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(a) Except as otherwise provided under this Article 29A, the Empty Homes Tax shall be administered pursuant to Article 6 of the Business and Tax Regulations Code.
(b) Transactions with the principal purpose of avoiding or evading all or a portion of the Empty Homes Tax shall be disregarded for purposes of determining the amount of the Empty Homes Tax and whether the Empty Homes Tax is due. In addition to the Empty Homes Tax due as a result of this subsection (b), any owner liable for any Empty Homes Tax as a result of this subsection (b) shall be liable for a penalty in an amount equal to the Empty Homes Tax due as a result of this subsection (b).
(Added by Proposition M, 11/8/2022, Eff. 12/23/2022, Oper. 1/1/2024)
(a) All monies collected under the Empty Homes Tax Ordinance shall be deposited to the credit of the Housing Activation Fund (“Fund”) established in Administrative Code Section 10.100-76. The Fund shall be maintained separate and apart from all other City funds and shall be subject to appropriation. Any balance remaining in the Fund at the close of any fiscal year shall be deemed to have been provided for a special purpose within the meaning of Charter Section 9.113(a) and shall be carried forward and accumulated in the Fund for the purposes described in Section 2958.
(b) Commencing with a report filed no later than February 15, 2026, covering the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2025, the Controller shall file annually with the Board of Supervisors, by February 15 of each year, a report containing the amount of monies collected in and expended from the Fund during the prior fiscal year, the status of any project required or authorized to be funded by Section 2958, and such other information as the Controller, in the Controller’s sole discretion, shall deem relevant to the operation of this Article 29A.
(Added by Proposition M, 11/8/2022, Eff. 12/23/2022, Oper. 1/1/2024)
Subject to the budgetary and fiscal provisions of the Charter, monies in the Housing Activation Fund shall be appropriated on an annual or supplemental basis and used exclusively for the following purposes:
(a) To the Tax Collector and other City Departments, for administration of the Empty Homes Tax and administration of the Housing Activation Fund.
(b) Refunds of any overpayments of the Empty Homes Tax, including any related penalties, interest, and fees.
(c) All remaining amounts to provide funding, including administrative costs, for Eligible Programs, 50% of which shall be used for the programs described in subsection 2958(c)(1)(A) and 50% of which shall be used for the programs described in subsection 2958(c)(1)(B). The voters intend that these remaining amounts be spent on Eligible Programs at levels in addition to amounts currently spent on such Eligible Programs and that such remaining amounts not be used to supplant existing expenditures.
(1) For purposes of this Section 2958, “Eligible Programs” means:
(A) Rental subsidies for individuals age 60 or older and rental subsidies for households with a household income of not more than 50% of Area Median Income; and
(B) The acquisition and rehabilitation of multi-unit buildings, in which at least one-third of the units are unoccupied, for affordable housing, and the operation of such buildings acquired and/or rehabilitated under this subsection 2958(c)(1)(B). Buildings subject to expenditures under this subsection 2598(c)(1)(B) shall be restricted through a recorded deed restriction or restrictions mandated for the useful life of the building to households with an average household income that does not exceed 80% of Area Median Income.
(2) For purposes of this Section 2958, “Area Median Income” means the median income as published annually by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development for the City and County of San Francisco, derived in part from the income limits and area median income determined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, or its successor agency, for the San Francisco County metro fair market rent area, adjusted solely for household size, but not for high housing cost area. The Board of Supervisors may modify this definition of Area Median Income solely for purposes of subsection 2958(c)(1)(B) to determine area median income by zip code area.
(Added by Proposition M, 11/8/2022, Eff. 12/23/2022, Oper. 1/1/2024)
The Department of Public Works, the Department of Building Inspection, the Rent Board, and the Assessor-Recorder’s Office shall provide technical assistance to the Tax Collector, upon the Tax Collector’s request, to administer the Empty Homes Tax.
(Added by Proposition M, 11/8/2022, Eff. 12/23/2022, Oper. 1/1/2024)
The City is hereby authorized to issue from time to time limited tax bonds or other forms of indebtedness to finance the costs of the projects described in Section 2958. The City shall be authorized to pledge revenues generated by the Empty Homes Tax to the repayment of limited tax bonds or other forms of indebtedness authorized under this Section 2960. The Board of Supervisors shall by ordinance or resolution, as applicable, establish the terms of any limited tax bonds or other forms of indebtedness authorized hereby, including but not limited to, the amount of the issue, date, covenants, denominations, interest rate or rates, maturity or maturities, redemption rights, tax status, manner of sale, and such other particulars as are necessary or desirable.
(Added by Proposition M, 11/8/2022, Eff. 12/23/2022, Oper. 1/1/2024)
The Board of Supervisors may amend or repeal this Article 29A by ordinance by a two-thirds vote and without a vote of the people except as limited by Articles XIII A and XIII C of the California Constitution.
(Added by Proposition M, 11/8/2022, Eff. 12/23/2022, Oper. 1/1/2024)
(a) Except as provided in Section 2962(b), if any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this Article 29A, or any application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions or applications of this Article. The People of the City and County of San Francisco hereby declare that, except as provided in Section 2962(b), they would have adopted this Article 29A and each and every section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, and word not declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any other portion of this Article or application thereof would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional.
(b) If the imposition of the Empty Homes Tax in Section 2953 is held in its entirety to be facially invalid or unconstitutional in a final court determination, the remainder of this Article 29A shall be void and of no force and effect, and the City Attorney shall cause it to be removed from the Business and Tax Regulations Code.
(Added by Proposition M, 11/8/2022, Eff. 12/23/2022, Oper. 1/1/2024)
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