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LWV League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Smart Voter
San Francisco County, CA November 7, 2006 Election
Proposition K
Adopting a Policy Relating to the Housing Needs of Seniors and Disabled Adults
City of San Francisco

Majority Approval Required

Pass: 161,684 / 71.30% Yes votes ...... 65,073 / 28.70% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures

Information shown below: Summary | Fiscal Impact | Yes/No Meaning | Arguments | Full Text

Shall it be City policy to acknowledge the particular housing needs of seniors and disabled adults with limited financial resources and to explore ways of addressing these needs?

Summary Prepared by Ballot Simplification Committee:
THE WAY IT IS NOW: The City's General Plan requires the Mayor's Office of Housing to implement affordable rental housing programs for families, seniors and households with special needs.

San Francisco voters have not adopted a specific policy regarding housing needs of low-income seniors and disabled adults.

THE PROPOSAL: Proposition K is a Declaration of Policy that would acknowledge the particular housing needs of seniors and disabled adults with limited financial resources. The policy would state that the City should explore ways to address these housing needs so that seniors and disabled adults do not have to pay more than 30 percent of their monthly financial resources towards rent.

A "YES" VOTE MEANS: If you vote "yes," you want it to be the policy of the City to acknowledge the particular housing needs of seniors and disabled adults with limited financial resources and to explore ways of addressing these needs.

A "NO" VOTE MEANS: If you vote "no," you do not want it to be the policy of the City to acknowledge the particular housing needs of seniors and disabled adults with limited financial resources and to explore ways of addressing these needs.

Fiscal Impact from City Controller:
City Controller Edward Harrington has issued the following statement on the fiscal impact of Proposition K:

Should the proposed policy statement be approved by the voters, in my opinion, it would not increase the cost of government.

Meaning of Voting Yes/No
A YES vote on this measure means:
If you vote "yes," you want it to be the policy of the City to acknowledge the particular housing needs of seniors and disabled adults with limited financial resources and to explore ways of addressing these needs.

A NO vote on this measure means:
If you vote "no," you do not want it to be the policy of the City to acknowledge the particular housing needs of seniors and disabled adults with limited financial resources and to explore ways of addressing these needs.

 
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Arguments For Proposition K Arguments Against Proposition K
DIGNITY AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR SENIORS!

NO MORE HOMELESS SENIORS!

VOTE YES ON K!

There are over 1000 homeless seniors and disabled adults living on the streets of San Francisco. And yet, affordable housing for seniors and disabled adults is very limited. This policy measure would send a strong message that our City must address this crisis now!

Given the massive displacement of seniors through the Ellis Act and other evictions, the need for affordable housing for seniors is a great challenge. Those who have lost their housing have few options. Wait lists for subsidized housing are years long. Shelters are at full capacity. And market-rate housing is outside our reach. With many of us being on fixed and limited income, the City must explore all options to increase affordable housing opportunities for Seniors, wherein we do not have to pay more than 30% of our income.

Seniors have much wisdom and worth to offer our City. We must not be pushed out or left out in the cold. Many of us have become frail in our old age and living on the streets or in inadequate housing only exacerbate our fragile condition. Being in our twilight years, we can not afford to be on long wait lists. We need your support in pressing the City to act now!

A "YES" vote means that the City shall recognize this crisis and act immediately to address the lack of affordable housing for Seniors. Help us in demanding respect and dignity for the most vulnerable of our elderly.

Join us in making sure that Seniors and the Disabled a place in San Francisco.

Vote Yes on K!

Rebuttal to Arguments For
Do Not Give Politicos and Bureaucrats More Opportunity To Rip Off Taxpayers - Again!

We should help only long-time San Francisco and economically struggling senior citizens and disabled residents with safe, comfortable, affordable housing. I have been a hands-on advocate and volunteer for senior and disabled citizens since my youth. These two populations deserve more assistance than many others with plenty of opportunities to be productive and refused. Pandering to thousands of chronic losers and freeloaders, major burdens from the moment they relocated to San Francisco, have deprived worthier recipients of more meaningful and effective hand-out and hand-up resources.

The cacophony of public complaints about government deficits and overspending in the name of public leadership is a red flag. No more new tax nor bond measures should be considered until all bureaucrats and politicos, causing the deficits or unskilled in relieving past deficits, are purged. Let us wait until fiscal details are accessible including who will be held liable in the event of misappropriations and waste.

Tugging at emotional heartstrings should not undermine fiscal pragmatism. This policy measure is another vehicle to give devious leaders unconditional license to political racketeering which goes on frequently with these housing and other government projects. Many politically appointed commissioners, both Democrats and Republicans, lack backbone, expertise and/or scruples in harnessing fiscal mismanagement.

Vote No on K.

Gail E. Neira

Native San Franciscan; the only community-diverse compassionate and truthful member elected to San Francisco Republican Central Committee; San Francisco Republican Alliance president*, 415-820-1430

  • For identification purposes only
Under current leadership incompetence, more subsidized housing projects should wait.

I have been a hands-on advocate and volunteer for senior and disabled citizens since my youth. This segment of our San Francisco community deserves more assistance than many others who are just self-induced free-loaders.

However, given the cacophony of complaints about the major government deficits and overspending in the name of public leadership, no more new tax or bond dependent expenditures should be considered until City Hall is purged from existing bureaucrats and politicos whom either cause the deficits or unskilled in relieving past deficits.

Tugging at our emotional and compassionate heart strings should not undermine our intellectual perspectives. We should not use this policy measure to give our incompetent leaders an unconditional license to political racketeering which goes on frequently with these housing/government contracts and projects.

Vote No on K

Gail E. Neira

Native San Franciscan; San Francisco Republican Alliance president*;
the only community-diverse compassionate elected member of S.F. Republican Party*, 415-820-1430

  • For identification purposes only

Rebuttal to Arguments Against
THERE'S JUST NO RATIONAL REASON TO DENY THAT WE HAVE A HOUSING CRISIS FOR SENIORS! VOTE YES ON PROP K!

Prop K is simply a statement by the voters that there's a housing crisis for seniors living in San Francisco and that the City should make plans to address the crisis.

According to recent report by the Senior Action Network, seniors account for a significant and growing number of residents in the City's shelters and almost half of all seniors earn less than $25,000, making below market rate housing the only housing option for them. For lack of an adequate supply of affordable housing, many seniors are left out in the cold.

When many seniors spend most of their meager incomes on housing, when many seniors live in substandard housing and wait hopelessly on long lists for affordable housing, when many seniors live in shelters or worse on the streets, there's no time to wait for acknowledging that the City should take action!

DIGNITY AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING SENIORS!

NO MORE HOMELESS SENIORS!

Join a broad coalition of San Francisco organizations in voting Yes ON K!

Seniors Organizing Seniors
San Francisco Tenants Union
San Francisco Living Wage Coalition
Jazzie Collins, Chair of SoMa Stabilization Fund*
Jennifer Friedenbach

  • For identification purposes only

Full Text of Proposition K
It is the policy of the City and County of San Francisco to acknowledge the particular housing needs of persons with limited financial resources (1) who are Seniors 60 years of age or older and/or (2) who are disabled adults, and to explore means of addressing these needs. For example, exploration could involve the City's Residential Inclusionary Affordable Housing Program (San Francisco Planning Code sections 315 et seq.), and possible grants or other financial incentives for development of senior housing.

These valued members of our community should not be expected to allot more than 30% of their monthly financial benefits for rent. However, many of these individuals are currently paying half or more of their financial resources for rent, which often does not leave enough to cover needed medications, food, transportation, clothing, laundry, and other living expenses. They are faced with the debilitating challenge of going without basic necessities, and put at risk for homelessness. Many have previously been evicted pursuant to the state's Ellis Act (which permits owners to remove properties from the residential rental market.)

This policy will assist in addressing these significant life issues in San Francisco.


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Created: January 4, 2007 09:40 PST
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