A new zoning memo from Mayor Lurie's office aims to raise height and density limits throughout the city, with six-to-eight stories getting permitted on transit corridors. This is intended to make up for a shortfall of 36,200 housing units under the City’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), as required by state law. From the mayor's memo to the planning department on how it will achieve these state-mandated housing construction requirements:
One way San Francisco will advance this goal is by focusing the rezoning in areas that have been historically exclusionary. These include neighborhoods that benefitted from redlining, had racially restrictive covenants and rules, and primarily single-family zoning, which are less affordable to non-white households.
This includes the westside of San Francisco and other neighborhoods that are notorious for resisting multi-family housing.
From Senator Scott Wiener, as posted on Reddit:
We just got the first look at the new vision for housing in San Francisco under Mayor Lurie’s leadership—and it’s great news. This plan stems from our state housing work over the past decade requiring cities to zone for more homes (under I law authored, SB 828), and to streamline approvals for those homes under SB 423. By allowing the homes we need to finally be built, this rezoning plan paves the way for a more affordable and vibrant future for San Francisco.
This plan is projected to accommodate 36,000 new homes in neighborhoods across the City, focusing on high resource areas. Combined with SF’s ongoing efforts, this plan puts the City on track to meet its state housing goal of building 82,000 new units. If passed, this would be the biggest change to San Francisco’s zoning since 1978, and it sets our city on a path to thrive for decades to come.
More from J.K. Dineen's coverage for the San Francisco Chronicle:
Fisherman’s Wharf could go from a place locals only visit with out-of-town visitors to a mixed-use neighborhood with hundreds of families living in new six- and eight-story buildings along portions of North Point, Bay and Beach streets. The commercial zones around downtown West Portal could see apartment complexes rise eight stories, while two lots next to the Glen Park BART Station could be rezoned for 140 foot towers, radically reshaping that sleepy retail district.
"Our administration wants to build enough housing for the next generation of San Franciscans, so that kids who grow up here have the same opportunity to raise their own children here. This family zoning plan will help us do that," wrote the Mayor in a prepared statement. "For too long, San Francisco has made it easier to block new homes than to build them. And while our needs have changed since the 1970s, much of our zoning hasn’t. Now, the state has given us a clear mandate to build more housing with real consequences if we don’t."
And from Mission Local's coverage:
“It is courageous, right?” said District 7 supervisor Myrna Melgar, who was quick to point out that many voters in Lurie’s base (and her own district) have expressed hostility toward the city’s upzoning goals. The neighborhoods bothered by the zoning changes overlap almost entirely with Lurie’s base.
“For decades, our city shirked its responsibility when it came to building enough housing. YIMBYs have pushed back, and we couldn’t be more thrilled that Mayor Lurie is answering the YIMBY call and putting out a strong rezoning plan,” said Jane Natoli, San Francisco Organizing Director of YIMBY Action, in a statement about the memo. “This is an important step to building more homes so that more people can afford to live here.”
Be sure to check out the full coverage in the Chronicle and Mission Local or the Examiner. Or check out the mayor's memo.
