Unfunded Mandates Hurt LA - A Lesson for SF
Housing Math Hits Zero
What You Need To Know
Here’s what happened around the city for the week of April 12, 2026:
- Unfunded Mandates Hurt LA - A Lesson for SF
- Housing Math Hits Zero
- Reading Is Off Track
- Presidio Trustees Removed
- Swalwell Resigns
Election Countdown
45 days until the June 2 SF Primary Election — the one that decides whether our commonsense Board majority survives. Read the GrowSF Voter Guide for the June election
GrowSF’s full endorsements:
San Francisco
Supervisor, District 2: Stephen Sherrill
Supervisor, District 4: Alan Wong
Board of Education: Phil Kim
Superior Court Judge: Phoebe Maffei
California
Governor: Matt Mahan
Lieutenant Governor: Josh Fryday
Attorney General: Rob Bonta
Secretary of State: Shirley N. Weber
Controller: Malia M. Cohen
Treasurer: Eleni Kounalakis
Insurance Commissioner: Patrick Wolff
State Superintendent of Public Instruction: Josh Newman
Board of Equalization: Sally J. Lieber
State Assemblymember, District 17: Matt Haney
State Assemblymember, District 19: Catherine Stefani
Federal
House of Representatives, District 11: Scott Wiener
Ballot Measures
✅ Yes on Prop A: Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response Bond
✅ Yes on Prop B: Lifetime Term Limits for Mayor and Supervisors
✅ Yes on Prop C: Decreases to Business Taxes
❌ No on Prop D: Increases to Business Tax Based on Comparison of Top Executive’s Pay to Employees’ Pay
Read our full endorsement rationale in the GrowSF Voter Guide.
Unfunded Mandates Hurt LA - A Lesson for SF
Published April 16, 2026
The Facts
More potholes and fewer safety upgrades are the result of a street-safety ballot measure that Los Angeles passed in March 2024. Measure HLA requires bus, bike, and pedestrian safety upgrades when the city repaves qualifying streets. Two years later, Los Angeles has delivered only about 300 feet of HLA-triggered improvements across a city with over 7,500 miles of streets.
The Context
Before the election, city officials warned HLA could impose roughly a $3.1 billion cost. The math is simple: if each qualifying repaving job gets more expensive and the maintenance budget stays flat, fewer streets get done. That is a predictable outcome for any agency working under a fixed budget.
The GrowSF Take
San Francisco should take this as a budgeting lesson, not an argument against safer streets. Voters cannot be promised repaving and safety upgrades without a realistic funding plan. Big promises plus no money usually means worse delivery.
Housing Math Hits Zero
Published April 17, 2026
The Facts
Zero. That is the Controller’s recommended inclusionary rate for San Francisco right now. This rate determines how many subsidized below-market-rate units a home builder is required to include in new construction.
New data from the City Economist’s office and an independent Technical Adivsory Committee says builders can’t afford to build any subsidized units. In fact, they can’t afford to build anything at all right now. Nearly every housing type that was modeled was financially infeasible under current market conditions.
The Context
San Francisco’s inclusionary program usually requires projects with 10 or more units to provide below-market homes, land, or fees.
This fight is not new. In 2017, the Technical Adivsory Committee recommended initial on-site rates of 14% to 18%, with a warning that 18% was the maximum feasible without being net-negative. But the pre-GrowSF Board of Supervisors promptly ignored that warning and set the mandatory minimum at 18% and scheduled it to increase by half a percent every year for the next fifteen years.
In practice, supervisors treated the maximum possible of the feasible range as a floor and planned to go higher, reality be damned.
The GrowSF Take
Homebuilders can’t afford to build anything right now, let alone homes they are required to sell for below cost. The math indicates builders should be getting public subsidies to build market-rate homes, but that’s not politically feasible. So we’ll be stuck waiting for prices to keep rising unless the city futs more fees, speeds up timeliness, and loosens their grip on new home building.
Reading Is Off Track
Published April 17, 2026
The Facts
Reading scores at SFUSD are not on track. SFUSD’s winter literacy proficiency for third graders fell to 51.8% from 53.1% in fall 2025, against a 62% year-end target, and English learner proficiency was 12.4%. SFUSD’s stated goal is 70% third-grade literacy by 2027.
Math scores, however, have ticked up slightly since 2023.
The Context
That goal started from a 52% baseline in 2022, so SFUSD is not building steady momentum yet. Mississippi shows improvement is possible, but not quick: its 2013 literacy law paired reading instruction, intervention, and promotion standards, and more than a decade later its fourth graders scored 219 in NAEP reading, above the national 214, moving from 49th in the country to 9th.
The GrowSF Take
There is no quick fix here. SFUSD should commit to the basics for years: phonics-based reading instruction, extra tutoring for kids who are behind, and holding back students who are not ready to move forward. That is also why GrowSF is backing Josh Newman for State Superintendent: California needs sustained, evidence-based literacy reform, not more drift.
Presidio Trustees Removed
Published April 15, 2026
The Facts
President Trump removed all six presidential appointees from the Presidio Trust board. Under the 1996 Presidio Trust Act, six seats are appointed by the president and a seventh belongs to the Interior secretary or designee. The board shakeup does not mean the park is closing: outgoing chair Mark Buell said he expects new appointees to continue the Trust’s mission.
The Context
The Presidio is unusual because it is financially self-sustaining. The Trust says it earned $182 million in 2024 by renting rehabilitated buildings and operating park assets, and that it has not taken annual appropriations since 2013. The park also includes 200 commercial tenants and 2,900 housing residents.
The GrowSF Take
Board reshuffles matter, but San Franciscans should not confuse them with an immediate park closure or operational collapse. We hope the new trustees show the same responsible stewardship as we’ve been lucky to have for so many years.
Swalwell Resigns
Published April 15, 2026
The Facts
After serious and credible allegations were made from four women that Eric Swalwell sexually assaulted or raped them, he dropped out of the race for Governor and now has resigned from Congress. The House Ethics Committee has opened an investigation into whether he violated the Code of Official Conduct, and the Manhattan District Attorney is investigating allegations tied to conduct in New York.
The Context
East Bay voters in California’s 14th Congressional District will choose a replacement through a June 16 special primary and an Aug. 18 special election. Under California’s special-election rules, the governor had to act quickly once the seat became vacant.
The GrowSF Take
Good riddance.
Paid for by GrowSF Voter Guide. Committee Top Funder:
Nick Josefowitz
Not authorized by a candidate or a committee controlled by a candidate. Financial disclosures are available at sfethics.org.