if not a climate bond per se...

...then maybe greenhouse-gas emissions-lowering climate action could at least be part of the bond? In May, the Supervisors' Budget and Appropriations Committee approved the Capital Planning Committee’s 10-year bond schedule, which at the last minute included adding $140 million to the $200 million Affordable Housing Bond scheduled to go on the March 2024 ballot.

The devil is in the details, and we want the $140 million to be used to electrify and rehab existing affordable housing, and/or to repurpose existing buildings as all-electric affordable housing. The latter would add to the affordable housing stock; the former would improve what we already have. New construction, of course, is already required to be all-electric. Money used on existing buildings would provide badly needed upgrades, insure cleaner indoor air, help to lower asthma rates, and reduce the planet-heating emissions caused by burning fossil fuels.

City departments are working together behind-the-scenes on such a possibility. In early fall, the Board of Supervisors will be voting on the specific bond proposal. Stay tuned for advocacy alerts!