Did you know that May was Affordable Housing Month in the Bay Area? At its core, this month-long celebration is about building more affordable housing, taking care of our neighbors, and fostering a sense of belonging for everyone who calls San Francisco home.
The SFPUC is committed to taking care of all our neighbors by energizing many affordable housing sites across the city, lessening energy cost-burdens for our customers, and doing our part to help advance local affordable housing development.
Energizing Affordable Housing
Customers with low to moderate incomes and communities of color are harmed disproportionately by climate change yet have the most barriers to accessing clean energy. That's why we are committed to providing clean power to affordable and public housing sites through both our Hetch Hetchy Power and CleanPowerSF programs.
Hetch Hetchy Power, for example, partnered with the HOPE SF Project, the nation’s first large scale, explicitly anti-racist community development initiative. The organization is rebuilding four affordable housing sites in Southeast San Francisco, all of which receive 100% greenhouse gas-free power from the SFPUC.
The Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Center (TNDC) provides affordable housing as well as the support and resources for residents to thrive. In 2019, TNDC committed to providing 100% renewable energy to 43 affordable housing sites and over 5,000 residents through CleanPowerSF’s SuperGreen service. The switch to 100% renewable energy will curtail thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.
Lessening the Burden on Our Neighbors with Low-Incomes
The average energy burden for Americans with low-incomes is 8.6%, which is three times higher than that of Americans with higher incomes.
Luckily, we have programs to help lessen the burden on our low-income neighbors. Hetch Hetchy Power offers a Customer Assistance Program that gives a 30% discount to eligible customers. CleanPowerSF has now successfully implemented the SuperGreen Saver program which provides 100% renewable energy at a 20% discount for eligible customers in the Bayview, Tenderloin, and SOMA neighborhoods.
Over the past year, the Power Communications and Customer Engagement teams have been visiting affordable housing sites to help customers enroll in both assistance programs. At one event at an apartment complex in the Tenderloin neighborhood in May, SFPUC staff were able to sign-up more than 70 customers for SuperGreen Saver. Customers conveyed their excitement about the discount – one resident who signed up for SuperGreen Saver even came back later with cookies for staff to show her appreciation. Meeting customers where they are at and providing direct, hands-on support has been key in ensuring that our customers are getting connected to the assistance that they need.
Advancing New Housing Development
Building affordable housing comes with many challenges -- from identifying available land to the high cost of development. Unfortunately, San Francisco affordable housing developments face one more challenge before residents can move in: PG&E’s long interconnection wait times.
Throughout San Francisco, affordable housing units lay vacant for months waiting for PG&E to turn on the power. These delays have cost affordable housing developments time and money. To be exact, PG&E interconnection delays have cost at least nine affordable housing developments $41 million.
That is one of many reasons why the we are working diligently to bring public power to all of San Francisco. Unlike PG&E, the SFPUC has been a reliable, responsive, and committed power provider to affordable housing sites throughout the city.
As we reflect on Affordable Housing Month and our role as a not-for-profit public utility, we recognize the importance of being a good neighbor, especially to those in need, throughout the year. This means providing clean energy to our neighbors with low-incomes, empowering customers with discount programs, and continuing to fight PG&E’s affordable housing obstruction. We’ve got the power to make a difference, and that’s something we can all get energized by.