Giving Compass' Take:

· The author discusses the trouble with housing affordability in San Francisco and the recent passing of the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA), a major win for housing nonprofits.

· How will the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act affect housing in San Francisco? 

· Check out this article to learn more about the affordable housing crisis. 

There’s a guessing game that many of us from the San Francisco Bay Area have started playing while we’re traveling: “What do you think the median monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is in San Francisco?” In response, your interlocutor will usually make a few guesses which they believe to be very high. In most cases, you’ll have to keep telling them to go higher. Eventually, they’ll approach the correct figure, and the game ends. “It’s almost $3,700,” you’ll reveal, as they laugh in disbelief. It’s not a very fun game.

The San Francisco Bay Area has been experiencing a housing affordability crisis for quite some time now. Homelessness has reached unprecedented levels, evictions have skyrocketed, and many people are finding it difficult to live in the cities they work in. It’s the magnitude of this crisis which compelled San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors to unanimously pass a piece of legislation this month that could give a big boost to affordable housing in the Bay Area.

The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or “COPA,” is the result of years of organizing by housing rights organizations. The act makes it easier for housing nonprofits (including land trusts) to compete in a market that is currently dominated by giant developers and speculators.

Read the full article about San Francisco's Housing Act by Robert Raymond at Shareable.