Supervisor Harvey Milk was a forward-thinking, progressive person, and this carried over to the legislation he backed as a district supervisor in the Castro. He was committed to ensuring that everyone in the city had a voice and that those who had more money would not have undue influence on San Francisco. Shortly before his assassination, he noticed the troubling trend of speculation displacing people from their homes and he wanted to do something about it. Before his death, Milk proposed an “anti-speculation” plan that would heavily tax profits generated by quickly flipping homes in San Francisco. He reasoned that it would be a way to keep the housing stock of San Francisco as a place for people to live, not a means for people to make money.
With the assistance of the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, the Housing Rights Committee, Causa Justa / Just Cause, San Francisco Tenants Union, Tenants Together, the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, Chinatown Community Development Center, and many more, we at the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition are working to make Supervisor Milk’s dream a reality.
We are excited to announce that our proposed legislation for a speculation tax that would only affect real estate sales made when the owner of a home makes a profit on a home they have possessed for five years or less has been given the blessing of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and will be on the ballot this November! If we work together, we can make one of Harvey’s last wishes come true.