Planning Commission rejects plan to save low income people from displacement

Sup. Chyanne Chen has introduced legislation that would require developers who demolish housing in vulnerable communities replace existing affordable units with new units at the same price. It s a pretty basic concept. As Chen noted at a Planning Commission hearing Thursday, a developer who tears down a five-unit building in Chinatown occupied entirely by very-low-income tenants and replaces it with 25 new units would be required only to include three affordable units, and they might not be affordable to the tenants displaces. Her legislation would require those five units be replaced, at the same rental levels. Sup Chen wants to make sure demolitions don t deplete affordable housing. It fits in perfectly with the rhetoric we have heard from both Planning and the Board of Supes: Zoning and land-use should include protections for existing vulnerable communities, particularly communities of color. In the Priority Equity Geographies, the city s term for communities vulnerable t