San Francisco Affordable Housing can Cost $1 Milllion per Unit. One Developer Says He can Slash the Cost by 65%

A San Francisco housing developer says his company has found a way to build affordable housing units for around $350,000 each, a fraction of the average cost of $1 million in the city.

As Laura Waxmann and J.K. Dineen explains in the San Francisco Chronicle, Danny Haber, CEO of oWOW, says a combination of efficient building practices and federal tax credits can drastically lower the cost of construction. “Haber’s team is breaking ground early next year on 284 affordable apartments in downtown Oakland, and is part of a growing group of market-rate builders suddenly charging into the affordable housing arena amid the financing crunch that has cooled private housing development.”

Haber is taking advantage of a recent expansion of the federal Low‑Income Housing Tax Credits. “The credit expansion is expected to primarily fuel construction aimed at the upper end of affordable housing often referred to as the “missing middle,” which requires less public funding and serves working-class renters.” 

While for-profit developers may be able to build housing without the stack of public financing that often trips up nonprofit builders, there are questions about whether projects like Haber’s will remain affordable after the 10-year tax credit expires or whether they’ll serve the neediest households.