Mayor Breed’s Pursuit of Affordable Housing

The housing situation seems to become worse and worse in the Bay Area, with the average rent increasing by 4.84% from the previous year, according to RentJungle. And people are getting frustrated, especially students who often feel helpless. Jenna, a student at SFSU, explains, “ I just moved into my first own apartment, and I can’t believe how expensive it is. If my parents would not support me, I wouldn't be able to live on my own.”

While areas like Marin County are still waiting to improve living situations for non-upper class people, San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed seems to be closer to the goal of affordable housing to become a standard.

So far Breed has successfully moved many homeless people into shelters and off the street, but there is more work to be done.

Breed created 2,220 new housing units between July 2018 and December 2018, and the previous Mayor Ed Lee, created roughly 2,500 more housing units between July and December 2017.

Breed's goal to create more housing is particularly hard to accomplish, as the mayor alone does not have full control over the housing market.

Breed is known to be personal with her voters, and that is most likely why she decided to have a signature drive to get an initiative onto the ballot for a four-year term during the midterm election in November.

Breed decided to call her voters to action in a small restaurant and cafe named Manny’s on Saturday, March 23.

It was a very intimate event with people talking before Breed’s speech and patiently waiting for their mayor to arrive.

Shortly before the mayor’s arrival, friend Maggie Walker took the stage to say some encouraging words to the voters.

Walker said, “Things are happening in politics that we can't predict,” regarding the need for signatures and support for the mayor’s upcoming re-election in November.

During her speech, Breed encouraged her audience to go out and collect signatures from voters, to get her on the ballot for the upcoming mayoral election in June.

Breed also made sure to thank attendees for their support, saying, “it just means a lot to have you and so many amazing people here today on a Saturday taking your time to collect signatures to this amazing campaign.”

Breed assured people in attendance that the problem of a lack of housing, especially affordable housing, will continue to be one of her priorities. “I can't help but push forward aggressively with the hard decisions that sometimes are not popular when trying to change things for people who need us to make better decisions,” she said.

Regarding people opposing her decisions, Breed encouraged all people to look at the bigger picture and take into consideration the people who are most affected by the problems in San Francisco.

“What this is about is changing San Francisco for the better,” Breed said. “This is about making sure that as we deal with the challenges of the day that we are also remembering that there are young people growing up in this city who need an opportunity.”

After her speech, Breed talked to some voters individually and took pictures with attendees.