Creative Solutions to San Francisco’s Housing Crisis
From our summer 2014 print edition: At a time when the median two-bedroom apartment rent, $3,550, now consumes about half the average resident’s wages, most news coverage in San Francisco has made the crisis in housing affordability sound insurmountable
Outside-of-the-box thinking on affordability
For the summer print edition, we scouted for creative new ideas for big-effect, cost-effective and politically feasible solutions.
Our focus was on bold — if not necessarily imminent — concepts that could keep rents down while preserving the city’s diverse communities and cultures. (See below: What makes a good housing “solution”?)
In June, we went to the community for more ideas, convening a daylong workshop at the Impact Hub San Francisco called “Hack the Housing Crisis.” Policymakers, builders, neighborhood activists, architects, technologists, artists and other longtime San Franciscans presented more than 20 of their own solutions. The event was co-sponsored by Shareable, with help from Craigconnects and other sponsors.
We felt we needed to provide more than another expose about a troubled institution or failed public policy. It is a risky proposition for a publication that embraces neutrality to specifically seek out and highlight ideas for solutions not yet on the Board of Supervisors’ weekly agenda. But readers told us repeatedly that they wanted to learn about new policy ideas that could improve their community.
Other stories in this project:
- San Francisco and New York Housing Plans Compared, Aug. 4, 2014
- Working Groups Envision Plans for an Affordable San Francisco, June 17, 2014
- Pitching Visions of an Affordable San Francisco at ‘Hack the Housing Crisis,’ June 13, 2014
- Easy Solutions to S.F.’s Housing Crisis? Beware Unintended Consequences, June 12, 2014
- New In-Law Suite Rules Boost Affordable Housing in San Francisco(via Shareable) June 10, 2014
- S.F. Mayor Counts Existing Homes to Hit Affordable Housing Goal, May 13, 2014
- Linking the Google Bus With the Housing Crisis, May 9, 2014
- Seeking San Francisco Affordable Housing Solutions, 20 Seconds at a Time, May 7, 2014