The most expensive campaign against any measure on San Francisco's Nov. 3 ballot is the one against Proposition I, the measure that would steer half of the city's real estate transfer tax revenue to affordable and "social" housing.

The opposition committee, formally "Yes on C, No on I, SF for Accountability in Housing," is sponsored by the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. It has raised more than $2.7 million, according to Mission Local's review of filings. That is about $1.9 million more than the campaign against Prop. G, the Great Highway measure. Prop. I's backers have raised about $687,000, roughly a quarter as much.

Who's giving

Mission Local counts 73 donors on the no side. The largest, it reports, are:

  • San Francisco Apartment Association, the landlord group: $211,000
  • Venture capitalist Michael Moritz: $200,000
  • Related California: $200,000
  • San Francisco Chamber of Commerce: $185,000
  • The Fisher family of Gap: $125,000
  • Kilroy Realty: $100,000

Campaign finance filings compiled by The Ballot Book also show contributions from Brookfield Property Group, Carmel Partners, Wilson Meany, the Swig Company, the Building Owners and Managers Association and the Hotel Council of San Francisco's PAC. Late large contributions reported Oct. 26 and 27 came from BXP, Hudson Pacific Properties and the Mission Rock development.

On the yes side, the top donors are former congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti ($150,000); former District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston ($118,000), who wrote the 2020 measure that doubled the tax; and social housing advocate and former mayoral candidate Dylan Hirsch-Shell ($105,000).

What the fight is really about

In 2020, voters approved a different Prop. I that roughly doubled the transfer tax on sales of properties worth $10 million or more, to about 6%. The money was meant for housing, but legal questions let then-Mayor London Breed, and now Mayor Daniel Lurie, put it in the general fund. This year's Prop. I would require half of the revenue to go to affordable housing, social housing, homelessness prevention and rental help. It would also fix the rate between 5.5% and 6%, so that only voters, not supervisors, could change it.

That last part is what worries big property owners. Lurie has called the measure a "slush fund" and is backing Prop. C instead. Prop. C would increase the city's affordable housing fund to $125 million or more starting in 2028. "Labor and business have come together on Yes on C and No on I because working families need housing they can afford," John Doherty of the Building Trades Council said in a statement to Mission Local. Christin Evans of the Prop. I campaign said opponents see their spending as "an investment" against possible future tax cuts.

For a full breakdown of the measure, see our Prop. I explainer.

How to vote

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Polls and vote centers close at 8 p.m., and mailed ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and arrive within seven days. You can check your registration and ballot status at sos.ca.gov/elections. California lets you register and vote the same day at a vote center.