Thread
SF's Mayor London Breed just introduced what could be the most impactful & wide-spanning housing reforms of her 5 years in office to date.
If you get under the hood of (how to fix) (absurd) city practices, this is a very big deal.
Thread 🧵
www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/mayor-breed-introduces-legislation-speed-s-f-s-17904201.php
If you get under the hood of (how to fix) (absurd) city practices, this is a very big deal.
Thread 🧵
www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/mayor-breed-introduces-legislation-speed-s-f-s-17904201.php
It sounds like a kitchen sink, and it is, because so many of the city's barriers to building housing are really just a thousand layers of small bad things that amplify one another.
Untangling this mess requires peeling off all the broken shit, with a scalpel, layer by layer.
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Untangling this mess requires peeling off all the broken shit, with a scalpel, layer by layer.
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(If you don't know, I got into a career in housing policy after working at a local architecture firm and quickly taking up permitting responsibilities... only to learn how completely deranged our processes were.
That led me to SFBARF➡️ Yimby➡️ Scott Wiener➡️ ADUs➡️ now SPUR)
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That led me to SFBARF➡️ Yimby➡️ Scott Wiener➡️ ADUs➡️ now SPUR)
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So! Here's your city government nerd (and former permitting monkey) rundown of what Mayor Breed's Big Boring Housing Legislation does 🤓✏️📜
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First off, (1) it removes most Conditional Use and mandatory public hearing requirements.
You might be wondering: what is Conditional Use?
So... SF has long had a *legal requirement* that many types of housing go through dramatic, drawn-out, nonsensical public hearings.
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You might be wondering: what is Conditional Use?
So... SF has long had a *legal requirement* that many types of housing go through dramatic, drawn-out, nonsensical public hearings.
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One of these longstanding city requirements is called Conditional Use.
In the past, in our codes we kiiinda say we kiiiinda want these projects, sometimes, but we're not sure, and the only way to be sure is to require someone to come to City Hall and beg at a public hearing.
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In the past, in our codes we kiiinda say we kiiiinda want these projects, sometimes, but we're not sure, and the only way to be sure is to require someone to come to City Hall and beg at a public hearing.
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Conditional use adds cost and slows things down.
It is a disservice to SF residents (current AND future!) because it says an unelected body must give you permission to live here. On a case-by-case basis 😑.
The decision is usually based on vibes, not rules.
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It is a disservice to SF residents (current AND future!) because it says an unelected body must give you permission to live here. On a case-by-case basis 😑.
The decision is usually based on vibes, not rules.
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It's worth mentioning that Conditional Uses almost exclusively harm renters, because they mostly apply to multifamily housing. If you can afford a single-family home, the city doesn't give you much grief.
But apartment buildings? They must beg for extra special permission.
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But apartment buildings? They must beg for extra special permission.
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Mayor Breed's legislation abolishes Conditional Use and mandatory public hearings for most types of housing and new construction. (!!!!!!)
(!!!!!!)
(!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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(!!!!!!)
(!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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So NO MORE HEARINGS REQUIRED for apartments proposed on large lots, tall buildings, disability accommodations, many demolitions on the West Side & other wealthy enclaves, density bonus projects, senior housing, homeless shelters, group housing, and home-based businesses.
🥳
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🥳
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Finally, city planners will be allowed to do their ACTUAL job: planning for housing.
And architects: designing housing.
Developers: turning money into housing.
Construction workers: build housing that's been approved by the city.
And so on.
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And architects: designing housing.
Developers: turning money into housing.
Construction workers: build housing that's been approved by the city.
And so on.
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No ones job should be "begging an unelected body for case-by-case permission to build housing when we need more housing."
And removing public hearing and Conditional Use requirements is precisely how we get there.
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And removing public hearing and Conditional Use requirements is precisely how we get there.
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Next up, (2) this legislation also cuts up to $100,000-$150,000 in fees that San Francisco has historically charged to each new unit of affordable housing.
(you read that right)
(read it again)
(yep)
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(you read that right)
(read it again)
(yep)
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Some background:
SF funds much of city government through $100,000-$150,000 "fees" put on every new housing unit. This is largely because 1970s Orange County delivered us a populist tax revolt, so now it's illegal to fund government the way normal societies do: taxes.
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SF funds much of city government through $100,000-$150,000 "fees" put on every new housing unit. This is largely because 1970s Orange County delivered us a populist tax revolt, so now it's illegal to fund government the way normal societies do: taxes.
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Mayor Breed's policy change aligns city policy with the fact that we need housing for low- and middle-income people *more* than we need the fee revenue that comes from building housing for them. That's regressive and makes projects less competitive for state funding sources.
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This legislation waives many low/middle-income affordable housing units from paying that fee. It cuts development costs by *$100,000-150,000 per unit of low/middle-income housing*, which means redirecting more money into public subsidy for more of it.
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It costs our city budget -- and our community -- a whole lot more to not have plentiful affordable housing. Secure housing is the backbone for families' well-being, cultural memory, and economic health.
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Annnnd, finally, the third and final bucket of reform:
(3) Undo bizarre restrictions in our Planning Code that don't make sense for a fair, dense, multiuse, and vibrant city.
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(3) Undo bizarre restrictions in our Planning Code that don't make sense for a fair, dense, multiuse, and vibrant city.
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In addition to waiving conditional uses, this legislation also erases geographic requirements that say you can't have new senior housing, homeless shelters, group housing, or home-based businesses in all San Francisco neighborhoods.
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...and it also eases rigid, inflexible requirements for balconies, inner courtyards, and ground floor apartment uses like shared laundry, mail rooms, bike rooms, and lobbies.
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Why does this matter?
Much of city planning and architecture is actually about problem solving through a maze of strict, confusing, and often conflicting rules.
The design you get at the end represents the delicate (and strange) path that complied with all the rules.
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Much of city planning and architecture is actually about problem solving through a maze of strict, confusing, and often conflicting rules.
The design you get at the end represents the delicate (and strange) path that complied with all the rules.
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Making the Planning Code more flexible on the "where" and "what" makes it so that the projects we allow are also the projects we want. And the sum of all the projects we get makes up the city we get.
Let's make it a good one. ❤️🏙️
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Let's make it a good one. ❤️🏙️
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AND FINALLY, last one 😘
Under current SF law (a rule that has been in place for the entirety of our housing shortage spiral, unsurprisingly)...
To get a permit to build or renovate, you have to send a letter to all neighbors who live within 150ft asking for permission.
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Under current SF law (a rule that has been in place for the entirety of our housing shortage spiral, unsurprisingly)...
To get a permit to build or renovate, you have to send a letter to all neighbors who live within 150ft asking for permission.
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Neighbors, in return, can say "no actually I don't like it" once they get the letter. After all, you had to ask for permission!
And then they can stop the project until they get their way in a public hearing at City Hall.
This is obscene. Mayor Breed is getting rid of it.
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And then they can stop the project until they get their way in a public hearing at City Hall.
This is obscene. Mayor Breed is getting rid of it.
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This is how I met @NeverSassyLaura, why I introduced her to @SonjaTrauss, and how we got to know our neighborhood Supervisor @Scott_Wiener 😂
I was working at an architecture firm on permits for a duplex. Neighbors were mad. Laura got the letter but filed project SUPPORT!
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I was working at an architecture firm on permits for a duplex. Neighbors were mad. Laura got the letter but filed project SUPPORT!
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What Laura did was unheard of at the time. She wrote a long, polite letter to the cranky neighbors about how their argument was dumb and how the neighborhood character should just be "let these people replace their ugly house with a new duplex."
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Laura went on to found Yimby Action. Sonja kept doing SFBARF and founded CaRLA and Yimby Law. And I went to work for that local neighborhood Supervisor.
(Thank you neighborhood notification for changing my life in 2015, you've served your purpose, now we can get rid of you)
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(Thank you neighborhood notification for changing my life in 2015, you've served your purpose, now we can get rid of you)
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