S.F. supe: Mayor’s housing office ‘lost’ $5M for affordable housing
Big Picture
San Francisco District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood revealed that roughly $5 million in funding earmarked for a long-planned affordable housing project in the Tenderloin was never spent and had been sitting unused in an account for years. The money originated from a 2015 deal tied to the 101 Hyde Street site, where affordable housing was promised but has yet to be delivered. Mahmood questioned why the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development “lost track” of those funds and pressed city officials for transparency, making it a condition for his support of a lease extension at the site.
Why It Matters
This situation highlights ongoing frustration around stalled affordable housing projects in one of San Francisco’s most underserved neighborhoods. Millions in already-secured funding going unspent raises concerns about city capacity to track and deploy resources efficiently, especially amid a tight financing climate for new affordable units. The discovery could influence how future budgets are monitored and may lead to greater oversight of housing promises that have lingered without delivery, affecting trust between community advocates and city leadership.