Representatives from 34 nonprofit organizations and housing agencies in all nine Bay Area counties have started designing a regional affordable-housing measure that could go before voters in 2028, Bay City News reported via SFGATE. The group met Monday for a brainstorming session at the College of Marin in Novato. They discussed voter sentiment and what options remain if a ballot initiative does not work out.
The effort is being organized around the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, or BAHFA, which the Legislature created in 2019 and which is housed at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments. "Our housing challenges don't end at a city or county; they flow across the different counties," Jennifer Martinez, vice president of policy and innovation at the San Francisco Foundation, said in opening remarks. "Because we have a housing authority agency at the regional level, we could have more tools and resources at a scale that no one has."
The last regional bond never reached the ballot
A similar attempt in 2024, Regional Measure 4, never appeared before voters. Bay City News reported that it was pulled from the ballot because of a technical error. The measure would have authorized $20 billion for about 70,000 apartments and homes. Officials have not announced a dollar amount or a tax mechanism for a 2028 measure, and this account does not invent one.
If voters approved a future regional housing measure, the money would go to cities and counties either directly or through grants from BAHFA, the news service reported. The authority has already done predevelopment work on projects that illustrate the kind of pipeline such funding could support, including 158 affordable homes in South San Francisco and 97 homes for seniors in Oakland's Chinatown.
What official planning documents say — and what they don't
A Regional Housing Stakeholder Committee presentation prepared for MTC and ABAG housing committees, dated Nov. 4, sketches a possible policy framework for state legislation and a potential revenue measure as early as 2028. One slide describes "illustrative" annual funding of $1 billion a year, including at least 52% for producing affordable housing and 10% for homelessness prevention and tenant protections. The same slide states, in a footnote, that the figure is "for illustrative purposes only; no decision has been made on the scale of a potential revenue measure."
Stakeholders in Novato discussed amending a new measure to include tenant protections, permanent supportive housing, infrastructure costs, faster deployment of funds to permitted projects, and a pathway to homeownership, Bay City News reported. After enough signatures are collected, the measure would need to be signed by the governor to qualify for the ballot by October 2027. The size, funding mechanism and final ballot language remain undecided.