Off of Site, Out of Mind

Chavez said her job as a benefits administrator helped her to navigate the bureaucracy and piles of forms that slowed down other buyers. Many others have been calling the bank, the title company, the city, Haight Street Mortgage, and UPC, trying to understand why delays persist.

"We remain patient, trying to work with everyone," Evans said. "I don't want to be a pest about it, but I need to know certain things. It's to the point that in regular business, somebody might've filed a lawsuit against somebody because of everything we've been through."

On July 12, the Land Use & Economic Development Committee of the Board of Supervisors will consider amendments to inclusionary housing rules by Supervisors Maxwell, Daly, and McGoldrick. One provision would limit offsite housing to within a mile of the market-rate project. If it passes and Mayor Newsom signs it (not a certainty), a project like Bayview Hope wouldn't be built again.

Yet the legislation would do little to eliminate problems that might occur even at nearby offsite housing. No deadlines are set for when offsite housing projects must be completed. There is no agency to work with buyers in securing government and private loans, though Haight Street Mortgage and MOH have done some of this by default. There's no standard time during the construction process to hold a lottery — in Bayview Hope's case, an early lottery was the reason buyers had to wait.

Despite all these troubles, Steefel's Tosta and others believe offsite housing still has potential. Compared to 300 Spear St., which won't be finished for more than two years because of unrelated delays, Bayview Hope is ahead of schedule.

"Our expectations are so tight that if it doesn't happen within a period we think is pertinent, then it 'failed,'" he said. "If 10 families or 20 families get in, whatever it is, it's successful. If the original 10 didn't make it, I'm sorry about that, but you gotta take a longer view."

Those working directly with the buyers, though, have a less positive view.

"I'm thrilled it's finally happening, but it comes with a lot of angst," Dearman said. "These homes and the manner in which they were built with no public funds — if this works, this could be a [national] model. But it's already been riddled with so much crap."