SAN FRANCISCO, CA —  Last week, Mayor Lurie and Supervisor Bilal Mahmood proposed legislation (the BUILD Act) that would gut City funding for affordable housing and exacerbate the budget crisis while putting hundreds of millions of dollars back into the pockets of real estate developers, speculators, and other wealthy beneficiaries of Trump’s federal tax breaks – including Donald Trump himself.  

DSA San Francisco and our allies stand in resolute opposition to this proposal, and we will fight to protect the interests of San Francisco’s working class and the clear mandate San Francisco voters delivered in 2020 by approving Proposition I, which the Mayor’s legislation would overturn. We urge the Board of Supervisors to honor the will of their constituents and reject this undemocratic transfer of wealth to the rich. 

“San Franciscans came together to impose taxes on those who make fortunes speculating on the properties where we live and work. We will do so again and again, if we have to, so that the rest of us can afford to live here,” said Raya Steier, Proposition I campaign manager and DSA SF member.

By passing Proposition I, San Franciscans voted to increase the tax on the sale of commercial and residential units exceeding $10 million in order to fund permanently affordable housing. Prop I has raised over $500 million to date by taxing real estate speculation, a primary driver of San Francisco’s housing affordability crisis. This revenue has provided:

  • $42m for the strongest COVID-19 rent relief program in the country, saving more than 20,000 San Franciscans from eviction.
  • $40m for land banking which has been used for more than 550 affordable homes, including over 300 currently under construction today.
  • $64m for housing acquisition that has taken hundreds of homes off the private speculative market.

Proposition I was supported by 57% of voters despite $5 million spent by real estate interests and billionaires to oppose it. It’s no surprise that billionaires like Mayor Lurie prefer not to pay taxes. But the claims that this billionaire tax cut will “spur housing development” and “create thousands of good union jobs” are outrageous and deserve intense scrutiny. 

The vast majority of Prop I revenue is derived from the sale of rent-controlled apartment buildings and large commercial properties built decades ago. Hundreds of affordable units are under construction in San Francisco directly because of the funds raised by Prop I. Liquidating this revenue stream will not “spur housing development” because the construction of new market-rate housing faces a confluence of economic factors that the Mayor’s bill will do nothing to improve. 

Cutting taxes to spur housing development is a failed policy that has been tried time and again without success. In this case, the cut would redistribute money away from the production and protection of affordable housing directly into the pockets of the wealthy. San Franciscans can’t afford to be fooled again by the rhetoric of trickle-down economics.

“San Francisco real estate and rent prices are out of control and have been for some time. The transfer tax on high-end real estate — selling for over $10 million — captures some of the seller’s profit and gives it back to everyday San Franciscans. The Mayor should be ashamed, trying to take away crucial funds intended for housing just to give a tax break to billionaires,” said Dean Preston, former District 5 Supervisor and author of Proposition I.

Mayor Lurie and Supervisor Mahmood’s anti-democratic bill would redistribute money away from affordable housing directly into the pockets of their ultra-wealthy constituents. Everyday residents struggling to stay housed in the nation’s most expensive market would suffer in order to further enrich the very people who benefit from the city’s affordability crisis, including Lurie’s extended family and donors. And President Trump, who owns 30% of one of the biggest properties currently on the market in San Francisco at 555 California St., would stand to rake in tens of millions of dollars off this tax cut when it’s sold.

“When it comes to enriching billionaires at the expense of working people, Daniel Lurie is giving Donald Trump a run for his money,” said Shanti Singh, statewide tenant advocate and DSA SF member. 

This is only the latest attack on the working class of San Francisco by Mayor Lurie and his allies. In the year since Mayor Lurie took office, median rents in San Francisco have soared by an additional 15%, becoming the highest in the nation. San Francisco’s working people deserve real solutions from their government, San Francisco’s voters have given our government the funds to provide them, and DSA SF will continue our fight to ensure this Mayor can’t give away those resources to his rich friends.

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