Displacement pressures are intense and affordable housing is in high demand in San Francisco’s market. The San Francisco Community Land Trust pioneered a method of keeping people in housing they can afford: Buying small multi-unit buildings and turning them into cooperatives. The city now has a system of preserving housing based on this concept, known as the Small Sites Program. Bruce Wolfe, president of the land trust’s board, explains how the method works and how it has evolved.
“Our mission is to get that property off the market permanently. We don’t consider ourselves to be landlords, we consider ourselves to be stewards. We are stewarding this property and maintaining it for affordable housing in perpetuity.” — Bruce Wolfe
