For those who are curious, the appellant that is holding up the 469 Stevenson project is the Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium [1], an LLC run by Tenants and Owners Development Corporation (aka TODCO) [2]. TODCO plans and develops new and rehabilitated senior and SRO housing, with 968 units completed in eight properties since 1977 [3].
According to Wikipedia [4], "Since the early 2000s, the organization has not built more housing. The organization derives resources from the rising value of its properties, which is a consequence of skyrocketing property prices in San Francisco."
EDIT: more context from the Wikipedia quote: "The organization has used these resources to lobby against housing construction, as well as fund various other propositions. The organization has been criticized for using the windfalls of its operation on political advocacy rather than on its properties and resident services."
In other words, they’re basically the real estate equivalent of patent trolls, except you can’t pay them to go away.
> The organization derives resources from the rising value of its properties, which is a consequence of skyrocketing property prices in San Francisco.
To make it explicit, this is a very perverse incentive, because essentially, the housing crisis getting worse leads to more resources for them (and vice versa)!
Looks like SF's equivalent of LA's Aids Healthcare Foundation, which spends less than 10% of its budget on treating AIDS or on healthcare, and instead spends nearly all of its money fighting construction in Hollywood that would interfere with the sightlines of the AHF HQ.
Mate, the reason TODCO makes money is that they get paid[0] for the government for providing affordable housing. The amount they get paid is proportional to the difference between the rate they charge and the current market rate. This is supposed to last a certain amount of time after which they have to run through some statutory rehab thing which need not do anything meaningful, at which point they just start collecting again.
So, to be clear, we are currently paying them to not go away, so you're going to have to come up with something truly exceptional to get them to go away.
Because anyone has standing to file objections, even if you paid the first lot a $$$$$$ ransom, surely anyone else could file the same objections in the hopes of also receiving a $$$$$$ payout?
According to Wikipedia [4], "Since the early 2000s, the organization has not built more housing. The organization derives resources from the rising value of its properties, which is a consequence of skyrocketing property prices in San Francisco."
EDIT: more context from the Wikipedia quote: "The organization has used these resources to lobby against housing construction, as well as fund various other propositions. The organization has been criticized for using the windfalls of its operation on political advocacy rather than on its properties and resident services."
In other words, they’re basically the real estate equivalent of patent trolls, except you can’t pay them to go away.
1. https://sfgov.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5127075...
2. https://www.todco.org/advocacy
3. https://yellow.place/es/todco-group-san-francisco-usa
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenants_and_Owners_Development...