The pitfalls of preservation
The city should be wary.
Today City Council will likely approve a resolution asking city staff to "explore opportunities" to preserve "naturally occurring affordable housing."
Authored by Marc Duchen and co-sponsored by Vanessa Fuentes, José Velásquez and Zo Qadri, the resolution suggests city government should consider a variety of resources to prevent old apartment complexes from being redeveloped, including tax incentives, low-interest loans and straight up subsidies.
There's a very good chance this resolution won't lead to any meaningful action. That's because a local organization is already serves this role and because it's probably not a good idea for the city to shift more of its limited affordable housing dollars into preservation instead of new construction.
