In a message dated 2/19/2005 10:02:02 AM Pacific Standard Time,
tradergroupe@... writes:
Dear Sarosh;
What source did you use to get the 30,000 units and $360 million figures for
rental properties controlled by nonprofit housing agencies? Is there a list
of those nonprofit housing agencies and the amount of funds they receive and
the funds actually distributed and to whom are those funds paid?
And I do not believe that rents have dropped like a rock in San Francisco
because demand is off 30%. Using Craigslist as a bellwether if rents have
dropped like a rock then virtually all 2 bedroom rentals would be from around $800
- $1000 and non higher. I believe the demand is still there but the number
of new construction rental units has some ridiculous small number of only 2,00
units in the pipeline.
San Francisco actually needs to build some 25,000 new rental units. This
would include some 10,000 SRO; 5,000 two room; 5,000 3 room; 5,000 4 room. With
non-union labor so the construction cost factors to build will be 1/3 - 1/2
of labor union built rental units.
For home ownership some 5,000 - 10,000 affordable condos and townhouses need
to be built. With non-union labor so the construction cost factors to build
will be 1/3 - 1/2 of labor union built condos.
Yours In Competitive Market Rate Housing For Renters and Homeowners
Ron Getty
SF Libertarian
Dear Ron,
i have figures for some of the nonprofits
TNDC (tenderloin neighborhood devel corp) has abt 2500-3000
tenderloin housing clinic (randy shaw) owns or controls another 2000-3000.
glide has abt 1000
mhdc (mission housing devel corp) has another 1000+
these are some of the nonprofits that i have become familiar with. there are
many, many others.
since some scrutiny has started, note that the nonprofits ahve staretd
putting their properties into other names, including out-of-state entities. their
websites have started becoming harder to penetrate. they also control many
buildings thriough master-leases. this is particularly true of SROs.
a simple calculation of 30,000 units at avg of $ 1000 per month yields $ 360
million revenue. many "family" units rent for much more, including over $
2000/mo. not included in these figures is the "services" component for
drug-addicted, homeless shelters, women's shelters etc, which provide a number of
services for which extra is charged, typically another $ 1000+/mo per person. if
they did not have a place to house these individuals, they wd find it harder
to justfiy the "add-on" service fees.
by the way, government is the largest employer in SF, and nonprofits have
grown the most in employement in SF over the last 30 years. the annual revenue
of all non-profits in SF is abt $4.5 billion (down from abt $ 5 billion 2
years ago), rivalling the city govt -- however, this includes many nonprofits
like SF Foundation, that dole out money to outside-SF entities. these figures
may be found on the govt's charitable org website.
under FOI, you can get some of the names and amounts of pmts to various
nonprofits. expect delays and incomplete info when you go down to city hall to
request it. note that they get funds not just directly from the city, but also
the state and particularly housing $ from the Fed, which $ is frequently
administered thru the city, but not counted in the city budget. also, there are
several "loans" which are not repaid, or are designed to be forgiven over a
period of time, particularly for purchase and rehab, and this is not part of the
budget calculation. bond funds like 1996's prop A ($200 million) are also
not included, but txpayers fund the repayment of this public indebtedness.
somewhere between 30,000 and 60,000 jobs were lost in SF after the tech
bust. demand has dropped, while supply has been essentially static. rents are
elastic, and respond sharply to small changes in demand, both up and down.
since i am in the rental business, i see the changes in rents, and can
attest to them:
my studios that went for 1050-1125 are now renting for 795-850;
my 1BR that went for 1400-1700 are now renting for 950-1150
my 2BR that rented for 1600-2000 now rent for 1200-1600
you can forget about new construction at any affordable price. it wont
happen here. the unions and RBA-nonprofits have too tight control over permits. in
fact, they have written some of the laws and regulations governing dept of
public works. permist for new units over the last 20 years have ranged from
1100 to 2000 per year, with an avg of abt 1600/yr. new construction permits are
monopolised by connected contractors andf the ubiquitous nonrpofits.
welcome to SF.
Sarosh D. Kumana
_www.sfrent.net_ (http://www.sfrent.net/)
Tel: 415-861-4554
Fax: 415-864-0730
Cell: 415-425-5184