there's over 40,000 empty homes in san francisco amidst a housing crisis, and that's 10% of san francisco's housing stock sitting vacant. and we know it's not because these units are waiting to be rented or they're renovation passing. we see a rise in the number of units that investors are just holding off the market. these are folks who have no interest in renting out the property, no interest in living there. it's just a commodity and they're buying housing, holding it for years, and then reselling it for a profit. we got to change that and activate these units. >> we're really seeing that all across the bay area with investors coming in and buying land. but in san francisco where the housing is so tight, that's really critical. so you have decided you think we should have a tax. tell me how the tax would work. >> sure. well, what we've done is asked the city's budget and legislative analyst first of all to look at the situation, give us the data, figure out where these empty units are, why they're empty. they did that in a 49-page report we had a hearing on this week. they also looked at

safety in our city. >> san francisco police last month revealed hate crimes targeting asians exploded more than 500% in 2021. >> and you report estimates there are more than 40,000 housingts sitting vacant in san francisco. the housing crisis is something we are focused on here as we work to build a better bay area. to alleviate the shortage, some local legislators are considering a vacancy tax that would put the squeeze on investors that own these buildings but are not renting them out. members of san francisco's housing action coalition argue a vacancy tax would not do much good because many units fall into categories that would make them exempt including places where landlords are doing renovations or upgrades. the coalition says what the city really needs to do is build more housing. >> to keep the cost of housing to just be increasing at the same rate as inflation, you need to be adding about 2% to our housing stock per year. >> that would mean about 5000 new units every year. over the past 30 years, san francisco has built an average of just 1800 annually, and that is what is creating that deficit. >> he is arguably america's most famous dr. and we are now learnin

more than 40,000 housing units in san francisco sit vacant. according to a study of 2019 figures commissioned by supervisor dean preston. >> we want to move from anecdotes to actual data. what the data in this report shows, is that we are talking about one in 10 units. in san francisco, that sit vacant. >> reporter: the data shows that there is line the downtown and mission districts, the very area where housing has been constructed. he believes a lot of the units were purchased as investments to be on occupied and resold. >> if you really want to distance of the dis-incentivize this, you want to get these units activated and people living in them, the most powerful tool we have to do that as a city is an empty homes tax. >> reporter: preston is advocating a citywide vacant home tax imposed on owners who leave houses empty for a long period of time. the study said, if landlords don't fill their houses, it could generate millions. but, another housing activists disagrees. >> it will make a marginal difference in creating some additional funding

. >> the san francisco house and development corporation gave us the grant to implement this program.t hasn't been easy but we have been able to see now some of the success stories of some of those kids that have been able to take the opportunity and continue to grow within their education and eventually become a very successful citizen. >> so the computer lab they're doing the backpacks. i don't know if you're going to be able to do the class. you still want to try? . yeah. go for it. >> we have a young man by the name of ivan mello. he came here two and a half years ago to be part of our digital arts music lab. graduating with natural, fruity loops, rhymes. all of our music lyrics are clean. he came as an intern and now he's running the program. that just tells you, we are only creating opportunities and there's a young man by the name of eduardo ramirez. he tells the barber what's that flyer? and he says it's a program that teaches you computers and art. and i still remember the day he walked in there with a baseball cap, full of tattoos. nice clean hair cut. i want to learn how to

san francisco for almost 42 years. i was born here in the hayes valley. >> i applied for the san francisco affordable housing lottery threed almost 2,000 people have got their home through the lottery system. if you go into the listing, you can actually just press lottery results and you put in your lottery number and it will tell you exactly how you ranked. >> for some people, signing up for it was going to be a challenge. there is a digital divide here and especially when you are trying to help low and very low income people. so we began providing digital assistance for folks to go in and get help. >> along with the income and the residency requirements, we also required someone who is trying to buy the home to be a first time home buyer and there's also an educational component that consists of an orientation that they need to attend, a first-time home buyer workshop and a one-on-one counseling session with the housing councilor. >> sometimes we have to go through 10 applicants before they shouldn't be discouraged if they have a low lottery number. they still might get a value for an available, affordable housing unit.

said that the report is meant to see if the tax policies adopted in other cities could help san francisco's housing shortage. >>> still to come, nasa plans to decommission the international space station. >>> and it's a time honored tr >>> and welcome back. taken age look at the big board. the dow is up about 202 points at this hour. developing news, more than 100 million people are preparing for a massive winter storm. the storm is expected to make its way across 21 states and over 2,000 miles. denver already dealing with impact as a semi jack knives across a busy highway. all eyes are on texas as it gets ready to avoid a massive power outage like the state saw last year during a similar storm. >>> and that winter storm is already impacting flight across the country and here in the bay area since yesterday. there have rean 4,000 flights canceled. >>> punxsutawney phil saw his shadow this morning which means six more weeks of winter. according to his website the famous groundhog has been predicting the seasons since 1887. legend is that if he sees his shadow we can expect cold temperatures to conti

san francisco. this is a shame. the reason for the home prices and high rents is the failure of san francisco to create enough housingo keep up with the demand. people naturally find san francisco to be an attract tiff place, and this is what's driving the housing. 1900 diamond is the precise type of housing that we need to address this housing crisis. it is an urban in-fill site close to public transit within walking distance of public parks, playgrounds, and also close to the safeway. i urge you to approve this project. it's much needed, and again, i am very much in support of the project. thank you. >> hello. my name is alfredo, and i'm the executive vice president of the cesar chavez foundation. i'm calling in support of this applicant, as well. you've heard all the merits that the other callers have brought up, so i'm not going to repeat that. i just do want to state that the applicant has done an excellent job of working with the community. as you heard, he's really extended himself and worked with folks that are not necessarily in support and was able to turn that around and get this consensus project that eve

but there were no beds, nothing that was affordable here in san francisco where we have lived over 50 years, and with no beds, no available housing for him, it would have meant having to leave san francisco, go out of the city to find a place for him. i ended up caring for him at home for six years as he progressed all the way through all of the stages. that isn't an option a lot of people can do, and surely, we can do better for our elderly. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. can we have the next caller, please? >> hello. my name -- hello. can you hear me? >> clerk: yes, we can. please proceed. >> hello. my name is yessy [indiscernible], and i'm a housing coordinator with senior and disability action, and we need housing assistance. we have two people living on s.s.i., and people need more money for housing and to live and thrive, and we need more rental service, rentals and subsidies. and also affordability that is safe for people's income. thank you for having us. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. mr. baltazar, do we have any other callers? >> operator: there's zero callers remaining in the queue. mr. chair

units. >> these folks are buying and selling housing in san francisco they are buying and selling stocks on the stock market. they couldn't care less about providing homes for anyone. we are going to put an end to it with the empty homes tax. >> here's how it would work. the larger the unit, the higher the tax. the tax would go up every year it sits empty. a large unit that is empty for three years would be taxed $20,000. there are exemptions for homeowners like going through a remodel, natural disaster, or if the owner is ill or has died. >> if it is a legit good-faith reason that there is some kind of vacancy, this tax is not going to tax that. >> some critics causal -- call this a distraction and say city leaders need to focus on building more affordable housing. >> when we look at the size of our shortage and how many homes we actually need to build, it is a drop in the bucket. san francisco has a history of not building housing. it has happened for decades. that is the real fix and that is the thing everybody in city hall , on the board of supervis

housing. san francisco has the resource to implement a well-funded, well planned social housing regime and san francisco there's no mention in that in this draft. we need social housing and have the authorization from voters in prop k. we need to get this done. everyone is talking about needing more affordable housing and cost and subsidized social housing is a plan that works. it works in many communities and we need that here. thank you. >> good afternoon. this plan needs to be updated. there's a lot of policy statement. these are policy statements that are supposed to benefit communities of color and this is a sheet. i remember it was created with a latinx community and became a policy statement to develop funding for policy statements and sat on the shelves of the planning department and planning commissioners never went back to look at the policy statements and since that time we lost 11,000 latinx community members in the commission. if it's not in code or zoning it seems like it's happening all over again. and we experienced this in the past and seems to be happening again. the priority

the state is in a housing crisis. in san francisco, we have the home s.f. program, which prioritizes housing and affordable by design housing, which is exactly what this project is bringing. it is a density bonus of sorts. it is a height increase of sorts, and that's specifically the objective of the home s.f. program, and the appeal process with the home s.f. project is a very narrow scope of review. what the appellant is asking for hear clearly would violate the housing viability act, and that would be a violation of the state law, and that's not acceptable. the project sponsor has made efforts to better fit into this neighborhood better than it would otherwise. it could have been significantly larger, and they put it back. i think there are decisions that have to be made to bring housing to the city, and this is a good project on balance. i hope that the commissioners, you will ultimately support it. i hope the neighbors will ultimately support it, and i'm happy to answer any questions. >> clerk: okay. thank you. i don't see any questions at this time, so

affordable midding class how's -- middle class housing is a san francisco wide project. s.f. has greatly underproduced low and affordable housing and overproduced market rate housing. supervisor [indiscernible] legislation promotes family size housing and is the only proposal that attempts to put a curb on speculation. last, but not least, i'm tired the yimby's threatening everyone if they don't support trickle down housing. >> good evening, commissioners. this is bruce bowen from pacific heights. my second half minute, i'd like to highlight staff's needed rejected proposals that add three and four-unit projects, and also their reliance on processed steam lining as a tool to produce affordable housing. most alarming to me is staff's movement to a recommendation to completely move to -- by moving toward a standard that affordable housing is just utterly undesirable. thank you. >> hi. my name is ciline. i'm a member of s.f. yimby. i support supervisor mandelman's proposal. we actually have to have affordable plans so get affordable housing building, and the other proposals are n

prevents future displacement be providing financial needs to secure housing and give communities and neighborhoods across san francisco generational housing and continued care. i ask you to support family child care now and in the future. please continue to advocate for more ways to support early kay and education in san francisco. thank you. >> supervisor melgar: next speaker, please. >> caller: i am director of the family child care association. i am a constituent of supervisor mar, district 4. i wanted to express my gratitude for this initiative. i think it will help provider in the city. it is an important step but i agree that there is definitely more that could be done for low-income people who may not afford alone. maybe there is more room for grants for those in existing, existing homeowners to expand and provide more income. this is a fabulous event listening to your conversations about this. i learned so much throughout this thing. thank you very much, supervisor melgar and mar. thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> caller: good afternoon, supervisors. i am liz. i work for low income investment and cpac cha

dan: a new report estimates there are more than 40,000 housing units currently sitting vacant in san francisco. the housing crisis is something we are very much focused on at abc 7 as we work to build a better bay area. tim johns explains some local legislators are now considering a vacancy tax as a solution. tim: for decades, the city of san francisco has suffered from one of the worst housing crises in the country. now a new report released by the budget and legislative analysis says there are more than 40,000 units sitting vacant, a finding that has caused some lawmakers to look into a vacancy tax as a possible solution to the housing shortage. >> they have passed an empty homes tax in vancouver and saw almost immediately within the first year of implementing it over 20% drop in the number of vacant units. tim: supervisor jean preston's office is drafting legislation in order to get more people into those homes, many of which preston says are owned by wealthy corporations or investors. >> they are just buying it, holding onto it until the market goes up, and selling it for profit. they have

prevents future displacement be providing financial needs to secure housing and give communities and neighborhoods across san francisco generational housing and continued care. i ask you to support family child care now and in the future. please continue to advocate for more ways to support early kay and education in san francisco. thank you. >> supervisor melgar: next speaker, please. >> caller: i am director of the family child care association. i am a constituent of supervisor mar, district 4. i wanted to express my gratitude for this initiative. i think it will help provider in the city. it is an important step but i agree that there is definitely more that could be done for low-income people who may not afford alone. maybe there is more room for grants for those in existing, existing homeowners to expand and provide more income. this is a fabulous event listening to your conversations about this. i learned so much throughout this thing. thank you very much, supervisor melgar and mar. thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> caller: good afternoon, supervisors. i am liz. i work for low income investment and cpac cha

dan: a new report estimates there are more than 40,000 housing units currently sitting vacant in san franciscog crisis is something we are very much focused on at abc 7 as we work to build a better bay area. tim johns explains some local legislators are now considering a vacancy tax as a solution. tim: for decades, the city of san francisco has suffered from one of the worst housing crises in the country. now a new report released by the budget and legislative analysis says there are more than 40,000 units sitting vacant, a finding that has caused some lawmakers to look into a vacancy tax as a possible solution to the housing shortage. >> they have passed an empty homes tax in vancouver and saw almost immediately within the first year of implementing it over 20% drop in the number of vacant units. tim: supervisor jean preston's office is drafting legislation in order to get more people into those homes, many of which preston says are owned by wealthy corporations or investors. >> they are just buying it, holding onto it until the market goes up, and selling it for profit. they have no interest

and the other piece we have had a number of members who do the group housing not only in san franciscond around the entire country and would really welcome the opportunity to see through that legislation. and and i quite often think about group housing as a good solution for seniors. we have many older adults in san francisco who are going to need different options to continue to live and stay in the city as many countries around the world that utilize group housing. >> thank you so much. >> i am a planner at the community development center and express full support for supervisor pes kin's legislation with the group housing definition. and i want to acknowledge the planning department's work and commitment around ambiguity and around 450oharrel street. this is a large group housing project proposed in tenderloin that raised a lot of questions around group housing and magnifying the need for legislation you see before yourself today. following the community process at 450 ofarrel street, the planning department worked for months to define the definition. and community had the opportuni

. >> the san francisco house and development corporation gave us the grant to implement this program.t hasn't been easy, but we have been able to see now some of the success stories of some of those kids that have been able to take the opportunity and continue to grow within their education and eventually become a very successful citizen. >> so the computer lab, they're doing the backpacks. i don't know if you're going to be able to do the class. you still want to try? . yeah. go for it. >> we have a young man by the name of ivan mello. he came here two and a half years ago to be part of our digital arts music lab. graduating with natural, fruity loops, rhymes. all of our music lyrics are clean. he came as an intern, and now he's running the program. that just tells you, we are only creating opportunities and there's a young man by the name of eduardo ramirez. he tells the barber, what's that flyer? and he says it's a program that teaches you computers and art. and i still remember the day he walked in there with a baseball cap, full of tattoos. nice clean hair cut. i want to learn ho

said that the report is meant to see if a tax, a policy adopted in other cities could help san francisco's housing shortage. >>> alameda's waterfront is getting a makeover. the plan for new development has been more than two decades in the making. the landscape of the former naval air station changing shape after sitting in various levels of decay since decommissioning in 1997. there are now condos, low income housing apartments popping up alongside new benches, tables and bike walking paths. the seven million dollars sleeper funded park was designed with a changing environment in mind. >> it brings another aspect toal immediate and helps the entire, you know naval air station. it'll be a combination of housing as as huge open space. >> local its say this reexcited for new room to walk and ride along the previously unwelcoming island waterfront. >>> happening today it is your last chance to drop off donations with one bay area shipping company for tonga. they are have been collecting donations after the under see volcano. it is sinning the goods off on february 5th. >>> time now for a look apt wha

years and i believe not only in increasing affordability if there such a thing anymore in san francisco for housesut also just to for san francisco to still be san francisco and having these gradual changes as outlined by people going forward thank you so much >> let's take the next color. if you'd like to thisitem we are on item number five . otherwise we will take the last color in the queue . >> caller: that afternoon. i want to highlight the need for this suv and link with the issue of the demo. 40 projects in noe valley alone have been flipped for a price increase of 3.9 million in the past decade by misusing the section 317 them and they become negative mansions over 3000 square feet and even more throughout the proposed suv and some were originally 2 units. noe valley as an epicenter for demolition according to the planning staff. in 2015 reviewing a sample of five noe valley projects the staff concerned 40 percent should have been reviewed as demolition under the existing them. since december 2017 when the ret was rescinded the planning commission could have stopped alterations from becomi

of san francisco is interested in providing more student housing, the more students that can live on in units that are controlled by the university of san francisco, that alleviates pressure on the city's existing housing in particular multi-family housing stock and family size fuents across the city. the amendment that we would ask you to consider recommending to the board of supervisors would allow for limited kitchen facilities to be provided in individual group housing units that usf owns and operates. this would allow some flexibility in the future if usf develop group housing project ata higher density. this flexibility will be very helpful and make it feasible for usf to house more units. thank you very much. >> hello. this is david wu from the filipino cultural heritage district. we think it's very important to recognize and address the influx of market rate group housing, s.r.o. housing and to prioritize affordable housing that actually meets the need of the community. we're supportive of the changes to add into this legislation the prohibition of all market rate s.r.o.s inc

years and i believe not only in increasing affordability if there such a thing anymore in san francisco for housesut also just to for san francisco to still be san francisco and having these gradual changes as outlined by people going forward thank you so much >> let's take the next color. if you'd like to thisitem we are on item number five . otherwise we will take the last color in the queue . >> caller: that afternoon. i want to highlight the need for this suv and link with the issue of the demo. 40 projects in noe valley alone have been flipped for a price increase of 3.9 million in the past decade by misusing the section 317 them and they become negative mansions over 3000 square feet and even more throughout the proposed suv and some were originally 2 units. noe valley as an epicenter for demolition according to the planning staff. in 2015 reviewing a sample of five noe valley projects the staff concerned 40 percent should have been reviewed as demolition under the existing them. since december 2017 when the ret was rescinded the planning commission could have stopped alterations from becomi

san francisco for almost 42 years. i was born here in the hayes valley. >> i applied for the san francisco affordable housing lottery three. >> since 2016, we've had about 265 electronic lotteries and almost 2,000 people have got their home through the lottery system. if you go into the listing, you can actually just press lottery results and you put in your lottery number and it will tell you exactly how you ranked. >> for some people, signing up for it was going to be a challenge. there is a digital divide here and especially when you are trying to help low and very low income people. so we began providing digital assistance for folks to go in and get help. >> along with the income and the residency requirements, we also required someone who is trying to buy the home to be a first time home buyer and there's also an educational component that consists of an orientation that they need to attend, a first-time home buyer workshop and a one-on-one counseling session with the housing councilor. >> sometimes we have to go through 10 applicants before they shouldn't be discouraged if they have a low lottery number. they still

. >> the san francisco house and development corporation gave us the grant to implement this program.t hasn't been easy, but we have been able to see now some of the success stories of some of those kids that have been able to take the opportunity and continue to grow within their education and eventually become a very successful citizen. >> so the computer lab, they're doing the backpacks. i don't know if you're going to be able to do the class. you still want to try? . yeah. go for it. >> we have a young man by the name of ivan mello. he came here two and a half years ago to be part of our digital arts music lab. graduating with natural, fruity loops, rhymes. all of our music lyrics are clean. he came as an intern, and now he's running the program. that just tells you, we are only creating opportunities and there's a young man by the name of eduardo ramirez. he tells the barber, what's that flyer? and he says it's a program that teaches you computers and art. and i still remember the day he walked in there with a baseball cap, full of tattoos. nice clean hair cut. i want to learn ho

seems as though what was done at the san francisco housing authority could be a model of being replicated, particularly when it comes to those that are under the classification of apprenticeships, so definitely, definitely appreciate this hearing today. thank you, colleagues, for all of your additional questions, but this is very similar to the way we tackled our nursing, very similar to the way we tackled our budget shortfalls. this is not about additional money necessarily, it's about improving the process and ensuring we can fill those positions in a timely manner and partnership with both the h.r. department, representative labor, and the department itself, and we'll ask them to come to the table. maybe, chair, we can continue this to the call of the chair, and maybe we can come back in three or four months and see what progress we've been able to make and to present to this body. that would be my request. >> supervisor preston: thank you, supervisor safai. let me just say, my questions have been asked by my colleagues and by supervisor safai, so i don't have additional questions to a

landmark closed embarcadero cinema, that offered independent and foreign films, distinctly san francisco housels, steak empanadas. >>> looking at olympic flame, beautiful, lot of live coverage. jimmy fallon first, then the coverage continues. saturday afternoon, competition under way. going to be exciting weekend. j-lo is on with jimmy fallon next. >> that's cool we made it to the weekend. enjoy the olympics coverage and jimmy fallon. [ cheers and applause ♪ >> steve: from studio 6b in rockefeller center in the heart of new york city, it's "the tonight show starring jimmy fallon." tonight, join jimmy and his guests - jennifer lopez, stephen and ayesha curry, musical guests, jennifer lopez and maluma. and featuring the legeary roots crew >> questlove: 1598 >> steve: and now, here he is, jimmy fallon [ cheers and applause ♪ ♪ [ cheers and applause >> jimmy: oh, thank you very much, everyone and welcome! welcome to "the tonight show." you're here. you made it. thank you for watching guys, the 2022 beijing winter olympics are officially underway [ cheers and applause ♪ i love the winter olympics,

prevents future displacement be providing financial needs to secure housing and give communities and neighborhoods across san francisco generational housing and continued care. i ask you to support family child care now and in the future. please continue to advocate for more ways to support early kay and education in san francisco. thank you. >> supervisor melgar: next speaker, please. >> caller: i am director of the family child care association. i am a constituent of supervisor mar, district 4. i wanted to express my gratitude for this initiative. i think it will help provider in the city. it is an important step but i agree that there is definitely more that could be done for low-income people who may not afford alone. maybe there is more room for grants for those in existing, existing homeowners to expand and provide more income. this is a fabulous event listening to your conversations about this. i learned so much throughout this thing. thank you very much, supervisor melgar and mar. thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> caller: good afternoon, supervisors. i am liz. i work for low income investment and cpac cha

san francisco county. i'm currently -- am a product of a child who faced housing insecurity in san francisco. i currently am employed as an employee with family and children services. i've been there almost 22 years. my role currently is director with family and children services, and with my experience and background, i have a masters in social work, and i'm a licensed clinical social workers, and i am an advocate for foster youth and [indiscernible] youth, and it's my job to make sure that their voices are being heard. currently, [indiscernible] under the age of 25 are foster youth, and i believe and ensure that we can and will do better. i believe that the voices of the families and voices of the children that are impacted with all of the trauma that they experience is very crucial and critical, to kind of bring that knowledge, and to housing security to t.a.y. youth. to answer the question of supervisor mandelman with permanent and supportive housing, i work with both, so i value the importance of temporary shelter. what's important for the youth that i serve is ensuring that there are sa

. >>> san francisco is helping people make it in the bay. the new boost the city got to combat the housingsis. >>> we are seeing mid 60s around san jose. how much warmer the weather could get this weekend when mid 70s will be a part of the seven day forecast when we come right back. >>> strong and surprising job up ins. our look at why in feel they are being left behind in the jobs recovery. my revealing conversation with skier makayla shiffrin before takes the slopes in beijing when we see you on "nightly news." mikaela. >>> he has been so good. the standard that he has set the last several years has been so high. the he can peck tagss off the charts. >> look at that. >> best ever short program. okay, it's go time. team usa on the largest gig-speed network. which means this mega fan never misses a second. it's gig-speed wifi that's “mikaela shiffrin” fast. ok, that's fast! speed's cool, but does yours block threats? yup, even for these upstairs all-nighters rocking wifi speeds faster than a gig. can your internet do that? learn more about gig-speed wifi, or get started with xfinity intern

a new report estimates there are over 40,000 units sitting vacant in san francisco. the housingsis, something we are focused on here, tim johns explains some local legislators are considering a vacancy tax. reporter: for decades, san francisco has suffered from one of the worst housing crises in the country. now a new report estimates there are over 40,000 units sitting vacant. a finding that has caused lawmakers to look into a vacancy tax. >> they passed an empty homes tax in vancouver and saw within the first year of implementing it over 20% drop in the number of vacant units. reporter: supervisor jane preston's office is drafting a tax. many of which are owned by wealthy corporations or investors. >> they are just buying it, holding onto it until the market goes up, and selling it for profit. they have no interest in providing homes. reporter: housing experts say that 40,000 number is misleading. the real amount is much lower. >> we see about 80,000 units are long-term not occupied. -- 8000 units are long-term not occupied. reporter: he says about 32,000 units fall into categ

so, this is the first time that san francisco's housing plan will be centered in racial and social equity, responding to the current crisis in our country and the planning commission and the historic preservation planning commission resolutions from 2020. this is a clear shift from our previous work and other housing elements and that we directly acknowledge housing challenges in our city has racialized and socialized challenges and this is one of the reasons that this update is a major overhaul to the housing almost, the scale of which may not be matched for several decades. the housing element is also responding to significant increases and regional targets assigned to us by state and regional agencies. this increases due to factoring in existing housing need and in addition to projected population growth. and this is a huge undertaking. particularly knowing that we have never met our previous targets for very low-to-moderate income categories. and this plan take on this challenging task of directing policy and investments to meet those goals at every income level. this plan also recogn

ama: a push is under way to fill vacant housing units in san francisco by targeting the property owners. supporters today announced an effort to get an empty homes tax measure on the november ballot. the measure would create a tax on property owners who are sitting on vacant units and would be aimed at investors and real estate speculators. >> these are folks who are buying and selling housing in san francisco as if they're buying and selling stocks on the stock market. they couldn't care less about providing homes for anyone. and we're going to put an end to it. ama: to avoid the tax, owners in those cases would have to live in, rent or sell the vairkt unit. money raised would -- from the tax would support an affordable housing program and rental assistance for seniors and low income families. city data shows san francisco has more than 40,000 vacant homes in 2019. dan: four months ahead of california's june 7 primary and today, governor gavin newsom's first challenger officially your eyes. beautiful on the outside, but if you have diabetes, there can be some not-so-pretty stuff going

housing rights committee of san francisco, veritas tenant association, southeast tenant association, dolores street community services, eanes legal referral panel, a photo housing alliance and the asian law caucus. i also want to recognize the san francisco apartment housing association. they maintain their reservations. i want to thank the members for meeting with my office and offering suggestions to improve it. some of which i am about to offer as amendments. i want to thank my legislative staff, lee hepner for his long work on this piece of legislation. as to the amendment which i have confirmed with council are nonsubstantive and are in front of all of you colleagues at page 2, lines 7-8, amending the definition of landlord to include employees and vested managers at page 2 lines 15-17, clarifying a person's participation or failure to participate in organizing activities shall have no effect on whether that person qualifies as a tenant, and this is to resolve some uncertainties as to the status of subtenants seeking to participate in organizing activities. at page 4, lines nine

housing problem is because of lots of things, high rent, not enough space. now comes more than tens of thousands of places are sitting empty in san francisco alone. more than 40,000 housing units are empty. that's about 10% of the housing available in the entire city. there are 34,000 new housing units already built or in the process of being built. that happened between 2015 and next year. the problem is the majority is not for low or moderate income families. the city is considering doing what vancouver did to address the issue. >> they passed an empty homes tax. when vancouver did that, they saw the vacancy rate in the city drop by over 20% once they instituted that tax. so we think that's the strongest thing that the city can do to incentivize these owners to either rent out the property or sell to it someone who wants to live there. >> the san francisco supervisor also said most housing advocates believe attacks would help solve that issue. >>> up next, we'll smile a bit. we'll show which you stars are >>> all the talk should be about the upcoming super bowl but instead, bits the racial discrimination lawsuit. >> flores says the league doesn'

i do also want to point out that the san francisco updated housing element will be voted on by next year. no matter who you vote for or whatnot, san francisco has to zone for 82,000 more housing units. a so whenever you spend reserves, you want to be able to say can we look to the future to replenish them? andic that this is a reality -- i think it is a reality that we have never seen before. for the first time ever the state of california has a bunch of sticks if you don't zone for and build the unit. so as far as future revenue and planning goes, i want to ask to take a look at what the 82,000 units would mean for future fees. it would go a long way to assauging fear and whatnot from the public about spending our reserves. i am comfortable with passing the budget for that as well. >> thank you for that. >> that was helpful. thank you, commissioner moss. i agree with sentiments that have been noted. and the one thing that i wanted to mention the fee study and last year that took a year to fall into place. and if we are meeting in one year again, and having these meetings in a year, and

housing rights committee of san francisco, veritas tenant association, southeast tenant association, dolores street community services, eanes legal referral panel, a photo housing alliance and the asian law caucus. i also want to recognize the san francisco apartment housing association. they maintain their reservations. i want to thank the members for meeting with my office and offering suggestions to improve it. some of which i am about to offer as amendments. i want to thank my legislative staff, lee hepner for his long work on this piece of legislation. as to the amendment which i have confirmed with council are nonsubstantive and are in front of all of you colleagues at page 2, lines 7-8, amending the definition of landlord to include employees and vested managers at page 2 lines 15-17, clarifying a person's participation or failure to participate in organizing activities shall have no effect on whether that person qualifies as a tenant, and this is to resolve some uncertainties as to the status of subtenants seeking to participate in organizing activities. at page 4, lines nine

thousands of homes and condos in the city are sitting empty in the midst of a housing crisis here to discuss this afternoon, a san franciscorvisor team preston supervisor. thank you so much for being here this afternoon. you requested this report on the housing situation. were you surprised at the number of vacancies? i was blown away by the number. i mean, we knew there were a lot of vacancies anecdotally, but we had the budget and legislative analyst take a deep look into the data and we're talking about 10. of the housing units in san francisco are bacon. it's over 40,000 units, so it's pretty alarming. why do you think that is well, well, well. there's a number of reasons, but the biggest one is investors that are buying property not to live in it not to rent it out, but just to hold it for a period of time, then resell it for profit. so that's the fastest growing type of vacancy. we continue to have a very tight market in san francisco units that are on the market for sale. don't stay on very long units that are on the market for rent. don't stay on the market. very long people rent them. people move in that that thos

years and i believe not only in increasing affordability if there such a thing anymore in san francisco for housesut also just to for san francisco to still be san francisco and having these gradual changes as outlined by people going forward thank you so much >> let's take the next color. if you'd like to thisitem we are on item number five . otherwise we will take the last color in the queue . >> caller: that afternoon. i want to highlight the need for this suv and link with the issue of the demo. 40 projects in noe valley alone have been flipped for a price increase of 3.9 million in the past decade by misusing the section 317 them and they become negative mansions over 3000 square feet and even more throughout the proposed suv and some were originally 2 units. noe valley as an epicenter for demolition according to the planning staff. in 2015 reviewing a sample of five noe valley projects the staff concerned 40 percent should have been reviewed as demolition under the existing them. since december 2017 when the ret was rescinded the planning commission could have stopped alterations from becomi

housing affordable so the state comes in to fund the school board. >> changes to the am location so it is not based on individual student enrollment. they are looking at different formulas. san franciscoolution is to build more housing remove the barriers that obstruct our ability to do so and recently the housing measure to speed up housing production was rejected by the board of supervisors. we can't keep saying we want more affordable and more housing and the decisions we make are counter to that. thank you everybody. >>> a city like no other, san francisco has been a beacon of hope, and an ally towards lgbtq equal rights. [♪♪] >> known as the gay capital of america, san francisco has been at the forefront fighting gay civil rights for decades becoming a bedrock for the historical firsts. the first city with the first openly gay bar. the first pride parade. the first city to legalize gay marriage. the first place of the iconic gay pride flag. established to help cancel policy, programses, and initiatives to support trans and lgbtq communities in san francisco. >> we've created an opportunity to have a seat at the table. where trans can be part of city government and create more civ

housing. we work to convey to san francisco that we are pursuing the goals of san francisco to build the affordable housing goals and mandates. we need money and the capital to get that going. are there any public comments? >> there is no public comment. >> okay. thank you again. we will be glad to bring you back some other time. thank you. >> item five, treasure island ferry service. >> miss griffiths will give an update on when they will start for prairie service. >> good morning, commissioners. i am attempting to share my screen with you all. are you seeing that? >> yes. >> thanks. i'm never sure until i hear a confirmation that the screen share is working. good morning, everybody. kevin griffiths, tee icd. i'm happy to be here today to talk about some exciting developments in our interim ferry service. we spoke the couple of months ago about this. i wanted to circle back to what we covered and set the stage for water transportation and what we're doing with the interim service because there has been little communication about it in the past. just to remind you guys, water transportation is part

but airbnb announced it's going to provide free housing to ukrainian refugees. the san francisco company is housing as many as 100,000 refugees. facebook says it deleted a number of fake facebook accounts. twitter is stamping out fake accounts as well. one problem nobody has run into before is the sudden spread of videos showing prisoners of war. you may have seen that video of a russian soldier forced to call his mother or given the opportunity to call his mother. we're not going to show you the video, for let you see the soldier's face for the simple reason, this kind of behavior can be considered a violation of the geneva convention. humiliation of a prisoner of war is a specific crime. humiliation is a crime originally designed to discourage armies from displaying pows, marching them through the streets before tv was invented or twitter was invented. the principle holds. marcus and laura, i'll end with vodka. you may and seen and read about bars and stores taking russian liquor off shelves. it's a nice sentiment. i will say in this global word defining russian vodka can be di

. >>> within san francisco's reimagined cliff houses a new exhibit, lands and.ning humanity's relationship with the environment through multiple works of modern art. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> the exhibit is organized by the foresight foundation, chickened out before packs up on march 22 and also read our review of the show at kqed.org /the do list. >>> last week you might member we featured a field of flowers going through a super bloom, it was a beautiful sight but viewer glenn shared concerns about what he saw, he wrote i was very upset to notice that everything in those blooming fields on this evening show is a problematic invasive, when invasive plants crowd of the natives they remove this food sources of native pollinators whose loss deprives the creatures who eat them of their food and so on. for a future something beautiful copl show a meadow with even more gorgeous native flowers, which will be in bloom very soon. san bruno mountain will be a good place and some of the painstakingly restored grasslands and pacifica. thank you glenn. if you would like to share your o

years and i believe not only in increasing affordability if there such a thing anymore in san francisco for housesut also just to for san francisco to still be san francisco and having these gradual changes as outlined by people going forward thank you so much >> let's take the next color. if you'd like to thisitem we are on item number five . otherwise we will take the last color in the queue . >> caller: that afternoon. i want to highlight the need for this suv and link with the issue of the demo. 40 projects in noe valley alone have been flipped for a price increase of 3.9 million in the past decade by misusing the section 317 them and they become negative mansions over 3000 square feet and even more throughout the proposed suv and some were originally 2 units. noe valley as an epicenter for demolition according to the planning staff. in 2015 reviewing a sample of five noe valley projects the staff concerned 40 percent should have been reviewed as demolition under the existing them. since december 2017 when the ret was rescinded the planning commission could have stopped alterations from becomi