Today, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie declared a “rent emergency” to address the housing affordability crisis. Lurie spent his first 20 months in office wooing the likes of Blackstone and JP Morgan Chase to invest in San Francisco real estate, and has welcomed the current AI boom. Rents and evictions have spiked dramatically. Now, for the first time, the Mayor appears to be acknowledging that his much touted “recovery” has failed the working class.
Tenant advocates have been pressuring the Mayor for months to address the crisis. Today’s announcement follows on the heels of the first citywide tenant assembly in a decade where tenants highlighted the need for action, and a chorus of critics online calling out the mayor for ignoring rising rents and evictions. Regardless of the merits of the proposals he announced today, the Mayor’s acknowledgment of the problem for the first time is an important step. Lurie told the New York Times, which covered this morning’s Mayoral press release, “[W]e need to build a recovery that reaches everyone, including the working-class people who make San Francisco run.” It’s up to all of us to hold him to these words, now that he has finally said them.
Lurie announced a package of policies to address the housing emergency, some of which were existing city commitments, and others that were new. The Mayor stopped short of proposing anything that could lower the rent. He could use the “rent emergency” as an opportunity to freeze rents, as Mayor Mamdani recently did in New York City. Previously, Lurie has said that he won’t explore expanding rent control or following Mamdani’s lead and freezing rent. Now that he has acknowledged that San Francisco housing is an emergency, he has the perfect opportunity to reconsider those positions. He could also immediately move to acquire buildings where tenants are at risk of eviction, as tenant organizations have been urging.
The Mayor also has significant political power to influence this November's election. Announcing the Rent Emergency, Lurie stated that “As we help people stay in their homes today, we must confront what is driving housing costs up in the first place. We need more homes. So we’re doing both: building more housing to make San Francisco more affordable for the future, and keeping people in their homes today.” This is exactly the approach of Proposition I, the Affordable Housing Guarantee Act, which dedicates over $100 million every year to the production of affordable housing, rent relief and eviction defense. Before today, Lurie actively opposed Proposition I, and had promised to give that $100 million per year to the corporate landlords and billionaires in the form of a tax cut. He should reconsider.
For decades, an outdated state law (Costa Hawkins) has prevented San Francisco from expanding rent control and tied City Hall’s hands when it comes to addressing our housing affordability crisis. The Mayor of San Francisco could choose to add his voice and substantial political capital toward changing that state law, as tenant organizations have demanded. If he believes the things he said today, that’s exactly what he would do.
San Francisco can solve the crushing housing crisis that working class people have been facing for years. Calling the housing crisis an emergency is a good first step but following through is what will make the difference for working people.
