The sponsors of a bond worth $20 billion to fund affordable housing in the San Francisco Bay Area have removed it from the November ballot.

In a statement announcing the Bay Area Housing Finance Agency’s decision to withdraw the measure, it expressed doubts about whether it would be able to secure the necessary two-thirds majority of voters in the nine-county region and hoped that a change in state law would reduce the required margin.

Bloomberg News

“The BAHFA Board has always understood that it would be a steep climb to tap this funding source,” said Wednesday’s joint statement from BAHFA Chairman Alfredo Pedroza and Belia Ramos, president of the Association of Bay Area Governments Board of Directors. “Based on recent developments, the Board has concluded that the wise decision is to look forward to another legislative session for a regional housing measure when there is more certainty and voters have responded favorably to Proposition 5.”

Proposal 5, on the national ballot on November 5would lower the hurdle for approval of local municipal bonds for housing or public infrastructure to 55%.

The Bay Area Council, a lobbying organization for local businesses, supported the measure.

“While we are backing away from Regional Measure 4 for now, we must redouble our efforts to remove the many barriers that have been erected to block and delay the construction of new housing,” said Jim Wunderman, Council President and CEO. “This setback is undoubtedly disappointing, but it can serve as a powerful incentive for us to move even more aggressively to change restrictive land use policies and update outdated laws like the California Environmental Quality Act that have been abused for too long to prevent investors and developers from creating the housing we desperately need.”

Californians will have no shortage of bonds in November. In addition to many local school bonds, there will be two state GO measures: $10 billion for school construction and $10 billion to combat and prepare for climate change.