San Francisco poised to require more affordable housing

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Housing developers in San Francisco will be required to sell or rent more new units at below-market rates or pay higher fees to the city to comply with a new law expected to win approval from the Board of Supervisors today.

The new so-called inclusionary housing rules are meant to generate housing that is within the reach of more San Franciscans and is not segregated into lower-income neighborhoods.

Though inclusionary housing requirements already on the books account for just a fraction of the below-market units in the city -- with most existing as a result of local rent-control laws -- the new measure will ensure more are made available as San Francisco continues to experience a building boom.

"This ordinance represents a compromise that doesn't halt private development while still creating more affordable housing," said Lydia Tan, executive vice president at BRIDGE Housing, a San Francisco nonprofit developer that leverages government subsidies to build below-market housing.

The signature feature of the proposed ordinance boosts the percentage of below-market units developers are required to rent or sell to 15 percent if those units are built on site and 20 percent if they are constructed at another location. Previously, those numbers were 12 and 17 percent, respectively. The new law would apply to developments of five or more units, down from 10 units under earlier rules.

More government intervention isn't going to help.Maybe getting rid of unions and land-use restrictions would.