In 2014, San Francisco’s public housing all became privately run. 3,500 units have been transferred from the city’s ownership to various housing groups: some non-profit, and some for-profit.
The deal is a complex response to a problem that cities across the country face today: after decades of federal disinvestment, public housing projects built a half-century ago have fallen into disrepair—an estimated 26 billion dollars worth of disrepair. Cities can’t afford to rehab and maintain these buildings, so they’re selling them off. In San Francisco, private developers and banks will maintain the low-income housing in exchange for tax credits. Developers have also won the opportunity to build market-rate housing on the same land.
What follows is a brief history, from the creation of public housing projects, to the decisions that led to their demise—and brought us the modern, privatized affordable housing industry.
