San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee is touting the Board of Supervisors' approval of a downtown affordable housing project that will provide homes for lower-income residents while also helping to pay for local infrastructure.
The Board of Supervisors' Land Use & Transportation Committee this week unanimously approved the 5M project, a 1.6 million square foot privately owned and privately financed mixed-use development slated to create 241 units of permanent affordable housing.
The 5M Project will pay the city $8.8 million in transportation infrastructure development fees, its developers, Forest City have said. They expect the project to generate over $60 million in standard city fees for city transit development, open space, jobs, affordable housing, schools and art projects/programs.
"We have a mandate from San Francisco voters to produce more affordable housing, faster," Lee said in a statement. "In order to reach our aggressive housing goals of building and rehabbing 30,000 new homes by 2020, half within reach of our low- and middle-income families, we need to seize on opportunities like this one. This 5M Project provides an unusual downtown opportunity that will transform four acres of underutilized land to create affordable housing, jobs, parks and other community benefits."
The board has scheduled a hearing Nov. 17 to hear appeals from those who object to the project.
