Representatives from 34 nonprofit organizations and housing agencies spanning nine Bay Area counties are working on a new regional ballot measure for 2028 that could generate billions of dollars to finance affordable housing projects. The effort marks a renewed push after a 2024 funding proposal was withdrawn before voters could consider it.
According to a report from SFGATE, the push is being led by the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, an agency the California state legislature established in 2019 to serve low-income and very low-income residents across the region. BAHFA is housed within the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments, and it supports tenant protections along with the production, preservation and protection of affordable housing. The authority has also created a program allowing developers to make a portion of their housing projects affordable.
A Previous Bond Never Made It to Voters
The new 2028 effort follows Regional Measure 4, a $20 billion bond proposal in 2024 that would have funded roughly 70,000 apartments and homes across the region. Voters never actually saw that measure on their ballots — it was withdrawn before the election, as SFGATE reported. The authority's board pulled it amid concerns about voter appetite, a lawsuit and Proposition 5; a mathematical error in the cost description had been corrected.
The 2024 bond's fate adds important context. Polling commissioned by BAHFA at the time found support hovering around the 55% threshold widely discussed as necessary for passage, according to CalMatters. That outlet reported that the board of the authority ultimately voted to scrap the measure rather than risk it. Had it passed, the money would have funded construction and preservation of subsidized housing regionwide, with Bay Area homeowners repaying the debt through property taxes, per the same CalMatters account.
Where the Money Would Go
Under the framework described in the SFGATE report, funds from an approved 2028 regional housing measure would go to cities and counties either directly or through grants administered by BAHFA. The authority has already done predevelopment work on specific projects that illustrate the kind of pipeline such funding could unlock — including a proposal for 158 affordable homes in South San Francisco and a project proposing 97 new homes for seniors in Oakland's Chinatown.
California law gives BAHFA the authority to place a revenue measure on the ballot to raise funds throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, subject to approval by its own executive board, according to legislative text hosted by California Legislative Information. That legal footing is the same authority the agency drew on for the 2024 bond attempt.
The Scale of the Need
The scale of the challenge facing planners is considerable. A May 8, 2024 research announcement found that 433 projects across the nine-county Bay Area were sitting in various stages of predevelopment, together capable of producing more than 40,896 affordable homes — but requiring $9.7 billion to unlock, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. That figure underscores the gap any new ballot measure would need to address.
Statewide and national results from this past week offer some indication of voter appetite for housing bonds. California's Proposition 1, which authorized $11.25 billion in general-obligation bonds for housing and veterans' home loans, passed with roughly 61% of the vote, according to Stateline. Rhode Island voters likewise approved a $120 million housing bond with more than 61% support, the outlet reported. Not every housing-related measure succeeded, however — California's Proposition 45, which would have streamlined permitting and environmental review for certain projects including housing, failed with nearly 56% of voters opposed, per the same Stateline report.
For now, the shape of the 2028 Bay Area measure — its size, funding mechanism and final ballot language — remains undetermined. What's clear is that housing agencies and nonprofits across the region are once again attempting to build the political and financial coalition needed to get a funding measure in front of voters, about two years and three months after the 2024 bond was pulled.
