It had been two years of stressful waiting.
Amy and Simon Jansuk, have been waiting for a buyer to purchase their below-market-rate condo at 270 Valencia St. since 2022.
City rules have limited the sale price of below-market-rate units, meaning owners might even lose money on such sales — Mission Local wrote about the Jansuks’ plight in 2022, detailing how the city had set their sale price at $74,000 less than they’d spent on the condo.
But after legislation proposed by District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, they will finally have a chance to make a profit.
The Planning Commission today voted 5-1 to approve an ordinance to create a waiver specifically for some below-market-rate units — like the Jansuks’ condo — that were bought for a higher price than the city is now allowing them to sell for.
The waiver will only apply to very few cases — right now, in fact, only one unit in the whole program’s portfolio, according to Melgar, though the city says it could be up to 100 units.
Below-market-rate condos are those built by private developers to fulfill affordable housing mandates, and their sales are regulated by the city. When the Jansuks bought their condo in 2018 for $415,000, they weren’t made aware of an existing yet unenforced policy called the “affordable resale price” — a price calculated by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development.
The “affordable resale price” has been on the books for over two decades but the city only made it public and clear to buyers in 2019 — one year after the Jansuks bought their condo. If any owner were to sell above that resale price — $386,000 for the Jansuks — the buyers would not qualify for city assistance, severely limiting the pool of buyers. This would force the Jansuks, today, to take a $95,000 loss.
The new waiver approved on Thursday would raise the income level of potential buyers — enlarging that pool — and raise the allowed resale price.
“I mean this is not huge,” said Melgar, who worked on the ordinance with her legislative aide Jennifer Low, the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development and the City Attorney’s Office for the past two years since the Jansuks contacted her. “This is a few units.”
Melgar promised commissioners she would make this a pilot program after concerns raised last week about raising the area median income, and that the ordinance could be reassessed if the number of qualified units rises.
There is some confusion about the number of eligible units: Last week, Maria Benjamin, deputy director of MOHCD, said the ordinance would impact 100 out of 1,400 units on the city’s below-market-rate housing portfolio.
Low, Melgar’s aide, said that number is just six units and that only the Jansuks’ is currently on the market.
Amy Jansuk, who teared up upon hearing the negative result of the hearing last week, walked out of the room today with a smile on her face.
“It’s the most relief that we’ve had in the last two years,” Amy Jansuk said. “We don’t have to pass the burden to the next buyer.”
“It’s a milestone,” added Simon Jansuk, smiling.
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