When this subreddit was founded a year ago, its goal was to become a voice and a coordinating force for Bay Area residents who would like to see more housing get built.

It became a great place for like-minded people to gather and share links and discussion, but that was not its mission; its mission was to bring about actual change in the real San Francisco. And it never made much progress on that goal.

While this was going on, another group was growing, the San Francisco Bay Area Renters Federation, or SFBARF. They have the exact same vision as ours, and in the past year, they've been everywhere. When I surrendered and left the Balboa Reservoir community meeting early because I was scared to be the underdog, BARF stood its ground. While we've been sitting at our computers upvoting stories about supply and demand, BARF's been showing up at City Hall to advocate in person, in front of the actual decision makers. While we've been grousing, they've been passing out flyers and designing t-shirts. We've been talking to each other, they've been engaging with the broader community.

However, BARF has one major weakness: Its enemies portray it as a tiny organization that doesn't actually represent real Californians, and insinuate that it therefore must be a secret front for development corporations. (It's not.) Even potential allies like Sara Shortt from the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco are saying things like, "I find it offensive that they are purporting to represent the voice of renters. They haven't proven themselves to be a representation of the community."

Meanwhile, this subreddit has hundreds of subscribers. And so here's how we can help: Let's move our discussion over to /r/SFBARF. And remember to subscribe. Our presence there would be something BARF can point at to demonstrate its legitimacy. When someone says they represent nobody, they can point to hundreds of real Bay Area citizens who support their cause.

Do it! Do it now!

Do you remember last year when Supervisor Jane Kim threatened to dramatically slow down our already-glacial permit-review process unless developers started building at least 30% of all new units as affordable housing?

And then last month, when Supervisor David Campos mused about declaring a market-rate-housing moratorium, again as a way to coerce developers into building more affordable housing?

Developers responded by saying they would simply stop building if either measure went forward, claiming it would take away their ability to make ends meet. If true, that would only make the housing crisis worse.

Well, what if we were to try the carrot, instead of the stick? Specifically, what if we were to draft a ballot measure allowing developers to exceed the zoning height limit, if the extra floors were to be dedicated solely to affordable housing?

Which supervisors or community groups would oppose it, and what possible grounds could they find to defend that position? NIMBY interests know they can't just come out and say "I don't want to lose my million-dollar view", or "I don't want any new competition for parking spaces." They have to pretend to be fighting on the side of the less-fortunate. But the beauty of such a proposal is that it would force them to show their true colors: They wouldn't be able to paint the proposal as a ploy to build luxury condos for millionaires. We might even have the support of housing activists -- imagine, housing activists working to increase the housing supply.

I was discussing this idea with local density advocate Alfred Twu, and he liked it so much he dug up the relevant area of the building code, §260, and drafted proposed language for an amendment: "(c) Floors that contain only affordable housing units and associated accessory uses shall not count towards the height of a building."

Of course, there might be additional details necessary to make this realistic: For example, we probably wouldn't want someone building a 120-story below-market-rate skyscraper in a neighborhood of two-story houses, so there would need to be a stipulation limiting the bonus to 50% of the existing zoning height, or something like that. Perhaps we can hammer these details out in the comments.

But here's where it gets exciting: It only takes around 10,000 signatures to get a proposition onto the city ballot. /r/sanfrancisco has 41,000 subscribers. So, um, this might not just be a hypothetical exercise. It might actually be doable.

What do you think?

where can i find for an affordable room for 300-400$ range room for myself which i am a struggling college student, rooms seem to be 1000 dollars which seems to be ridiculous to me...

Hello!

Please come to our first panel discussion, The Political Situation: How did rents get so high?

When: Monday, February 2nd. 6:30pm to 8:30 pm Where: The Lab, 2948 16th Street (16th and Capp Streets)

The cause of our current housing shortage isn't technological - we know how to build. It's not financial - investors are clamouring to invest in the Bay Area. It's not the result of a raw material shortage - unlike the 1940-45 housing crisis when the war effort diverted labor and materials from private efforts, today we have all the laborers and materials we need.

The cause of our current shortage is 100% political.

We have the great fortune to be able to host three expert panelists. They will talk to us about the political landscape with respect to housing in their respective cities:

• Seattle Roger Valdez, Smart Growth Seattle
• Palo Alto Kate Downing, Palo Alto Forward
• San Francisco Michael Cohen, currently of Strata Investment Group, former head of the Mayor's Office of Economic Development

If the cause of the shortage is political, so too must be the solution: the goal of the SF Bay Area Renters' Federation is to organize renters (and allies) to agitate for increasing the supply of housing in San Francisco, Oakland and the Bay Area.

I'm really excited to be holding this event. It will be our first big social event! Please forward this invitation to all of your friends.

Facebook event, Twitter (for RTs), Meetup event, Eventbrite (You do not need tickets, I made an Eventbrite because some people like it.), G+

Love, Sonja Website: www.sfbarf.org