2023 - SAN FRANCISCO CLIMATE EMERGENCY COALITION

October 19, 2023: Preserve AND electrify affordable housing!

The Bond Pursuit: Update plus urgent, last-minute Action Alert

Update. As you may know, SF Climate Emergency Coalition and allies have been advocating for a bond measure to fund our city's Climate Action Plan (CAP):

Last winter. The Supervisors’ hearing on the CLEE report (study by UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy and the Environment) highlighted recommendations for how to pay for the CAP to lower emissions. The Supervisors unanimously approved the CLEE recommendation that the Office of Resilience and Capital Planning put a climate bond into the schedule for near-term inclusion on the ballot.
Spring. The Budget and Appropriations Committee proclaimed that "all bonds should be climate bonds."
Summer. It was the world’s hottest in recorded history. So, what happened with the bond? Um, nothing.
Now: There is no climate bond proposed for the 2024 ballot, nor does the lineup of bonds scheduled for the next 10 years include a climate bond.

So now what do we do? We have a brief opportunity to begin getting “natural” gas, i.e. methane, out of some existing residences. A $300 million Affordable Housing Bond proposed for the March 2024 ballot includes $30 million for “preservation”: rehab and/or acquisition of existing buildings for affordable housing. We want the preservation fund to have a requirement attached that these units or buildings be made all-electric.

Since most of these units will need some work, and some will need major renovation, the time to replace the gas appliances is now, during rehabilitation. It is cheapest, most efficient and least disruptive to do it when work is already being done on the building.
Leaving gas appliances in low-income/affordable housing while gas stoves in particular contribute to asthma and other health problems, made worse the smaller the space, would harm residents - especially children. Everyone deserves a healthy home environment; removing gas-burning appliances will help.
Regulations are coming that will mandate eventual removal of all gas appliances from existing buildings. Whether legislation to require electrification in a major renovation, or the Air District rules to replace gas-powered water heaters and space heaters upon burnout (beginning in 2027 and 2029 respectively), these mandates are coming. Why would you rehab a building in 2024 or 2025 with bond money, and then have to go back in to do electrification work when the gas appliances burn out?

Action alert. Tell the Mayor and Board President Peskin - the authors of the Affordable Housing Bond - that you want the City to require the electrification of rehabbed or acquired existing buildings. Ask that they add that as an amendment to the bond measure. It would be a first small step by the City to begin to get methane gas out of homes.

The Mayor and the Board President are discussing the bond content NOW. Please use our handy letter-writing tool to send an automatic letter, or use the talking points to write your own, or you can call their offices. Contact info:
[email protected], (415) 554-7450
[email protected], (415) 554-6141

Write or call ASAP and definitely by Tuesday, Oct 24, before the Budget and Finance Committee meeting happens the next day.

Thank you!
SF Climate Emergency Coalition

September 6, 2023: This month: Ending Fossil Fuels, globally to locally