SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco is going to own a bank.
Prop. B, the measure to create a city-owned public bank, has passed, the San Francisco Standard reported after the weekend count. It trailed by a few hundred votes on election night, pulled ahead as late mail ballots came in Thursday and kept widening its lead through Saturday.
The win belongs in large part to Supervisor Jackie Fielder of District 9, who founded the San Francisco Public Bank Coalition years before she was elected and has pushed the idea ever since. Supervisor Chyanne Chen sponsored the measure on the Board of Supervisors.
What the city is actually building
It will not be a bank you can walk into and open a checking account, at least not at first. Prop. B creates a city-owned municipal finance corporation that can make loans but cannot take deposits. Supporters say it will lend to the projects big banks pass over: affordable housing, small businesses and community organizations.
If the corporation turns a profit for three to five years, it can apply to become a full public bank. State and federal regulators would have to approve that step. If they do, San Francisco would have the first city-run public bank in the country.
The idea is not new. North Dakota has run a state-owned bank for more than a century, and advocates in San Francisco have been organizing for a public bank for years. What is new is that the voters said yes.
Housing fund falls short
Prop. I, which would have required half of the city’s transfer tax on high-value property sales to go to affordable housing, failed. Mayor Daniel Lurie had opposed it, arguing the money was needed for other city services.
The Department of Elections will keep counting through Nov. 13, and results will be certified Dec. 3.
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