Sketch of the planned housing project on 18th Street in the Castro

If you haven't been paying close attention, rent in San Francisco has surged to surpass New York City lately to become the most outrageously expensive city to rent an apartment in across the country. My friends just secured a *studio* in the Mission for $1600 / month. So it's always good news to hear when affordable housing projects in SF move forward -- particularly this news for HIV-positive San Franciscans, who have a long history of being bullied out of their rent-stabilized apartments in SF.

Developers apparently hope to tap into funds Barack Obama has pledged to encourage construction projects nationally. The site in question is where Magnet (the gay men's health clinic) is currently housed, and the parking lot surrounding it behind Walgreen's. From the Bay Area Reporter:

Backers of a proposal to turn the two city-owned parking lots in the Castro into affordable housing for people with AIDS and other disabilities have partnered with a local development group and have developed preliminary designs for the sites.

They are also hopeful federal funding can be secured as part of President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus plan to jumpstart the economy. Obama has pledged to funnel money to various construction projects as a way to put people to work.

And as several new residential projects set for the upper Market area move forward, the AIDS housing proponents are in talks about how their project can benefit from the city's requirement that market-rate projects include affordable units. If they are not built on site, the units must be built in the nearby vicinity.