$20B Bond Measure for Bay Area Affordable Housing Pulled from November Ballot

The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) on Wednesday voted to pull a $20-billion bond measure that would have appeared on the ballots of nine Bay Area counties in November. The vote occurred amid concerns that the measure to finance affordable housing didn’t have enough public support to pass, according to published reports.

The Oakland Side reported that polling has found that about 55% of Bay Area voters support the bond. That figure is significantly under the two-thirds “supermajority” threshold it needs to pass. To fund the bond, property owners would have been taxed at a rate of $19 per $100,000 in assessed property value.

“Bay Area voters remain in an anti-tax mood,” wrote Andrew Fremier, executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, in a memo to the BAHFA board.

Proponents of the bond measure were counting on passage of another, statewide ballot item that would lower the approval threshold for bond measures to a simple majority. However, that item, known as Proposition 5, has proven unpopular as well, according to The Oakland Side.

In a statement, the BAHFA board said, “The BAHFA board has always understood that it would be a steep climb to establish this source of funding. Recent developments have led the board to conclude that the wise choice is to look ahead to another election season for a regional housing measure when there is more certainty and the voters have weighed in affirmatively on Proposition 5.”