- By Adam Shanks | Examiner staff writer |
- Jul 25, 2023 Updated Jul 26, 2023
Building multifamily housing in San Francisco’s west side neighborhoods just got easier.
A bill approved Tuesday by The Board of Supervisors enables west-side property owners to more easily replace single-family homes with multifamily housing as The City looks to densify neighborhoods that have seen relatively little development in recent decades.
The legislation, approved by a unanimous vote, establishes a special district — encompassing most of The City’s western neighborhoods — where relaxed rules will allow greater housing density with fewer regulatory hurdles.
Supervisor Myrna Melgar said her goal when introducing the legislation in January, and in months of negotiations since, was to “expand opportunities for folks to be able to adapt their properties” while providing new rent-controlled units of housing.
“I think we got there,” Melgar said.
According to a 2019 city analysis of housing affordability, more than 90% of recent housing development in San Francisco was contained in just 10 east-side neighborhoods. The dearth of new housing on the west side was highlighted in The City’s recently- adopted Housing Element, which lays out a path to build 82,000 new homes by 2031, many of which will have to be constructed in neighborhoods such as the Sunset and the Richmond.
The bill adopted Tuesday is predicated on the assumption that allowing additional density in well-resourced neighborhoods — those with access to verdant green space and good schools — will make them more accessible than they are as bastions of single-family homes.
The proposal’s detractors warned that it would only fuel speculation by well-heeled out-of-town investors. Many pleaded for more time before supervisors adopt the legislation, and fought for tweaks such as affordable-
housing requirements.
“There is still much work to be done on this proposal,” Flo Kimmerling of the Mid-Sunset Neighborhood Association wrote in a letter to supervisors.
But times are changing as San Francisco and other California cities take action to address their housing crises. Melgar’s legislation complements recent moves by the state legislature, including SB-9, which functionally eliminated single-family zoning in California.
The bill won support of several development organizations, as well as the San Francisco Tenants Union and tje San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition.
“This proposal establishes an appropriate framework for protecting the rights of existing and future tenants within the context of the proposed scale of projects in high resource areas and improved enforcement of other tenant protections by city agencies,” the two organizations wrote in a joint letter to supervisors.
The bill allows up to four units of housing — or a unit of housing for every 1,000 square feet of lot size — in any residential housing zone in the special district. In a four-unit project, one of the units must be built in the backyard as an accessory dwelling unit, assuming it can accommodate one.
The plan must comply with the existing height and bulk requirements in The City’s zoning code — so no skyscrapers — but eligible projects are streamlined for approval. That means they’re not subject to discretionary review hearings from neighbors opposed to such projects, nor do they have to receive a conditional use authorization from the Planning Department.
Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin tinkered with the legislation to ensure the it would not spark rampant speculation. He secured an amendment requiring anyone proposing redevelopment of an existing multifamily building to have owned the property for at least five years.
To develop what is now a single-family home, the property must be owned for at least one year to qualify for the program.
In addition to increased density on single lots, the law would allow for up to eight units of housing on two merged lots and 12 units on three merged lots (or one unit per 1,000 square feet of lot space).
Critically, in exchange for the streamlined permitting, property owners must agree to place the new units under rent control. Typically, new construction would be exempt from local rent control under California law.
A project that proposed the demolition of a building already rent-controlled will also require a conditional use authorization from the planning department.
