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Thursday was a sad day for Mission District activists who hoped to see affordable housing at the corner of 22nd and Mission streets, the site of a deadly 2015 fire. Instead, the San Francisco Planning Commission narrowly approved a controversial 91 percent market-rate project at the site.
The final vote was 4-3, giving the green light for a 181-unit, 10-story apartment complex at the site of what has been known as “La Muerte de la Misión.” The approval comes just over a decade after a fire destroyed the building, killing 38 year-old Mauricio Orellana and displacing nearly 60 residents and 26 businesses, including Mission Local.
Nearly two dozen members of the public spoke against the project, pleading with planning commissioners to vote against a plan that they say would only exacerbate gentrification, displacement and inequity. The complex would also represent a win for owner Hawk Lou, following allegations of faulty smoke alarms and improper maintenance on wiring.
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While the fire department determined the cause of the lethal blaze was faulty wiring, Lou continues to blame a tenant’s cooking fire.
The current proposal would include 19 units of affordable housing, or roughly nine percent.
“Ninety percent of the units are for high-income earners,” said Larissa Pedroncelli, an activist with United to Save the Mission, “deepening existing disparities” in access to housing in the Mission.
Lawyers for Lou appealed to commissioners to support the project on the basis of the state’s 2023 state density-bonus law, which allows the streamlining of projects by eliminating public hearings borne from the California Environmental Quality Act.
Three commissioners voted against the project: Kathrin Moore, Theresa Imperial and Gilbert Williams. They were outvoted by Derek Braun, Amy Campbell, Sean McGarry and Lydia So.
“This project represents unaffordability. It represents a policy that doesn’t work, that doesn’t build community. It hurts the residents of the Mission District,” said Williams. “I don’t know what to say. I know there’s a state law in effect, but I think the state law is wrong.”
Williams inquired about the possibility of making amendments to the state law, a doable possibility on paper, but one that would require substantive political action.
On Friday morning, District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder said the housing project’s approval may not immediately bring residents to the now-empty lot.
“Even though this is approved, the lot will likely continue to sit empty, because the market isn’t profitable for investors right now,” she said Friday morning. “The community knows that, and knows that it’s about financing, which I’m still committed to finding for truly affordable housing for the community that lives here.”
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OSCAR PALMA
Oscar is a reporter with interest in environmental and community journalism, and how these may intersect. Some of his personal interests are bicycles, film, and both Latin American literature and punk. Oscar’s work has previously appeared in KQED, The Frisc, El Tecolote, and Golden Gate Xpress.More by Oscar Palma
