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New San Francisco West Side Supervisor Pledges to Build More Affordable Housing

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San Francisco Supervisor-elect Myrna Melgar, who represents District 7.  (Courtesy Myrna Melgar)

Former San Francisco Planning Commission President Myrna Melgar has won the city supervisor race for District 7, covering the city’s southwestern neighborhoods.

Melgar notched a decisive victory in the sixth ranked-choice voting round, beating her last opponent standing, former journalist Joel Engardio. Engardio, a more conservative candidate, conceded the race early Wednesday.

Progressive Democrats touted the victory of Melgar, who is Latina, as a win for diversity. Now, she says, she’s aiming to have an impact on how San Francisco addresses its ongoing housing affordability crisis.

“Affordable housing built on the West Side is my top priority,” Melgar said. She is calling for more senior housing as well as homeowner co-ops, funded through a blend of government subsidies and pension funds. Subsidized housing of this kind hasn’t been built in San Francisco since the 1960s, she said.

“We have funding but no capacity,” she said, referring to legal mechanisms enabling these types of units. Nevertheless, she said. “It’s coming to the West Side if I can pull it off.”

Melgar has the support of Mayor London Breed. Politically, she has put together a coalition of moderate-leaning, pro-housing development forces — who favor the production of market-rate housing at any-cost — and progressive Democrats who want affordable housing built and paid for by the state or through higher developer fees.

The two factions normally clash on land-use issues, a political faultline that divides San Francisco Democrats who otherwise find common ground on social issues like LGTBQ+ rights.

Shanti Singh, a local progressive tenant organizer, was heartened to hear of Melgar’s co-op plan. “The time where we need affordable housing the most is during this deep economic depression,” Melgar said.

On the other side of the housing solution debate, Todd David, director of the Housing Action Coalition, which favors the production of market-rate housing, said Melgar “embodies the common ground of these two camps.” In his view, she “has strong tenant protection policies” but still recognizes the need for more housing on San Francisco’s West Side instead of in neighborhoods like the Mission or South of Market, where much new stock has been concentrated in recent years.

In order to succeed termed-out District 7 Supervisor Norman Yee, who was president of the Board, Melgar had to beat a bevy of candidates besides Engardio, including Vilaska Nguyen, a progressive favorite.

Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez (@FitztheReporter)

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