Build Affordable Faster is a local, regional, and state Civic Advocacy & Action Project of Tenants and Owners Development Corporation (T0DCO), a nonprofit community-based community development corporation for San Francisco’s South of Market Neighborhood since 1971. TODCO has built, owns, and operates 950 units of affordable senior and SRO housing for lower-income San Franciscans in eight SOMA residences.
Our Mission
Build Affordable Faster is a regional and state advocacy and action project of the Tenants and Owners Development Corporation (TODCO), a nonprofit community-based community development corporation in San Francisco’s South of Market Neighborhood (SoMa) since 1971. TODCO has built, owns, and operates 950 units of affordable senior housing for lower-income San Franciscans. For 45 years, TODCO has fully engaged in San Francisco’s urban, social and economic planning issues and initiatives.
The mission of Build Affordable Faster is to fight for and with the poor, disadvantaged, and working people of our Golden state —elders, people of color, the unhoused, immigrants and families, in order to win affordable housing and build a strong safety net which supports the health, safety and well being of all Californians. Our project aims to engage organizers, advocates, and policy makers around legislation and ballot measures which address production and protection of affordable housing, our untenable wealth inequality and the health and economic well being of all Californians.
Our Values
Build Affordable Faster is a new generation of TODCO’s community advocacy, whose roots date back to social movements of tenants and activists who joined forces to prevent the displacement of poor and elderly residents in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco in the late 1960s and ‘70s.
Equity
We seek to dismantle systems of oppression and build a just and inclusive California.
Inclusion
We seek to create welcoming spaces where everyone belongs.
Community Engagement
We are committed to building meaningful partnerships based on mutual respect with other community organizations of all backgrounds to make systemic change a reality in order to advance social and economic justice.
Community Planning
We seek to support central city communities and cities in our region to engage in inclusive and thoughtful planning processes.
Build Affordable Faster is a nonprofit registered campaign committee (FPPC #1388285) that can sponsor and/or support local and state ballot measures (but never candidates for office). Under its prior name of Housing Forward SF it undertook the successful “Proposition E Balanced Development Act” initiative that San Francisco voters approved in March of this year. Build Affordable Faster’s work is funded by TODCO’s independent operating revenues with no outside funding.
What We Do
In coordination with TODCO and its subsidiary Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium SOMA community group (YBNC), Build Affordable Faster undertakes multiple focused and action-oriented Civic Advocacy & Action projects:
- Coalition-member advocacy jointly with multiple local and statewide groups to impact San Francisco and State legislation, especially regarding affordable housing, balanced urban growth, and community empowerment.
- Policy research and development for those objectives, including public surveys and voter opinion polls.
- Direct Sponsorship of Ballot Initiatives, including the successful March 2020 San Francisco Balanced Development Act.
- Financial Support For Community Ballot Initiatives, including the 2018 Proposition C San Francisco Business Tax Increase to fund housing and service for the Homeless.
- Community-Driven Urban Planning and Research, including the 2018 Central SOMA Community Plan and the 2018 report Transforming Bay Area Parking Lots Into Homes And Communities.
- Community-Advocacy Litigation/Agreements, including the 2018 CEQA lawsuit/settlement agreement for the City of San Francisco’s Central SOMA Plan, to secure community improvements and programs not otherwise forthcoming from the City.
- Community Benefit Agreements with private developments in the SOMA Neighborhood, including six Central SOMA commercial developments in 2019, to secure affordable housing sites and community assets and resources beyond those required by the City.
- Financial and in-kind technical support to empower community-based nonprofit organizations in the Central City, including the Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy and United to Save The Mission.
