a deficient Environmental Impact Review with respect to this market rate housing development. Less than one year later when those issues were addressed the revised project was approved. Preston has not taken a position opposing or supporting the project.
Blocking "The Hub" rezoning
CLAIM: 8,449 homes blocked FALSE
FACT: Not a single unit of proposed housing has been blocked or delayed at this site.
In July 2020, the Board of Supervisors was presented with a broad rezoning proposal for the “Hub” area, around the intersection of Market Street and Van Ness Avenue. Three of the sites in the Hub area -- 30 Van Ness, 10 South Van Ness, and 98 Franklin -- had each gone through a community process, and had arrived at agreements with community advocates for various public benefits, particularly focused on creating affordable housing. Community groups, developers, and a unanimous Board of Supervisors agreed to green light rezoning on those parcels, adding up to 1,644 units of housing. No units of housing were “blocked” in this process. True to form, the “report” completely mischaracterizes the community efforts by claiming “a local landlord who was trying to rent out an apartment nearby asked Preston to block the housing,” which is cartoonishly inaccurate, but typical of these organizations which often sideline communities of color and their concerns. In the vote at issue, Preston voted in favor of rezoning for an additional 1,644 units – including the land dedication of 10 South Van Ness, which has been approved for 380 units of affordable housing at the former “Monster in the Mission” site – and not a single unit of proposed housing was blocked or delayed by anything other than market conditions.
1846 Grove Street
CLAIM: 8 homes blocked FALSE
FACT: In the interest of fire safety, this proposal was reduced from a 4-unit to a 2-unit by a unanimous Board of Supervisors.
Their math may be wrong, but it is accurate that Supervisor Preston asked the developer to scale back their 4 unit proposal to 2 units, on a strange internal lot abutted on all sides by existing housing in the North of Panhandle neighborhood. Neighbors of the adjacent buildings raised concerns about fire access in an appeal to the Board of Supervisors. The heart of their concern: if the project is considered to be a single, four-unit proposal, then the tight quarters for firefighter access – a few feet between the existing structures – would make it ineligible under the Fire Code. But because the developer split the two buildings into two separate two-unit buildings, they were able to take advantage of a loophole that allowed for a smaller egress. But the point remained – the number of people who would need to be evacuated in the event of a fire would be the equivalent to a 4-unit building. Supervisor Preston believed a two-unit project would be safer, and asked the developer to scale back, so it is accurate that he supported a slight reduction in size of this small project. But approving two units of market rate housing instead of four units of market rate housing, in the name of fire safety, is hardly a scandal in the way YIMBY frames it to be. Notably, the vote at the Board of Supervisors on this was unanimous 11-0.
Loophole explained: “If the occupancy of the building is R2, the minimum width of the egress court is 44 inches even if the total occupant load from all buildings is less than 50. If the occupancy of the building is R3, and the total occupant load from all buildings is less than 50, the minimum width of the egress court is 36 inches. If the total occupant load from all buildings is 50 or more, the minimum width of the egress court is 44 inches no matter whether the building is classified as R3 or R2 occupancy.”
Note: Since the original publication of the “report,” the authors have added additional, wildly inaccurate claims about housing Supervisor Preston has supposedly “blocked.” We think the responses above suffice to show that their intention is to publish disinformation on Supervisor Preston’s record. There is no need to chase each and every new fake claim they throw online.
Conclusion
In an era of rising disinformation, it is important to distinguish fact from fiction. Supervisor Preston has cast hundreds of votes that tell the story of his housing record, and those facts are far more relevant than attempts to distort and outright lie about his track record. As noted above, Supervisor Preston in his first term has already voted to approve nearly 30,000 homes, 86% of which have been affordable, all while voting to approve $5.5 billion for affordable housing, and stopping the displacement of thousands of tenants. Those are the facts of his voting record.
It’s clear that these YIMBY organizations are taking a page from the playbook of Republican leadership, declaring that facts don’t matter, and attempting to craft their own version of reality. It is unfortunate that disinformation can be spread so far and wide, and we hope this information can help correct the record.