City Hall
A birds-eye view of several multi-story apartment buildings, with downtown San Francisco in the background.

SF Tenants Set to Gain New Powers in Negotiations With Landlords

02.16.2022
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Tenants across San Francisco will gain new collective bargaining powers to affect conditions in their buildings, thanks to a move by lawmakers Tuesday.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved protections for tenants to form associations, akin to labor unions, that can negotiate with landlords over a wide range of concerns, including issues like construction schedules and even helping tenants pay off debts taken on to cover rents, often called “shadow debt.”

Elections

Ballotpedia Strives to Earn Voters’ Trust With Comprehensive Elections Guide

02.10.2022
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Voters who feel confused or misled by the bombardment of political advertising that comes with every election season might seek out a neutral, straightforward explanation of a ballot measure or campaign. For many voters, that search leads to Ballotpedia. Though the site is exhaustive and may seem formulaic, its content is not automatically generated. Professional writers and editors carefully curate the material that lands in this elections encyclopedia, which covers everything from ballot measures to judges to redistricting. 

Housing
Coit Tower and the San Francisco Bay are seen behind apartment buildings in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood.

SF Renters on Verge of Winning Collective Bargaining Rights

02.07.2022
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Groundbreaking tenant protections just got closer to becoming a reality in San Francisco.

City supervisors Monday gave the initial thumbs-up to legislation to protect the formation of tenant associations that, like unions, could collectively bargain with landlords. The three-person Rules Committee voted unanimously to approve the protections, which now move to the full Board of Supervisors.

Elections

With Provisional Measure Now Permanent, Noncitizen Parents Can Vote in SF’s School Board Recall Election

01.20.2022
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San Francisco residents who are not citizens but are parents may vote in school board elections, including the upcoming recall election that could remove three members of the board. The Board of Supervisors in October made this enfranchisement, originally enacted through a 2016 ballot measure and scheduled to sunset in 2022, permanent.  

A street view of a complex of three-story apartment buildings.

How Build Back Better Bill’s Failure Could Hurt SF’s Most Vulnerable

01.19.2022
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San Francisco could lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars for affordable housing rental aid and construction with the expected collapse of the Build Back Better social spending and infrastructure bill.

The programs included in the legislation would have allowed San Francisco to offer more subsidies to low-income tenants, repair poor living conditions in public housing and encourage the construction of more affordable housing.

Education

Officials Vow to Fix Crumbling School: ‘We Have Failed You’

10.14.2021
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Vermin infestation and electrical malfunction. A copy machine in the restroom. Falling ceiling tiles. Parents, students and staff at Buena Vista Horace Mann School in the Mission testified at recent hearings about these and other chronic maintenance problems they say have plagued the school for years. Officials promised swift action, but delayed a vote on how much money to allocate toward repairs at the school by two weeks.