Last-minute attack may foil proposed SF density housing law

An affordable housing advocacy group is trying to come between the moderate and progressive wings on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, just as they close in on passing housing density legislation that has taken two years to craft. The critics homed in on a recent amendment to the proposed law, which makes it an alternative to another citywide affordable housing law that will go up for a board vote in June. The amendment would allow developers to bypass the citywide affordable housing requirements that Supervisors London Breed, Ahsha Safai, Aaron Peskin and Jane Kim hammered out in a late-night deal last week — that 18 percent of the rental units in San Francisco’s new market rate projects be affordable, mostly skewed toward low-income populations. [...] Tang would allow developers to have a more even distribution of income levels, with a third of the affordable units going to low-income populations, a third to moderate earners and a third to people who earn slightly more than the citywide median income. Members of the Council of Community Housing Organizations and their allies attacked the amendment during public comment on Monday, calling it a “loophole” and a “workaround.” “This process has been really sneaky and unethical,” said Jennifer Fieber, political campaign director for the San Francisco Tenant’s Union. Longtime housing activist Calvin Welch accused Tang of trying to gut the city’s affordable housing program and “making a mockery” of the consensus between the other four supervisors. [...] the proposal could easily go south if housing advocates successfully pressure Tang to change the ratios and extract more from developers, said Tim Colen, former head of the build-it group the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition.