Proponents of an affordable housing ballot measure rallied on the steps of San Francisco’s City Hall on Thursday before submitting over 20,000 signatures that, if certified, would put the measure on the ballot for November’s general election.
Hundreds of volunteers helped collect signatures for the campaign, which has raised over $200,000 since its launch in May, according to organizers.
The Affordable Housing Guarantee Act would allocate tax dollars collected under 2020’s Proposition I — levied on luxury real estate deals — toward the building and preservation of affordable housing, as well as funding homelessness prevention programs.
Social housing would be “sustainable for a long period of time” and “can deliver regular affordability to people,” said rally attendee Ronald Hayduk.
Supporters say that the measure reflects the spirit of Prop I, which increased the real estate transfer tax rate on properties worth above $10 million to fund affordable housing.
But some of the money has since been diverted to non-housing projects, said former San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Dean Preston at the rally. The since-shelved BUILD Act, proposed by Mayor Daniel Lurie and Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, would have further halved the tax.
The Affordable Housing Guarantee Act represents the reinforcement of “a vision we have already voted for before,” said Preston in a speech at the rally.
Supervisor Jackie Fielder spoke of her personal experiences with housing unaffordability. Fielder may be rent-burdened if she cannot find an affordable place to live when her lease expires in a year, she said.
“Even people making six-figure salaries are being priced out of San Francisco in the neighborhoods that we love,” she said. “This measure is to ensure that will not happen.”
Read the full story at Local News Matters (Kayla Chan, Bay City News, July 3, 2026).