A massive multi-billion-dollar redevelopment of Treasure Island, which was agreed on in June of 2011, threatens to displace hundreds who call the man-made island home. However, newly proposed extensions of certain relocation benefits could help some residents sleep well at night.

As SFist has reported on before — in fact, as far back as 2017 — the notion that 1,800-plus individuals could, inevitably, be displaced from the 400-acre island has been circulating around for some time, in order to make way for a $6 billion complete remodeling.

“There are 675 households on Treasure Island with an estimated 1,800 residents,” said Robert Beck, director for the Treasure Island Development Authority (TIDA), to the SF Examiner back in 2017.

What’s even more disheartening is that those who moved onto the island after June of 2011 are, as of today, unable to choose from a slew of relocation benefits, according to a more recent reporting by the SF Examiner on a council meeting, held this past Thursday by the Treasure Island Development Authority Board of Directors, which aimed to extend those benefits via a policy change.

Currently, one such benefit given to current residents is having the right to move into the planned 1,866 affordable rental units that will exist on the island, which will be available to them at their current (or lower) rental arrangements; construction of the island’s litany of proposed condos, shopping areas, and public spaces is slated to be completed around 2035, with new residential units being erected as early as May of 2021.

Under an agreement with Lennar Corporation, Stockbridge Capital Group, and Wilson Meany, the affordable housing units will number in at 8,000; 5,827 will be at “market-rate” rents.

However, the policy changes brought up this past Thursday by Beck would not give “post-agreement tenants” full access to the entire roster of benefits that “pre-agreement residents” have to choose from, though it would give them more options.

To move into these proposed affordable housing units, post-agreement tenants would have to enter into a lottery system, with qualifying incomes and financial standings.

Beck went on further to add that “roughly 40 percent of them would income qualify for some form of affordable housing [and lottery entry],” which means they’d be making between $49,250 and $73,900 annually. Depending on the affordable housing organization, though, that number can ebb and flow.

Nevertheless, residents that don’t have qualifying incomes will be offered affordable housing tax credits and other outside funding sources, including local funding of up to $300,000 for new housing. Pre-agreement residents, per the current relocation policy, will also have the option of foregoing housing payments entirely and leave the island, instead opting to take an amount between $26,000 or $27,000. The same courtesy, unfortunately, won’t be given to post-agreement residents under current policy descriptions.

The new proposed policy extensions would, also, give both pre- and post-agreement residents the opportunity to purchase homes or rent units during "pre-marketing offers,” as those properties continued developing before coming onto the market.

Thankfully, though, demolition of any existing housing units to make way for newer buildings wouldn't happen until 2024, according to Beck — so there’s still time to work out the logistical kinks.

Related: Eviction Of 1,800 Residents On Treasure Island Sounds Like A Real Mess

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