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The city will tap into ‘Faircloth to RAD’ funding programme to accelerate the delivery of new homes as part of its goal to meet state housing mandate
July 24, 2024 | Staff Reporter | USA | Community Management
A new federal programme will help San Francisco build and preserve nearly 3,700 affordable housing units across the city. The programme, called Faircloth to RAD, will allow the city to access federal rent subsidies that will reduce the cost and speed up the delivery of critical housing projects for low-income and homeless residents.
San Francisco is the first city in California to launch a programme under Faircloth to RAD, which was created by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help public housing authorities use their unused authority to create more subsidised housing units. The city has the potential to receive subsidies for 3,667 units, which will be applied to both new and existing affordable housing developments.
The programme will kick off by securing the delivery of 700 new homes currently in the pipeline at sites across the city in neighbourhoods like the Sunset, the Mission, Alamo Square/North Panhandle, and Potrero Hill. The programme will also work alongside other funding sources, such as the $300 million affordable housing bond approved by voters in 2019, the city’s inclusionary housing fund, and a proposed $20 billion regional housing bond.
“Making our city more affordable requires us to pull every lever we have to build more housing faster,” said Mayor of San Francisco, London Breed. “This new programme will allow us to help fund thousands of new affordable homes all across our city and deliver on our state housing goals. I want to thank the Biden Administration for their support with creative solutions to fund affordable housing in cities like San Francisco.”
The programme was a key recommendation of the Mayor’s Affordable Housing Leadership Council, which she convened as part of her “Housing for All” strategy to meet the state-mandated goal of building 82,000 new homes by 2031. The council, which included representatives from community-based organisations, housing developers, academia, business, and philanthropy, identified ways to increase the production of affordable housing.
This new programme will allow us to help fund thousands of new affordable homes all across our city and deliver on our state housing goals. I want to thank the Biden Administration for their support with creative solutions to fund affordable housing in cities like San Francisco.
London Breed, Mayor of San Francisco
The programme will also benefit the Housing Authority of the City and County of San Francisco, which will partner with MOHCD and HUD to implement the programme. The Housing Authority, which oversees the city’s public housing and voucher programmes, has fewer public housing units in its portfolio than its limit set by the Faircloth Amendment, which was enacted by Congress in 1998. The difference between the number of units and the limit is called the Faircloth Authority, which can now be used to create new project-based vouchers under the Faircloth to RAD programme.
“By partnering with HUD, and better aligning state, federal and local goals, the Mayor is going to deliver crucially needed housing in San Francisco, faster – and that’s something everyone can support,” said Tonia Lediju, Chief Executive Officer of the Housing Authority. “By working together, under Mayor Breed’s direction, our city partnerships are drawing more resources to expedite our housing goals and ensuring that San Francisco continues to lead the way in offering smart housing models for other California counties to follow.”
The programme will also support the rehabilitation of Larkin Pine Senior Housing, which has 63 units for low-income seniors in Nob Hill.
