{"id":27558,"date":"2023-07-26T12:35:25","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T19:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=27558"},"modified":"2023-07-26T13:40:34","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T20:40:34","slug":"s-f-tries-to-spur-housing-development-by-reducing-fees-and-affordable-unit-requirements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/07\/26\/s-f-tries-to-spur-housing-development-by-reducing-fees-and-affordable-unit-requirements\/","title":{"rendered":"S.F. tries to spur housing development by reducing fees and affordable unit requirements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>J.K. Dineen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

July 24, 2023 Updated: July 25, 2023 (SFChronicle.com)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Tidal House, under construction on Treasure Island, is one of the few housing towers being built in San Francisco. The city has decided to reduce fees and affordability requirements in hopes of activating more development.Paul Kuroda\/Special to The Chronicle<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors appears set to slash affordable housing requirements and lower or delay a slew of associated fees in an effort to resuscitate a residential development industry<\/a> that has sunk into a deep torpor as the city scratches and claws its way out of post-pandemic economic doldrums. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against the backdrop of 1,100 out-of-work building trades members \u2014 and a skyline bereft of tower cranes \u2014 the Board of Supervisors Land Use and Transportation Committee Monday recommended that the percentage of affordable rental apartments developers are forced to include in their projects be cut from the current 21.5% to between 12% and 16% percent, depending on neighborhood and product type. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Condo builders would see their inclusionary requirements drop from 23.5% to between 12% and 16%. About 20 other fees \u2014 including those that fund public transportation and parks \u2014 would be reduced by 33% for the next three years. Some fees would be delayed from the start of construction to project completion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legislation was recommended by a Technical Advisory Committee<\/a> that included both market rate and affordable housing developers, as well as advocates across the city\u2019s political spectrum. Board of Supervisor President Aaron Peskin worked with staff from Mayor London Breed\u2019s office to fashion a compromise based on the TAC\u2019s recommendations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not slashing fees and requirements will be enough to prompt developers and their lenders to jump back into the San Francisco market remains to be seen. An economic analysis completed for the TAC suggested that right now it wouldn\u2019t be enough, although should other factors shift \u2014 interest rates or the cost of construction \u2014 suddenly the reduced fees could allow some dormant projects to stir to life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TAC member and developer Jesse Blout said the changes could be a significant help. Blout\u2019s company, Strada Investment Group, has 1,800 units in its pipeline. \u201cThis will make a huge difference as to our ability to move forward with those projects,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Peskin, the legislation was endorsed by committee member Supervisor Myrna Melgar, while Supervisor Dean Preston was the sole \u201cno\u201d vote on the three-member body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Preston questioned the premise behind lowering the requirements and fees, calling it \u201cdrastic policy changes without clear justification.\u201d He argued, \u201cYou are not going to see new apartments as a result of these changes,\u201d but that the value of land will rise, making it more expensive for the city to snap up parcels for subsidized low-income housing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow many dollars are we taking out of Muni?\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m at a loss \u2014 we are looking at reducing these kinds of fees and yet we have no projections from the city economists about what we are giving up?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charlie Sciammas, co-director of the Council of Community Housing Organization, said the legislation should be on hold until the city comes up with a plan to fund the 46,000 affordable units required to be built in the next eight years, under state mandates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe urge the board to move forward only when there is greater certainty,\u201d Sciammas said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Peskin, who in 2016 drafted the current inclusionary housing legislation with former Supervisor Jane Kim \u2014 after a compromise with the moderate faction of the board led by Supervisor Ahsha Safai \u2014 said the current rules require the TAC to convene every three years to reevaluate the requirements. Those meetings, which began last October, have been open to the public and offered plenty of time for concerns to be raised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peskin said that \u201cnobody is happy about reducing our current inclusionary number\u201d but that the policy change would be complemented by both a $300 million affordable housing bond \u2014 likely to be on the ballot in March \u2014 and other efforts to build housing for low-income families. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has been a long time coming and part of a pretty predictable process,\u201d Peskin said. \u201cThis should happen like clockwork every three years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rudy Gonzalez, who heads up the city\u2019s Building Trades Council, said the legislation would help unblock a roster of fully approved developments that \u201ccan\u2019t bear the weight\u201d of the city\u2019s famously high fees in an environment where interest rates are high and the city\u2019s rents are 10% to 20% lower than what they were pre-pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to unlock the projects that were feasible in a different economy,\u201d he said <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reach J.K. Dineen: jdineen@sfchronicle.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written By J.K. Dineen<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

J.K. Dineen covers housing and real estate development. He joined The Chronicle in 2014 covering San Francisco land use politics for the City Hall team. He has since expanded his focus to explore housing and development issues throughout Northern California. He is the author of two books: “Here Tomorrow” (Heyday, 2013) and “High Spirits” (Heyday, 2015).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"San<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\"HEARST\u00a92023 Hearst Communications, Inc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

J.K. Dineen July 24, 2023 Updated: July 25, 2023 (SFChronicle.com) The San Francisco Board of Supervisors appears set to slash affordable housing requirements and lower or delay a slew of associated fees in an effort to resuscitate a residential development industry that has sunk into a deep torpor as the city scratches… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[659],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27558"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27558"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27567,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27558\/revisions\/27567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}