The Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC) provides affordable housing and services for low-income people in the Tenderloin and throughout San Francisco, to promote equitable access to opportunity and resources. We made this grant as part of our exploration of housing affordability in San Francisco, along with a similarly sized grant to SPUR. We felt the two grants were complementary because whereas SPUR provides policy analysis on housing affordability and other regional planning issues, TNDC directly serves low-income people in San Francisco. Based on a conversation with TNDC (notes from which are forthcoming) and private conversations with other local planning leaders, we perceive TNDC to be a capable and well-respected organization focused on affordable housing.
We are interested in the issue of housing affordability in San Francisco because it’s a salient local issue and because we feel it’s important for San Francisco to continue to grow while remaining as affordable as possible. Furthermore, because we are based in San Francisco, we are well suited to participate in — and learn from — discussions of local policy. What we learn about policymaking locally could benefit our broader research agenda, by offering general lessons and because zoning reform is a preliminary area of interest for us.