What our housing bonds have gotten us
And Mackenzie Kelly's memoir.
I might write a newsletter or two next week. I don't know. Either way, Happy Christmas & Merry Hanukkah.
I asked and received updated statistics from the city Housing Department on the number of affordable units that have been built with voter-approved housing bonds.
The columns below show the different bonds (2006, 2013, 2018, 2022) as well as the money made available for housing through the Project Connect tax rate election. Virtually all of the money from the first three bonds has been spent. The 2018 bond, you will recall, was for $250M, but $100M of that was for land acquisition, which has yet to be converted into any units. The 2022 bond and Project Connect included $300M a piece –– that money is in the process of being spent.
So it looks like there are more than 3,400 new units in the pipeline, meaning that the total number of units will soon increase by more than 50%. That is good news, even if it's still not nearly enough.
