Changes at "Preserve rental housing as permanently affordable"

• +Preserve rental housing as permanently affordable

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  Background and context (including, if applicable, where this idea came from):
  We’re losing affordable housing to speculators, developers, condo converters. When a house goes up for sale an investor walks in with cash while a nonprofit is trying to pull together the funding to buy it. The developers aren’t building much new housing, public money is scarce, and it’s less expensive to save existing affordable housing than to build new. According to recent statements from the Mayor’s Office of Housing, acquiring existing housing units can cost as little as half of what it costs to build new ones.

  The Acquisition Opportunity Program (AOP) gives nonprofits ready cash so they can compete to buy existing housing, keep the tenants in place, and make the housing permanently affordable. Let’s expand AOP funding, keep people in their homes and keep our neighborhoods affordable.

  This idea came from residents familiar with preserving affordable housing and with community land trusts at the first assembly and in the housing working groups.

  Proposal (including what specifically the money would be spent on):
  Prevent displacement and protect existing affordable housing by funding the Acquisition Opportunity Program (AOP) with money from the city’s operating budget to allow more affordable housing developers and land trusts to buy occupied housing and make permanently affordable rental housing.

  Proposal cost:
  type your answer here

  City Department that would implement it (if known):
  Mayor's Office of Housing

  People’s Budget values (for reference):
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• Self-determination: We know what our communities need and we have the right to decide for ourselves.

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• Transparency: We move with honesty and openness so everyone can see how decisions are made.

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• Care: We keep each other safe through care / by meeting needs, not punishment.

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• Solidarity: We show up for each other. None of us are free unless all of us are free!

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• Community Wisdom: The people most affected by decisions should lead.

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• Well-being: We deserve more than survival. Everyone should have what they need to live abundant, joyful lives.

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Reminder: Residents will be asked to consider how proposals align with these values when you vote at the assembly on March 14 and to vote for proposals that align with the values.

How does this proposal align with the People’s Budget values?
type your answer here