Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

San Francisco Mayor London Breed took office last July pledging to build more housing and to build it faster so that the affordability crisis wouldn’t empty the city of its working class.

This November, she’s going to use the ballot box to try to do that.

On Wednesday, Breed will announce her plan for a November ballot measure to eliminate restrictions that prevent housing from being built on public lands. If voters approve the measure, hundreds of government-owned parcels could become sites for 100% affordable projects and teacher housing. As mayor, Breed can put the measure on the ballot with just her signature, which she’s expected to do in the next few weeks.

This is the third ballot measure that Breed is championing — they’re all intended to either fund or accelerate the development of affordable housing and teacher housing. A City Charter amendment to streamline reviews of affordable housing developments and a $500 million bond to build affordable projects are also in the works.

Absent any major challenger to her election to a full term as mayor, Breed has turned the November ballot into a referendum on affordable housing.

“It’s so important that we get rid of these barriers, especially when we talk about 100% affordable housing projects, which are hard enough to get the funding for,” Breed said. “And then to add additional years of bureaucracy to make that property compliant and then actually build it — it’s unacceptable. This is really another tool to fast-track affordable housing.”

Breed’s newest initiative would affect about 500 parcels across San Francisco owned by either the city, state or federal government that are zoned for public use. The city’s current zoning laws prohibit housing from being built on those parcels, but if voters approve the measure, that would change for 100% affordable projects and teacher housing.

Projects are considered “affordable” when they’re rented to households making up to 140% of the area median income — that’s about $165,750 for a family of four. Teacher housing is defined as a building where two-thirds of units are reserved for employees of San Francisco Unified School District or City College of San Francisco.

The ordinance wouldn’t give carte blanche to build housing anywhere and public parks would be off limits. Rather, it does away with the need for cumbersome zoning changes that can delay projects by years. The measure would pass with a simple-majority vote threshold.

City officials have been promising housing for teachers for over a decade.

In 2017, the late Mayor Ed Lee earmarked $44 million to build up to 150 units of teacher housing at the Francis Scott Key Annex in the Outer Sunset, which is owned by the school district. Nearly two years later, developers have yet to break ground, in part because they had to apply to rezone the parcel to put housing where it previously wasn’t allowed — a process that can take between 18 months and two years.

“I see a lot of younger colleagues who joined the teaching profession in the last few years. They haven’t been able to stay in San Francisco, so they go to other communities where they could find a place,” said John Zwolinski, a social studies teacher at A.P. Giannini Middle School.

Zwolinski bought his home 15 years ago, but said it would be “impossible now,” given the city’s housing costs. He’s been a proponent of the project at Francis Scott Key for the help it might afford his fellow teachers.

“To teach in your own community, where you’re intimately a part of it and you know it, it just amplifies your effectiveness as a teacher,” he said. “If you’re an entry-level teacher, there’s no way in hell you can buy even a condo in San Francisco. Mayor Breed’s idea is ‘let’s streamline this process.’ It’s a great idea.”

On Tuesday, Breed also introduced the language for a Charter amendment meant to speed up 100% affordable and teacher housing projects by shielding them from public appeals and discretionary reviews, under which neighborhoods may challenge a development proposal, even if it’s been approved by city planners.

The measure was inspired by an effort led by YIMBY Action, which tried along with other housing groups to get a nearly identical initiative on the ballot least year. Lee’s death, and the ensuing special election to pick his successor, upended the city’s political landscape. Funding and attention shifted to the mayor’s race, and the effort fizzled.

Supervisors Vallie Brown and Ahsha Safaí are co-sponsoring the Charter amendment. But the mayor needs the support of at least three more board members to get it on the ballot.

Breed and the board have clashed over housing issues generally, particularly when market-rate projects are involved. But affordable and teacher housing aren’t as likely to be politically divisive. The Charter amendment would pass with a simple-majority vote at the ballot.

Breed has also arranged to have a $500 million affordable housing bond on the November ballot — to help pay for the projects her other initiatives seek to streamline. Exactly how the bond revenue would be apportioned — if it passes with a two-thirds majority — is still being a determined.

A working group, co-chaired by Breed and Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee, is crafting specific language to outline how the money would be spent. Yee, for example, wants funding for senior housing.

Breed needs eight supervisors to agree to put the bond measure on the ballot.

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa