Preferences help keep black seniors in SF
The federal government’s decision to allow preferential treatment for residents of neighborhoods undergoing displacement in awarding spots in a Western Addition senior housing complex increased the number of African Americans who got apartments there, newly released figures show.
A total of 25 African Americans won spots in the 98-unit Willie B. Kennedy development on Turk Street near Webster Street, an affordable-housing complex that attracted nearly 6,000 applicants.
Without the city’s antidisplacement preference, 14 black households would have won spots in the lottery for the complex, the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development said Monday.
The applicants who were picked still have to go through a vetting process to make sure they qualify, but the results are encouraging to city officials hoping that the preference can help stem the flow of African Americans and Latinos out of San Francisco.
“While the results are still preliminary, we are encouraged that the new antidisplacement preference seems to be a way to boost numbers of groups that have not fared well in the lottery process,” said Jeff Buckley, who advises Mayor Ed Lee on housing issues.
A total of 5,935 applicants applied for 77 units in the project, which has 21 units set aside for formerly homeless seniors.
About 9 percent (549) of the applicants were African American, 9 percent (517) were white, 64 percent (3,773) were Asian American and 3 percent (201) were Latino.
In addition to the 25 black applicants, preliminary lottery winners included 33 Asian Americans, two Latinos, seven whites and 10 described as either other or unknown.
The lottery results come three months after the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development said the city’s neighborhood preference law, which the Board of Supervisors passed this year, violated the 1968 Fair Housing Act.
The legislation set aside 40 percent of units in subsidized developments for residents already living in the supervisorial district or within a half mile of the project.
The city appealed that ruling and sent a delegation to Washington to meet with HUD officials to discuss alternative local preferences that might be legal.
While HUD still rejects the neighborhood preference legislation, it allowed 40 percent of the 98 units in the Willie B. Kennedy complex to be prioritized for residents who live in low-income neighborhoods undergoing displacement and experiencing advanced gentrification, as defined by a research analysis conducted by UC Berkeley.
With the Willie B. Kennedy results now in hand, the city will probably look at legislation to make the antidisplacement rules law, Buckley said.
J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen
Antidisplacement preferences
A breakdown of the applications and approvals, both with the preference and had the preference not been in place, for the housing project at 1239 Turk St.
applicants
preference
preference
Asian
Latino
