Given just how expensive it is to live in SF and the current lack of apartments available in the city, it comes as no surprise that many would choose to live outside SF city and county limits and commute to the pricey archipelago. As KCBS reports, that is especially true for SF’s police officers, most of whom remain unmoved by a $20,000 incentive to live in the city.
Three quarters of our SFPD officers don’t live in SF, KCBS reports, even after a program launched in 2007 giving police officers an interest free home loan of $20,000 that’s forgiven in five years, if officers remain on the force.
Only 14 SFPD officers have taken advantage of the gift/loan, KCBS reports. San Francisco Police Officers Association Gary Delagnes tells KCBS “As generous as $20,000 is, when you’re talking about a $600,000 house, ain’t doing it.”
The issue isn’t just relevant to SFPD: only 33% of firefighters and just 24% of sheriff’s deputies live in town, meaning that if disaster hits, they’ll be commuting from as far as Sacramento. Legally, however, SF can’t require public safety workers to live in SF, so commute they shall.
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