To nobody’s surprise, the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, an outgrowth of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, agreed on Wednesday morning to put a $20 billion regional bond on the November ballot in nine counties. But opponents of the mammoth tax offered a serious, compelling critique. Will Sherman reports in this Opp Now exclusive.
Although outnumbered, a group opposed to the biggest housing bond in the state’s history showed up early to the MTC’s Beale Street entrance in downtown San Francisco, carrying homemade signs that read “$20b bond + 28b waste,” and “No Bonds for MTC.”
“We want to make sure commissioners know they don’t have a clear path forward,” said Marcus Crowley, President of Alameda County Taxpayer Association.
While he spoke, however, he was interrupted by the clatter of wooden pallets and PVC pipes spilling onto the sidewalk. Several orange-vested men jumped out of a van to construct the supports for a giant “Thumb Up” icon and two massive banners that read “Carpenters Union Supports Affordable Homes.”
During public comment inside, dozens of housing advocates and developers rushed to the podiums to praise and thank commissioners before their rubber stamp vote.
But those opposed to the bond eventually got their allotted time to express grave concerns about the all-but-certain mismanagement of the money, and the unintended consequences of such a hefty burden on taxpayers for generations to come.
“The $20 billion bond measure you’re considering today will raise property taxes for Bay Area homeowners and renters over the next 50 years,” said Marc Joffe, Walnut Creek resident and policy analyst at the Cato Institute, “it will do surprisingly little to create truly affordable housing in the near term.”
He continued, “as we saw with Los Angeles’s proposition HHH, it takes several years for bond-funded units to be approved, built, and open to residents.”
Even Bay Area Council’s pro-bond development advocate Matt Regan conceded that Marc Joffe was right to criticize the devastating delays. Livermore’s Eden housing project has been trying to break ground since 2007. He urged the board to manage the bond money efficiently and streamline development.
If history is any guide, that’s a tall order.
Tom Rubin, President of 20 Billion Reasons to Vote No, devoted his 90 seconds of comment to listing MTC’s greatest hits in transportation—the original mission. Bay Area Transit use, he noted, has declined despite an increase in population, while traffic congestion has tripled in San Jose. Adjusted for inflation, government spending on transportation has doubled. The Bay Bridge reconstruction cost alone ended up 2,600% over budget. And so on.
“Based on this record of performance,” Rubin asked the commissioners, “how did MTC get put in charge of housing?”
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